Midway News Secretariat Festival Last Saturday, a crowd of some 250 Secretariat fans gathered in the chilly fall sunshine at Keeneland to watch the much-anticipated unveiling of the Secretariat statue. The gleaming bronze statue drew ohs and ahs from the Keeneland crowd as the blue-and-white checkered silk flag was pulled back to reveal Secretariat stretched out in full gallop, winning the 1973 Kentucky Derby. The statue was sculpted by equine artist Jocelyn Russell, who began work on the statue in 2018, researching and studying the horse and talking to many of the people who had known Secretariat, including Secretariat’s jockey, Ron Turcotte, and many at Claiborne Farm in Paris, including Dell Hancock. Russell wanted certain touches about the horse to shine through. It was important to her that his copper chestnut coat shine in the bronze casting and be true to color. She also wanted it to be an accurate representation of Secretariat, known and loved by so many. And attention to details, such as hair and muscle definition, the expression on the jockey’s face, the strength of the horse in full gallop, and the blue and white silks he carried to his Triple Crown victory for Penny Chenery had to be represented. Russell even sent a chunk of clay to Ron Turcotte to sign, who gladly signed the clay and returned it to Russell, who then added the signature to the final statue. She reiterated that it was important for her to show the grace and charisma of Secretariat through the statue as a way to honor him. The statue moved this week to the center of the roundabout where Old Frankfort Pike and Alexandria Drive intersect; an area recently beautified with stone walls, tree and flower plantings. The statue weighs some 3,800 pounds and is 11 feet tall from the base to the top of the jockey’s head. There will be a parking and viewing area on one side of the roundabout so that visitors can pull off and take photos of the statue before driving the scenic Old Frankfort Pike corridor towards Midway. The plan also calls for some historic informational markers at the viewing area to inform visitors about the history of farmland and horses in Kentucky. The Secretariat statue is the most historic and high-profile statue Russell has completed and will hopefully be a beautiful marker for many years to come for visitors to Old Frankfort Pike, before they drive past the beautiful historic horse farms along the way to Midway.
The Bourbon Chase 2019 The 200-mile Bourbon Chase Relay, powered by Ragnar, kicks off Friday in Clermont. Relay teams of six (elite teams) or 12 people run the bourbon trail through Kentucky, checking in at many of the Bluegrass area distilleries before finishing Saturday in downtown Lexington. Teams start at Jim Beam Distillery, and over two days and one night of continuous running by the relay team members, the team passes through such distilleries as Wild Turkey, Makers Mark and Woodford Reserve. The runners, supported by team vans, will have a theme of Heroes and Villains and will be on the roads in and around Midway – mostly late Saturday morning through that afternoon. Watch for runners if you are out and about in Versailles and Woodford County this weekend.
Midway Views GoFundMe Recovery for Lily and Katy Sometimes something unfathomable happens to a friend or a neighbor that we have a hard time comprehending. We cannot wrap our minds around what someone is going through, nor their future journey and of what lays ahead in terms of recovery. Such is that for the family of Lily and Katy McDaniel. Their family has started a GoFundMe page to help after the alleged domestic violence incident last weekend in their home. The page can be found at gofundme.com/f/recovery-for-lily-and-katy. The GoFundMe page reads: “Our dear Katy was the victim of a vicious domestic violence attack and was stabbed repeatedly last Sunday. She somehow had the strength to call 9-1-1 and her surgeons say it’s a complete miracle she is still with us. They thought she was lost multiple times. Katy has been in the ICU since Sunday afternoon and has undergone multiple surgeries to get her into critical but stable condition. She will have many financial, physical, and psychological hurdles in her future as she recovers from this trauma. She and her 5-year-old daughter Lily are going to need so much love and support from family, friends, and community to overcome this horrific event. We, her immediate family, are humbly asking for help taking some financial burden off of her mind as they recover and rebuild their lives, and to allow Lily to maintain a sense of normalcy as she struggles to understand what has happened to her family. Please keep our girls, and the many others suffering from domestic violence, in your thoughts.” The community of Midway is planning a fundraiser and blood drive in the near future. More details to follow as they come. Please keep Katy and Lily in your thoughts and prayers in the weeks and months to come. Inspiration Some days as a runner the accomplishments of others just resonate with you in terms of the ability of the human body to push time and time again against limitations, to reach new endeavors and outperform and shatter previous records. Such was the case this weekend when on Saturday in Austria, Kenyan Eluid Kipchoge finally broke through the 2-hour marathon barrier in a time of 1 hour 59 minutes and 40 seconds. The last time the Kenyan tried to accomplish this feat, he completed the 26.2 miles in 2 hours and 26 seconds. Yes. He ran all 26.2 miles of the marathon at record shattering speed only to fall short by 26 seconds. Twenty-six little seconds! Such was not the case on Saturday when he completed the event at an average pace of 4.33 seconds per mile – to put this in perspective this is the equivalent of Kipchoge finishing the 26.2 mile marathon in the same time as it takes me to finish a 13.1 mile half marathon! The commentator said words to the effect of one giant stride for man, one giant stride for human endeavor. It is just inspiring to watch an athlete on the top of his game and achieve what had eluded many to this point. Then on Sunday, fellow Kenyan long-distance runner Brigid Kosgei won the Chicago Marathon in a record setting 2 hours, 14 minutes and 4 seconds, breaking Britain’s Paula Radcliffe’s 16-year record for women by 81 seconds! She defeated her closest rival by almost seven minutes and again showed just how powerful the human body can be when we test the limitations and push ourselves. As I laced up my running shoes today to head out for my six-mile run in preparation for this weekend’s Bourbon Chase, it really provided some inspiration. I may not run a mile in 4:30, but it helped me realize that sometimes what seems impossible is possible if only we put our minds to it.