Sunday, June 8, 2014

That Elusive Crown

Photo courtesy of Microsoft

California Chrome won the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes.
Even though he didn't win the Triple Crown, I believe a horse will
do it again someday.



California Chrome had already won six big races—including the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness Stakes—before he entered the starting gate to run the Belmont Stakes on June 7, 2014. He was already in the hearts of thousands, if not millions, of racing fans for proving that the Underdog can, indeed, come out on top. But when he crossed the finish line in fourth place instead of first, fans of American thoroughbred horse racing were reminded again that we must wait at least one more year for a horse to win the Triple Crown. The collective hopes and dreams shared by so many people that the big chestnut colt would end at least one drought in California, turned to dust. Why, oh why, is earning the title “Triple Crown Winner” so important to so many people?

                Because, it is, is such a pithy answer; but it rings so true. Even sports pundits who are not particularly fans of horse racing have conceded that winning the Triple Crown is an extremely difficult, athletic challenge. How many other sports can only boast 11 all-around champions since its inception? The Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes races weren’t officially classified as a series until 1930, but a three-year-old colt named Sir Barton was the first three-year-old colt to win all three races in 1919. Affirmed was the last and most recent horse to accomplish this feat in 1978. During my lifetime, three horses have run and won the Triple Crown, but I was too young to watch, let alone appreciate, what Secretariat, Seattle Slew and Affirmed accomplished. California Chrome was the first horse I had been rooting for to win since May 3, 2014, when he entered the gate at the Churchill Downs. Yes, I felt the sting of disappointment when the colt didn’t blast past the competition as he had done in the previous races. But I also noticed the dull, familiar ache of resolute acceptance seeping into my body after Belmont Stakes was over: there would be no Triple Crown this year. Not yet.

                In some ways, this resolution disturbed me more than my disappointment. Was I becoming inured to the expectation that so many people have expressed over the years, that there may never be another Triple Crown-winner? I certainly felt annoyed when I read and heard sportscasters comment that a Triple Crown might even be “bad” for racing. They theorized that because so much of people’s enjoyment of horse racing came from hoping that this would be The Year a colt won the Crown, those same people would lose interest once he actually swept the series. I would cry “foul” to that theory: first, three horses brought home the title during the 1970s—including two in a row (Seattle Slew in 1977 and Affirmed in 1978). People were still very excited about racing back then. Second, since racing is a betting sport, it is very good for fans (bettors) to “win” from time to time. The occasional win is what keeps people coming back (and back) for more.

                For the thirty-sixth time in as many years, a new Triple Crown champion wasn’t crowned yesterday. California Chrome’s owners, trainers, jockey and fans had different explanations and observations about why it didn’t happen for the colt. I would like to suggest a different hypothesis which, while it doesn’t address how the race was run, it does explore how our (fans’) subconscious minds are processing the Belmont Stakes’ outcome. Two subconscious knowns seemed to have gained traction in racing. The first was how quickly I—and the people I saw interviewed about the race—was able to resolve myself to the disappointment of California Chrome’s fourth-place finish. The second was how many people said that winning another Triple Crown might not only be an impossible feat, but it could be bad for racing. (This sentiment was expressed before the race as well as after it was over.) According to John Kappas, Ph.D.’s Theory of Mind, repetition of a behavior or a thought eventually becomes a known in the subconscious mind. So, every time a professional sports pundit declares that it is highly unlikely that another horse will ever win the Triple Crown, and this message is reinforced in the (collective) subconscious year after year, this message becomes an established known. Eventually, the idea of a horse winning each of the three championship races to earn the Triple Crown becomes painful because the concept of such a champion—let alone witnessing the actual experience—has become so unfamiliar. Eventually, it becomes more comfortable to be wishing and hoping for something we want to happen, but that dream not actually come true, because we would have no idea how to feel or react, if it was realized. And that not-knowing state is scary. It's painful.

                I for one believe that the pundits are wrong, and another horse will capture that elusive crown one day. I agree that running and winning three races on three different racetracks over a five-week period is an incredibly tough and daunting challenge. But, it is a challenge that has been done eleven times before. That is a fact; or, in terms of Kappasinian hypnotherapy, a known. If a behavior has been done before, it can, and will, be accomplished again.

               

 

Sara R. Fogan, C.Ht. is a certified hypnotherapist based in Southern California. She graduated with honors from the Hypnosis Motivation Institute in 2005. For more information about Calminsense Hypnotherapy®, please visit http://www.calminsensehypnotherapy.com/.

© 2014

 

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