I Believe in Miracles
- Bruno@Racingwithbruno
- 1 hour ago
- 4 min read
He isn't a good boy.
He is a great boy.
Michael the Brave Puppy came into our lives in 2018. He was just eight weeks old when I found him at a puppy sale in a local Lexington pet store. You never know when life is going to introduce you to someone who changes everything. Michael did just that.
Six months later, during what was supposed to be a routine checkup, our veterinarian heard a heart murmur. More tests followed, and then came the diagnosis.
Michael had severe pulmonic stenosis. Only about 10% of the blood that should have been flowing through his pulmonary artery was making its way through.
There wasn't a decision to make.
We called The Ohio State Veterinary Hospital in Columbus and scheduled a balloon valvuloplasty to relieve the obstruction in his pulmonary valve.
I remember that day like it happened this morning.
They carried our little boy through those operating room doors, and all I could do was sit in the waiting room with my laptop open, pretending to work. The truth is, I wasn't getting much done. Your mind wanders. You keep looking at the clock. Every doctor that walks by catches your eye. It's October 24, 2018.
Our baby was having heart surgery.
Somewhere during all the waiting, the conversation turned to horse racing.
The next afternoon at Keeneland, Steve Asmussen was unveiling a first-time starter named Boldor.
I had seen Boldor train at Saratoga.
On August 8th, he worked in :58 and change over a racetrack that had been absolutely chewed up, a minefield. It wasn't an easy surface, and he absolutely flew over it.
I was standing in the Turf Terrace with Brian "Laz" and Saratoga Mike. Three horseplayers, three stopwatches, watching another morning unfold.
As Boldor came back underneath us, I stopped looking at the watch and started looking at the horse.
His eyes were popping out.
His nostrils were flaring.
He looked like he'd emptied the tank.
All the signs of stress.
It hadn't been as easy as it looks
I turned to Laz and Mike "You won't see him run here. He won't run for three months."
They looked at me like I had lost my mind.
"What do you mean?"
Horses tell you everything if you're willing to listen.
Not with words.
With expression.
With body language.
With how they come back after a stressful work.
For years I stood at Palm Meadows watching horses return from fast gate works. Some would come back barely taking a deep breath. Those works became stepping stones.
Others came back looking like they had given you every ounce they had.
Those horses needed time.
Steve Asmussen knows horses as well as anyone alive. I knew when he saw Boldor after that work, he'd know exactly what I had seen.
Fast forward and its almost 90 days since I last saw Boldor..
Michael's surgery was a success.
The bill was right around $6,000.
Not once did we think twice about it.
There wasn't a place on this earth I wasn't willing to go or a dollar I wasn't willing to spend to give that sweet dog the chance to live the life he deserved.
We picked Michael up the next afternoon.
Still groggy.
Still tired.
Still fighting.
We made it back to Lexington with about an hour before the sixth race at Keeneland.
Boldor was making his debut.
I had already done my homework.
He was my single in the Late Pick Four.
The favorite was Larry Jones' Super Steed at 8-5.
Boldor drifted up to 9-2.
We settled Michael on the couch behind me. He was exhausted from surgery and slept peacefully while I stared at the television.
The gates opened.
Boldor broke sharply.
He led almost the entire way.
Inside the furlong pole, Super Steed came to him and looked like he was going by.
Boldor fought back, like Michael at a chance at a life.
Head down.
Heart exposed.
He refused to lose.
He won by a head.
I looked over my shoulder.
Michael was soundly asleep. He was sleeping peacefully.
Three races to go.
The seventh race fell our way with a $10 winner.
We made Michael his dinner.
He was still feeling the effects of surgery, but he ate a little.
Then came the eighth.
I loved an 18-1 shot named Anathella for Rusty Arnold and Brian Hernandez Jr.
She fought every step of the lane to win a thrilling stretch duel like she did it for Michael.
Now it was all down to the last.
Because I had singled Boldor, I was alive to just about everything.
French Empire won the finale at 7-2.
The $2 Pick Four paid $5,961.
Almost exactly what Michael's surgery had cost.
I have cashed bigger tickets.
Much bigger, but I've never cashed one that meant more.
That wasn't about the money.
That was about hope.
That was about faith.
It was ALL about Michael.
That was about a little puppy sleeping behind me on the couch after heart surgery, somehow finding a way to remind me that miracles still happen.
Eight years have passed.
Michael is older now.
Once again, we find ourselves waiting for answers.
The doctors believe it may be lymphoma. We don't have confirmation yet, but hearing the word "cancer" knocks the wind out of you.
I'm gutted.
He isn't just a good dog.
He's a great dog.
We'll do everything we can to give him the best quality of life possible. Whatever treatment is available, whatever options exist, we'll explore them.
And this is where I ask for your help.
If anyone has experience with canine lymphoma... if you know of specialists, clinical trials, new treatments, or anything that could help Michael, I would be forever grateful if you reached out.
He's a fighter.
This is my tribute to a wonderful animal, loveable, goofy enough to make you laugh and now cry.
He's already beaten the odds once.
Maybe.......Just maybe...
There is another miracle waiting for him.
I believed in one eight years ago.
I believe in one today.
I love you buddy
