The birthday boy might not have been there, but he was still the man, err, horse of the hour Thursday night at the Carson Valley Inn's Shannon Ballroom in Minden.
CVI co-owner Mike Pegram's horse, Lookin At Lucky, still fresh off his win in the Preakness Stakes two weeks ago, celebrated his third birthday Thursday.
Pegram, along with trainer Bob Baffert and jockey Martin Garcia, were the special guest speakers at a dinner in Lucky's honor, regaling a crowd of 220 with their tales of racing adventure.
A video tribute to the horse was also shown.
The celebration continues today as the Pegram, Baffert and Garcia will be meeting the public and signing autographs in the cabaret lounge at the Carson Valley Inn from 10:30 to 11:45 a.m. and at the racebook in Bodines from noon to 1:15 p.m.
Lookin at Lucky was the favorite to win the Kentucky Derby on May 1, but after an unlucky draw for the pole position, he was cut off at the rail and finished sixth.
Still, he had a quickly-growing local fan base rooting him on.
"I wish I could've been here the day of the Preakness," Pegram said. "Everybody from the employees to the customers, they all got behind this horse. Northern Nevada kind of adopted this horse.
"They were saying it was like the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. You could just hear the air come out of the place when he got wiped out in the Derby and when he hit that finish line at the Preakness, the whole place came alive.
"There's no way we weren't going to have this party. Whatever it costs, it's worth every dollar. Just seeing the gleam and the joy in people's eyes, you see why you are in this sport. It makes you feel special. It makes you feel lucky, which is where you get the name. Lookin At Lucky.
"This party was our way, tonight and tomorrow, of saying thank you for the support."
Lookin at Lucky rode to a win in the Preakness in a time of 1:55.47, holding off pacesetter First Dude and a late charge from Jackson Bend under the direction of Garcia, who'd been brought in after the loss at the Derby.
"These last few weeks have been fun," Pegram said. "A whole lot more fun than being wiped out in 12 seconds in the Derby. That's horse racing though. You take the bad with the good. Loser's cry and winner's don't need to apologize.
"I hope I didn't cry after the Derby and I know I didn't apologize after the Preakness."
It was Baffert's first win in a triple crown race in eight years.
"(D.) Wayne Lukas and I talk about it all the time, you grow to appreciate it more when you do win one of the big ones," said Baffert, who won back-to-back Kentucky Derbys and Preaknesses in 1997 and '98. "After those first two, I was going 'Hey, this is going to be easy.'
"But it's just hard to come across good horses. Eight years, there were a couple Breeder's Cups in there to keep me going, but once that horse hit the wire, didn't seem like a long time at all."
Baffert said he was happier to see Lookin At Lucky in the winner's circle than he was to find himself back there.
"I was so elated for the horse, he deserved to win one of these," he said. "Especially with all the bad breaks he's had. I was starting to get little doubts about him because I started thinking maybe he's not as good as I thought.
"He kept getting this bad luck, but he just looked to great. When he won, that was just confirmation. He is a great horse and I was so excited for him."
Looking at Lucky won't be racing in the Belmont. His next stop will either be the Jim Dandy Stakes on July 31 at Saratoga Race Course or the Haskell Invitational on Aug. 1 at Monmouth Park. He may also race in the Travers Stakes on Aug. 28 at Saratoga. If things go well, Pegram said they could look at entering Lookin At Lucky in the Breeder's Cup Classic in November.
"Mike has had a winner in everything but the Belmont and he could easily win the Belmont with this horse," Baffert said. "But we want to take care of the horse. Mike loves the horse first, he's not going to do something just for his own satisfaction.
"I think he could win the Belmont, but I want to freshen him up. Our main concern is to keep him happy, sound and injury free. He's run hard since he was a 2-year-old but he's perfect. He won the Preakness as a 2-year-old. He's still about three months behind most horses he running against right now.
"He's still growing. We're going to freshen him up and starting in August, it'll be a pretty tough campaign."
