By Bill Finley
As much as he likes his horses and loves to win major races, Rick Porter's emphasis of late has not been on the racetrack but on his health issues. For the last few years, Porter has been battling lymphoma and has not had much good news concerning the disease until this week when released from Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Porter, 77, had been there undergoing a clinical trial.
“I just got home today,” Porter said Thursday. “I had my last appointment as part of a clinical trial and there was good news. The treatment was very successful. I had a scan yesterday and it showed there's very little lymphoma left. That means a lot for not just me but for all the people who have what I have. That the clinical trial went well is excellent news.”
Since his diagnosis, Porter has not been able to attend all of the races of his top horse, Songbird (Medaglia d'Oro) in person, but he said he will be at Delaware Park Saturday when his champion filly heads the GI Delaware H. It's an important race for Porter and not just because of the big purse and the Grade I status.
Porter is a Delaware native and caught the racing bug when attending the races at Delaware Park with his parents when he was a child. But the Del 'Cap is a victory that has eluded him, despite his having run two outstanding horses. Eventual Horse of the Year Havre de Grace (Saint Liam) lost by a nose at 3-5 in 2011 and Jostle (Brocco) finished forth at 4-5 in 2001.
“It is important,” Porter said. “No. 1, I don't like to go 0 for 3 at anything and, No. 2, it is the Delaware Handicap. It has a lot of history, especially with Mrs. (Jane) Lunger and all the great fillies and mares she brought to the race. I'd love to have my name as the winner of the 80th edition of the Delaware H.”
Songbird is the 1-5 morning line favorite and faces six others. Not only does she have a huge class and speed figure advantage on her rivals, she has already proven herself at the tricky distance of a-mile-and-a-quarter (in the GI Alabama) and should be as tight as she can be after she won the GI Odgen Phipps Stakes in her first start in more than seven months.
“I go on what Mike Smith tells me,” Porter said. “He calls me after every work. He was really high on a couple of her last works and I asked him, 'Mike do you think the mile-and-a- quarter makes any difference regardless of the competition, would it matter if we ran against Stellar Wind (Curlin) or Vale Dori (Arg) (Asiatic Boy {Arg})?' He said, 'She's ready, the Odgen Phipps made a big difference. She's ready for a mile-and-a- quarter, she's ready for anything you want to do with her.'”
After her appearance in the Delaware H., Havre de Grace made her next start against males in the GI Woodward at Saratoga. She won that race by 1 1/4 lengths and it was the primary reason she was named 2011 Horse of the Year. Porter is ready to take the same route with Songbird, who has never faced males.
“I will seriously look at the Woodward,” Porter said. “I have already warned Jerry (Hollendorfer) because I know it's going to be a problem with him. But I can convince Jerry the Woodward is the right race. I think she deserves to be Horse of the Year at some time in her career. I know that's going to be very tough this year with Arrogate (Unbridled's Song) out there, but in order for us to have any chance to be Horse of the Year we have to beat the boys. If she belongs in the Woodward and I think she can win, I will very seriously consider it and she will probably run in it.”
Havre de Grace would go on to run in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, but Porter said that as long as Arrogate remains on the scene, Songbird will not go anywhere near him.
“I'm not going to run against a freak like Arrogate, he's just something super,” Porter said.
Owning Songbird is obviously a pleasure, but Porter didn't want to fall back on the cliche that she's helped him deal with his health issues. That role, he said, has been played by his family
“There are much more important things than a race horse that come into your life when you have lymphoma,” he said. “I have been married to the same person for 55 years and I have a wonderful, supportive family. They are a lot more important and bring me what I need more so than a race horse. But certainly the horses get my mind off those problems when I start talking horse racing and Songbird.”
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