About the time Utah and TCU reach the fourth quarter Saturday, the horses contesting one of the most intriguing Breeders Cup Classics in history will be driving desperately down the stretch at Churchill Downs.
There are Hollywood-like scripts in place.
Nobody knows if the Utes can beat the Horned Frogs or if undefeated super-mare Zenyatta will steal the final scene in the Breeders Cup the way Seabiscuit and Secretariat did in their movies.
But one thing is certain: one Utahn will be as interested in the horse race as the football game.
Spanish Fork's Lance Robinson is the co-breeder of Lookin at Lucky, the best 3-year-old thoroughbred in the country and a horse given a chance to snap Zenyatta's 19-race winning streak.
Robinson's fascination with racing began, oddly enough, while he was serving his LDS mission in the late 1970s.
For some divinely-inspired reason, the son of an Ogden-area dairy farmer/rancher and former pro rodeo star was stationed in Kentucky by his church.
"That's how it all started," he said. "... I guess they sent me to the right place."
On a break from his missionary duties, Robinson attended a thoroughbred sale, which provided a road map for the rest of his life.
At the sale, a first-crop son of Secretariat named Canadian Bound was purchased for a then-record $1.5 million, despite failing to win in four attempts on the race track.
"I grew up in Utah and the horses we had around weren't worth much," Robinson said. "For me, it was hard to absorb any animal was worth $1.5 million. I didn't know if they were using play money or what. But that's when I started thinking the thoroughbred business might be the place to be."
Today, Robinson co-owns Gulf Coast Farms in Ocala, Fla. with partner Jerry Bailey. There, his young horses are born and raised.
Robinson also owns a 100-acre quarter horse ranch in Spanish Fork, where this year's top-ranked two-year-old, American Runaway, was produced.
In 2008, a Robinson mare named Allamericandreamgirl gave birth to American Runaway, who this summer won the Ruidoso Futurity, finished second in the Remington Park and Rainbow Futurities and is the likely favorite in the $1.04 million Texas Classic Futurity on Nov. 13.
"People ask me, 'Did you plan on this?' " Robinson said. "But you can't plan on getting the best [baby] in the whole foal crop. ... Luckily, on our first fling, we came up with American Runaway."
In the Breeders Cup Classic, Robinson hopes Lookin at Lucky can beat Zenyatta and, by doing so, increase the value of his mother, a Gulf Coast mare named Private Feeling.
"With Zenyatta being undefeated, it adds pizzaz to the race," Robinson said. "But [trainer] Bob Baffert has had a lot of great horses and he's a firm believer in this horse. If [Lookin at Lucky] wins, it would mean a lot our program."
Just like the Utes.
Or TCU.
