sweetwater oak loses the rider. a jockey dangles from his horse s neck as half a dozen others charge toward the finish. february 3rd, 1989, i had the ride of my life. it s a cold, wet day for a horse race. the kind most jockeys dread. but nate hubbard is new to the sport, an apprentice. just 19 years old. and excited to be at golden gate field with a horse he s never ridden. a filly named sweetwater oak. i wasn t too concerned about the track conditions. for some reason i did pretty good in the rain and mud. tom chapman is also riding in the race. the mud was actually like pea soup. it s always dangerous because at times when it is like that, it s a little bit slippery. the horses line up at the starting gate. the first race of the day. they re off.
rider. current lady in front. the next thing you know, she s popped back up and i just happened to be hanging on her neck. riders, please watch out. nate hubbard manages to stay on the horse and grabs hold of her neck. it s the only thing keeping him from being trampled by the other horses coming from behind at 40 miles an hour. i looked back behind me and nate is hanging off this horse s neck. i was just like shocked. nate is hanging on for dear life as sweetwater oak continues to run the last stretch of the race. i m looking at her in her eye, i m just hanging on to her neck. i really had no idea how i got there. it was just a blessing that i was able to just have something to hold on to and she was able to hold me up. sweet water oak places second that day. according to the rules, as long as the rider doesn t touch the ground, the filly has carried
her weight across the finish line. to nate hubbard, sweetwater oak did more than carry her weight. she saved his life. really didn t feel the danger of it until a couple hours afterward, then it still never really sank in until you get a little older and you think how precious life is and what really could have happened. oh, my gosh. it s another chilling scene, this time on the slopes of park city, utah. a 12-year-old boy dangles from a chair lift 30 feet in the air while witnesses stand helpless below. we were coming up, and the first thing we heard a scream, and we looked up. vaughn grew up skiing in the utah mountains, familiar with the winding trails and steep terrain. for him the chair lift is a peaceful break, a chance to relax between runs. but this normally carefree ride. abruptly turns to horror when vaughn and his family face a boy in a desperate struggle. at that time we didn t know what was going on.
tom chapman, riding current lady, is among the early front-runners. nate hubbard and sweetwater oak hang back in fifth place. as the horses round the far turn, chapman makes a break for the lead. current lady cruising on by on the outside. and now tom chapman s got his eyes on that first place finish. back in front, current lady takes the lead. but nate s horse, sweetwater oak, is coming up from behind. in no time at all, hubbard is riding side by side with chapman. you can hear him yelling at his horse, i can hear him coming up from the outside. it s current lady on the inside, on the outside sweet water oak. my filly started to drift in just a little bit. right when i reached up to grab her is when just a split second too late is when she clipped tommy s horse. i could feel my filly take kind of a funny step. and i thought, god, we collided. sweetwater oak stumbles. sweetwater oak loses the rider. current lady in front. the next thing you know, she s popped ba
happened to be hanging on her neck. riders, please watch out. nate hubbard manages to stay on the horse and grabs hold of her neck. it s the only thing keeping him from being trampled by the other horses coming from behind at 40 miles an hour. i looked back behind me and nate is hanging off this horse s neck. i was just like shocked. nate is hanging on for dear life as sweetwater oak continues to run the last stretch of the race. i m looking at her in her eye, i m just hanging on to her neck. i really had no idea how i got there. it was just a blessing that i was able to just have something to hold on to and she was able to hold me up. sweet water oak places second that day. according to the rules, as long as the rider doesn t touch the ground, the filly has carried her weight across the finish line. to nate hubbard, sweetwater oak did more than carry her weight. she saved his life. really didn t feel the danger