Mark Toothaker, a thoroughbred trainer with Spendthrift Farms, goes to attending the Kentucky Derby this weekend to cheer on Spendthrift’s Further Ado. That won’t have been occurring if it wasn’t for an uncommon coincidence — that began with a missed field goal.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Toothaker stated that he was watching the New York Giants on “Monday Night Football” in December when a whiffed kick from Younghoe Koo made him chortle so onerous that he obtained a seizure.
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The defining second got here within the second quarter of the loss to the New England Patriots, as Koo tried a 47-yard field goal. Instead, Koo tripped as he went for the kick and missed the ball completely, main the Giants to show the ball over on downs.
The miss, Toothaker stated, prompted him to chortle extremely onerous, to the purpose of getting a seizure, which he described as like being “electrocuted.” His spouse Malory, a nurse at a rehabilitation hospital with expertise with mind accidents, initially thought her husband was joking however referred to as 911 to move him to a hospital.
A CT scan later revealed a “tennis ball-sized” mind tumor in Toothaker’s mind. At University of Kentucky’s hospital, the tumor, which turned out to be benign, was eliminated. Toothaker was launched by the tip of the week with out struggling any long-term harm — all of which he credit to Koo.
“[The] kicker saved my life because it could’ve happened any other time,” Toothaker advised the AP. “I wholeheartedly believe I was in the right spot at the right time, and he was the trigger for that happening. It was a miracle.”
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Koo was released by the Giants two weeks after the failed kick. Toothaker advised the AP that he would love for Koo to be his visitor on the Kentucky Derby; nevertheless, the 31-year-old kicker doesn’t appear open to the thought, and didn’t reply to the AP when requested to touch upon the story.
Toothaker, per Spendthrift Farms’ website, is a stallion gross sales supervisor for the breeding farm. Further Ado, Spendthrift’s horse, at the moment has the second-best odds at the Kentucky Derby at 6-1, and can race within the No. 18 place at Churchill Downs.