Blog Archives for May 2011
A Derby Story – 2011
By Gary Elder
Soldat Nehro was getting excited about his upcoming trip to America. The Egyptian native and professional dog trainer had been out of Egypt only once before, living in Britain for a year while attending school. But the idea of going to the United States held twice the appeal.
He wasn’t really sure when his fascination with America began, but it probably had a lot to do with his uncle, Mohammad Nehro. Uncle Mo (that’s what everybody called him) did a lot of business in the U.S. and he loved to tell stories about his trips and the experiences he had there. He was quite the mucho, macho man and as a young boy Soldat and his friends couldn’t wait for one of Uncle Mo’s stories. He’d talk about New York and Chicago and other big cities. And, yes, he’d even been to Disney World (Animal Kingdom was his favorite).
While in Britain, Soldat became friends with a Londoner, Arch Shackleford. Arch had spent a summer in America a couple of years earlier and through a friend had gotten to spend a few days at sea with the well-known Santiva Salt Water Fishing team, based in southern Florida. He couldn’t stop talking about it. He’d get so excited telling the story about his fishing expedition; it was like someone had lit his pants on fire. He’d start gesturing wildly and jumping around as he relived the experience.
“Man, we’d been fighting this 8-foot blue fin for like six hours!” he said. “Finally, we got to this decisive moment when we knew we were either going to reel him in or we were going to have to cut him loose. That’s when those guys went to work with brilliant speed. I mean they were really dialed in, and the next thing you knew that sucker was on the deck of our boat. What a rush!”
“Arch, Arch, Arch,” Soldat said, rolling his eyes. “I get it. It was really fun and exciting, but come on. You need to bring it down a bit.”
Nonetheless, Arch’s enthusiasm only stoked Soldat’s desire to see America for himself. And now, three years later, that chance had finally come.
Over the years, Soldat’s work with dogs had started to gain some attention. In fact, in some circles he was affectionately called the “Master of Hounds” for his way with the animals. And thanks to his growing reputation he landed a client who wanted Soldat to show one of his dogs at a major show in New York.
“Can you do it?” asked the client.
Soldat thought to himself, “Are you kidding? Just watch me go!” But he simply said, “Yes I can.”
So, off they went – Soldat, the client and a dog named Comma, who always seemed to stay thirsty. Soldat thought Comma was sort of an odd name for a dog, but he’d seen worse – like Derby Kitten – so he didn’t make a big deal out of it. But a few days before the show, he asked the owner about the name, just out of curiosity.
“Well,” said the client, “his daddy, named Twinspired – something to do with that famous horse track in Kentucky, I think – and his mother, Midnight Interlude, didn’t exactly hit it off at first; there was a bit of a pause in the courtship. So when he was finally born, that’s how we came up with Comma. Get it? Pause. Dog paws?”
Soldat was sorry he asked. But none of that mattered now. He was finally going to America. And he was going to enjoy every minute of it. And he was going to take Comma to the top.
New West Senior Account Manager and All-Around Creative Guy Gary Elder has been writing these Derby stories, using the names of every horse in the race (in this case including Uncle Mo, who was a late scratch), for more than a decade.
