Columnist Dean Juipe: Horse fans perpetually sing blues

Dean Juipe

Friday, April 30, 1999 | 12:31 p.m.

Dean Juipe's column appears Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. His boxing notebook appears Thursday. Reach him at juipe@lasvegassun.com or 259-4084.

Horse players act like there is no sunny side of the street.

They have lamented the supposed demise of their sport for so long now, it's like crying wolf. Throughout this decade -- if not longer -- virtually every horse-racing story of any length seems to center on the sport's spiraling decline.

Those types of articles were out in force again this week, what with the Kentucky Derby set for its 125th running Saturday.

As if on cue, up popped a plethora of marathon-length investigative pieces that ran throughout the country's newspapers. Few covered any new ground.

All sports have their real or imagined problems. Just take the recent retirements of mainstream superstars Michael Jordan, Wayne Gretzky and John Elway and the immediate responses each generated: "Pro basketball will never be the same without Jordan," experts cried; "Hockey's far less interesting without Gretzky," connoisseurs sniffled; "Elway's clutch performances in big games will never be matched," know-it-alls mourned.

Not one of those claims has any long-term validity. The NBA is rock solid in Jordan's wake, just as it not only survived but raised its stature after an earlier icon, Wilt Chamberlain, retired. Likewise, the NHL will retain its niche in the post-Gretzky era just as it did when Gordie Howe retired, and the NFL will see any number of gunslingers come along who will equal or surpass Elway's poise under pressure.

Tunnel vision leads to believing the past can't be recaptured or that the future is terminally grim. And horse players, it seems, never see the light that shines at the end of that tunnel.

Rather than being satisfied with knowing their favorite sport has retained most of its audience in spite of the proliferation of countless new sports and pastimes, horse-racing fans get caught up worrying about some old track closing its gates or the inability to see the fourth race at some backwoods barn on television.

They also routinely point out the good old days have long since passed and that today's horses aren't up to the standards of their predecessors. This is an argument that will be dusted off every year until there's another Triple Crown winner, which hasn't occurred since Affirmed lapped the field in 1978.

This year, with 20 horses entered in the Kentucky Derby, the alleged dreary quality of the competition is a hot topic. Apparently none of the 20 is a world beater.

But, at least for the casual fan, the Derby -- and Preakness and Belmont to follow -- is an interesting afternoon in spite of the fact Secretariat hasn't been reborn and maybe never will. While it's good for the sport to have a horse for the ages periodically emerge, it really isn't essential that it be this year or even next.

History says it will happen when it happens, and that nothing is irreplaceable.

Need proof? There once were Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and while only one -- the pyramids of Egypt -- survives today, Seven Wonders of the Middle Ages were constructed to figuratively replace them and all but one of those -- the porcelain tower of Nanking -- continues to stand.

When seven new wonders need to be built, mankind will respond.

So enjoy the race for what it is and don't worry if it isn't run in a record time.