On a day when Tiger Woods is expected to have a small battalion of Special Forces troupes to protect him from whatever is worse than having your 15 mistresses come out of the woodwork just months after YE Yang hijacks your PGA Championship trophy, may I take a minute to share two of my favorite Bodyguards in Racing moments…
As a Winner’s Circle photo: no contest – the ’09 First Lady at Keeneland…
When Diamondrella won, I was sitting in the Keeneland press box with Jim Williams and the communications team. We were playing the usual game of How Are People In The Winner’s Circle Related, and we were all particularly shocked by the overwhelming voluminously gigantic hat the blonde partner had on. Right as someone mentioned that IEAH principle Michael Iavarone was training to become an MMA fighter, I noticed the large man just over Iavarone’s left shoulder. The man is so big that poor jock Rajiv Maragh is pushed so far to the edge of the shot, he might as well be taking wagers at Drive Through Betting in the parking lot.
I know a racetrack is a wide open expanse, with a grandstand perfect for hiding snipers – and IEAH certainly had even fewer friends in the game when the photo was taken – but the only one’s worth that much effort to attack are (maybe) head’s of state.
Speaking of… Bodyguards in Racing moment: grandstand edition – coming off the Belmont press elevator, avoiding several Moving to Saratoga Next Week boxes, and rounding the last corner only to smack into the back of a refrigerator-esque man in a dark suit with an earpiece.
Having had the experience of growing up knowing a Secret Service agent and having met former Governor Elliott Spitzer in the Saratoga press box the year prior, it wasn’t the earpiece that threw me. It was the fact that at like 11:30am, it was still way too early for any dignitary to show up for a spontaneous presser.
Turns out Rachel Alexandra was running and owner Jess Jackson’s trip to the press box to chat up a reporter necessitated a team of Blackwater operatives. Yup: not just one, but four (that we saw!) – stationed at all corners, patting down several media members, and eyeing others. Scary enough, in a room where you can hear every mouse in the walls, these men were on their headsets and we couldn’t hear a word of it – Central Casting could not have found more intimidating men who managed to blend into a crowd in a room that small.
For the record, I appreciate the need for security – I truly do – racing is a sport of big animals, big egos, and even bigger insurance premiums. Therefore, I am never one to question Godolphin having ’round the clock guards in front of their stalls; or the FBI bomb squad taking over the Churchill basement; or security cameras in barns, be they stakes- or otherwise.
Having worked the PGA Championship and walked with Tiger last year, I totally understand the hysteria that comes with big names on big days. And – when it came to racing on the days mentioned above – yes, Iavarone and Jackson were two of the honcho-iest guys around.
No matter it’s basis in reality, the frenzy of a security detail certainly plays well into the eye of a camera lens. But one has to wonder if, at some point, the bulk of the pressure these folks are under isn’t really just a figment of their imaginations.
napping SkySports cameraman amid 3rd round chaos at Hazeltine
