Maybe you’re not aware of Sham, the horse with the broken heart.

He died in 1993, near the end of my first year in college, the year I lost my grandma.

Sham’s death was certainly meaningless for most; there wasn’t much press coverage for a race horse who, had he been in his prime any other year but 1973, probably would have been a Triple Crown winner.

But that was Secretariat’s year, and though Sham tried hard in those races and ran impressive times, he always ended up eating Secretariat’s shadow. You can watch the videos of those three races; towards the end of the last race, the Belmont Stakes, Sham attempted to go nose-for-nose early on—and he did for a while—but you can almost see his heart breaking. He came in last, when it was all said and done. His speed and skill were tremendous, but it wasn’t enough. He never raced again after that race.