A favorite song by Leonard Cohen:
EVERYBODY KNOWS
Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich, that’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died
Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a log-stem rose
Everybody knows
Everybody who saw the overhead shot of the Kentucky Derby winner zooming past the field, like the rest of the horses were tied to a post, was in shock. But then we ask: Why? Why did this colt improve 12 to 18 lengths, like he was shot out of a cannon, to do what he did?
I woke up this morning to read rationalizations in THE ATHLETIC: Aha! The winners’ sire, KEEN ICE beat the great AMERICAN PHAROAH! His mother was a champion in Canada! And then I read the worst thing people say: “ Well… that’s racing!” Unfortunately, they say the same thing when breakdowns on the track occur: “Hey it’s just one o dem things.” Wrong.
There’s a valid reason why this happened: HE WAS INJECTED BEFORE THE RACE WITH SOMETHING STRONG THAT PROVOKED HIM. No one will suggest it because they can’t prove it (with a video on YouTube). We can't quite touch or feel the answer. But everybody knows.
