Notes on the Text
Notes on the Text
The story of The Black Stallion could never
have happened in real life. The Black was an Arabian, and
Arabians do not race against Thoroughbreds at the majority of
American race tracks. However, in the early part of the 20th
century, interbreed, Thoroughbred vs Arabian races were allowed
(though never in the big stakes races such as those The Black ran
in). This fact gave Walter Farley's books some accuracy. I set my
story in the near future, and the original series makes up the
backstory. Alec Ramsay would be a very old man today, so I wrote
him as such.
Dark Strike's pedigree is partially
fictional, but with just enough real horse blood to make him
believable. He is a descendant of The Black, through his son
Satan and Satan's son Black Fire (who I made up). Black Fire
sired Dark Sands, who is the sire of Golden Sands, Dark Strike's
granddam. Golden Sands produced a daughter called Golden Strike,
by Smart Strike (a real Thoroughbred). Golden Strike was bred to
Fusaichi Pegasus in the spring of 2004. In April 2005 Dark Strike
was born, and five years after that, this story takes place.
Simple, huh?
A pinhooker is a person who purchases a
yearling or weanling at auction for a reasonable price, then
trains the horse and resells it, sometimes several times over the
price originally paid. Good pinhookers can see potential in very
young, undeveloped horses that many would pass right by.
The Dubai World Cup is a real race. Cigar
really did win the first one. I have never been to the United
Arab Emirates, but I tried to imagine what the track at
Nad-Al-Sheba would look like. I did light research on it online,
and figured I could wing a lot of the descriptions. I feel I've
succeeded:-)
The post position draw was totally made up,
though they do use eagles in some way during the process.
Gambling is illegal in the UAE. I don't know if the gambling
situation I have descibed could actually happen, but it's not a
major thing. The Sheik really does pay for the horses and
trainers to fly to UAE.
The race itself was pieced together with
slices of the most exciting races I've ever seen. The infamous
'staredown' tactic was used frequently by Silver Charm. The
'savageing' incident is the subject of a very famous photograph.
That's about all I can think of that I
needed to explain. If anything else stumps you, feel free to
email me @ sunflowerfarm1@prodigy.net
