Page 19 - New Mexico Summer 2022

Pamela, Bob, Kevin, Jeff, Serena, Joanne and Leonard at the Belmont Stakes in 2015.
Doc, at right, and Jockey Calvin Borel celebrate following the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky., Saturday, May 2, 2009.
Photo by Matt Goins
Mine That Bird through traffic and past tiring horses.
In the end, Mine That Bird dispelled the idea that he was a one hit wonder by making a serious run at the Triple Crown.
One possibility that wasn’t explored is the fact Leonard Blach has a history, a track record, of beating big odds. In retrospect, if he could survive Stage 4 cancer, a horrible bus accident and a lightning strike, a win in the Kentucky Derby was certainly within his wheelhouse.
In the spring of 2018, Doc was having trouble swallowing and went to see his doctor in Roswell. X-rays and other tests showed there was some type of a tumor in his esophagus.
Doc spent five days at the M.D. Anderson cancer center in Houston undergoing
tests. Doctors found he had a form of adenocarcinoma, an often-aggressive form of
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