Me and Big Red

Me and Big Red

June--1973:

Just a month in early summer
37 years ago. God, the world was
such a different place that month.

I got to thinking about it today
leaving the theater after seeing
SECRETARIAT,
with Diane Lane, Scott Glenn,
John Malkovich, and James Cromwell,
remembering faintly some news clips
on the 6:00 News about this horse
called Big Red demolishing the field,
winning the Triple Crown, running off
and leaving the match race contender,
Sham, and the rest of the field by
31 lengths. Christ, what a horse!

Observers that hot day in New York state
at Belmont Park said, “You could not find
the other horses on the field with two pairs
of binoculars.”

As a three year old he set
racing records that still stand today.
In retirement,
after he sired 900 colts,
after he died,
they did an autopsy,
and they found out
that his heart was 2 1/2 times
larger than an average horse.

One other owner summed it up, “It was if
God had decided to create the perfect horse.”

What else was going on that month in 1973?

On June 14th I turned 29 years old,
and was busy launching
my professional acting career;
driving my 1968 Chevrolet 396
SS 4-speed convertible
to Los Angeles
to stay with my buddy, Adrian Sparks,
to ready myself to set
the theatrical and film world on fire.
Yeah, and I burned hot
for several years
before we walked away,
Alver and I,
and accepted new life roles.

Now, like Secretariat,
whose bronze statue
is rearing proudly outside
the paddock at Belmont Park,
my paper mache statue,
spread-legged and ready
to take my place among the immortals
stands short in the darkness
of my basement closet,
behind some shoe boxes.

Glenn Buttkus October 2010

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