COURAGE IN THE SADDLE
Brenn Hill/Red Cliffs Press Music (BMI)

Verse 1:
My name is Bobby Adair listen to my tale
It ain’t much of a story so you’d better listen well
In Southeast Oklahoma when I was but a boy
I ran many a match race and I never wanted more
I believed then I could ride anything with hair
Then one California mornin’ I found myself there
At Los Alamitos Race Course in 1962
Where the story starts and ends is where you find the dream comes true

Chorus:
Courage in the saddle
Face into the wind
You ride each time like you won’t live again
If you’re gonna ride to win son it’s gonna be a battle
You better have a heart of steel
And courage in the saddle

Verse 2:
Anna Dial was ten to one in ’64 on May the 9th
We were twenty-five-large richer when she crossed the finish line
Night races at Bay Meadows ’68 to ‘73
There never was a jockey who had won as much as me
We were back at Alamitos in May of ‘84
Thick fog down the straightaway, mud on the racetrack floor
John Critter on “Face in the Crowd” turned left in front of me
And the bottom side of runnin’ hooves was all that I could see

Repeat Chorus

Verse 3:
Crushed my foot and ankle, my shoulder, and my face
But my longin’ for the racetrack no surgery could replace
So as a twenty year Outrider I’ll finally retire
From the course at Alamitos the place I first caught fire
And the years have passed right through me I’ll never be the same
And the changin’ times and politics we ought to be ashamed
For we’re short of field and horses Midwest jockeys they’re all through
Where the story starts and ends is where you find the dream comes true

Final Chorus

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