Saints draw inspiration from 2012 horse race

The New Orleans Saints’ team meeting Dec. 6 was an important one.

The team was coming off a 33-28 loss to the Detroit Lions, the team’s third consecutive setback, and coach Dennis Allen wanted to set the proper tone for his players and coaches.

Fans were on the warpath.

Media criticism was at a fever pitch.

In the eye of the storm, Allen wanted to convey a positive message to his team, so he cued up a YouTube video to illustrate his point.

The video was of a horse race. Specifically, the 2012 Breeders' Cup Marathon. The 1¾-mile race was won in last-to-first fashion by Calidoscopio, a long shot from Argentina known for his deep-closing style.

Early on, Calidoscopio trailed the 13-horse field by more than 20 lengths, before rallying furiously from the back of the pack to win by 4½ lengths at 17-1 odds. The stirring finish is one of the most memorable in Breeders' Cup history.

“It looked like he had no shot,” veteran safety Tyrann Mathieu said.

The same could be said for the Saints at the time the video was shown. They were 5-7 and mired in third place in the NFC South division. Their playoff odds were a paltry 27%, which was the reason Allen found the video applicable.

“At first, they (the players) were, like, what are we doing watching this horse race?” Allen said, with a smile. “But I thought it was applicable.

“It’s a long season. And it doesn’t matter how you start the season or where you’re at (in the standings) halfway through the season, it’s about how you finish. That was the message: We’ve got to finish strong.”

To underscore his point, Allen showed a slide listing the team’s remaining five opponents — the Panthers, Giants, Rams, Bucs and Falcons — and asked whether anyone thought they couldn’t win out the rest of the way. No one raised a hand.

The tone was set. 

“The point he was making is, it’s kind of a long season, a 17-game season, and the important part is where you finish,” veteran left guard James Hurst said. “He was talking about these last five games, just leave it all out there and know that where we were currently (at the time) doesn’t have to affect where we end up or the success we have this last month.”

So far, so good.

The Saints enter their prime-time matchup with the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night, riding a two-game winning streak. 

Back-to-back wins against the Panthers and Giants have pumped life back into the Saints' playoff hopes and invigorated the team's esprit de corps. If the Saints win their final three games, they’re assured of a playoff berth.

“At the time, it didn’t look too good for us, but steady wins the race,” Mathieu said. “You see all those teams out in front of you, and you think that you can’t catch them. I think the message was, you can catch them, but you have to put your feet in the ground and dig. I took (the message) as this is the point we need to step on the gas and race to the finish line.”

Coincidentally, the jockey that guided Calidoscopio home that day was Aaron Gryder, who just happens to be an ardent Saints fan.

Gryder met the Saints' executive director of communications, Doug Miller, in New York, where Gryder was racing at Belmont and Saratoga and Miller worked for the New York Jets under coach Bill Parcells. The two have stayed friends ever since, and Gryder’s allegiance quickly transferred to the Saints when Miller joined the club in 2006.

For Gryder, it was a special honor to learn his famous ride on Calidoscopio was being used as an inspirational message for his favorite team.

“I do a lot of public speaking, and I use the video of that race to tell people, 'Don’t ever give up,' ” Gryder said. “A lot of people didn’t have confidence in his (Calidoscopio) chances, but I was extremely confident. The lesson is: Don’t ever think you’ve lost until the race is over.”

Gryder, who retired from jockeying in 2020, said he tries to attend at least one Saints games a year from his home base in Los Angeles. He will be in the stands Thursday night at SoFi Stadium, which occupies the former site of Hollywood Park Racetrack, where Gryder won the riding the title in 1987 as an apprentice jockey.

"(Hollywood Park) used to be my home, now it's the home of the Rams and Chargers, so everything has kind of come full circle," Gryder said. "I'm excited about the game. I love football and am in awe of all athletes. It's an honor for me, so if the players get some inspiration from (the race video), that’s an incredible feeling for me.”

The stretch run of the Saints' season has arrived. If they can run the table and lap the field in the NFC ala Gryder and Calidoscopio, Allen’s Dec. 6 message will be seen as an inflection point for the team.

It's time to see what kind of finishing kick the Saints have.

“The message was, as long as you’re in the race you can win it,” Saints linebacker Zach Baun said. “We’ve never been counted out in this locker room, and everything (this season) is kind of unfolding like that horse race.”