Meadowlands Pace: Family finds comfort and joy with Brandon's Cowboy

July 9, 2004

On Saturday night in Michigan, Roger Cochran and his wife, Evelyn, will sit at their computer and watch Brandon's Cowboy compete in one of the three $1 million Meadowlands Pace elimination races. In Florida, their son, Jeff, and daughter-in-law, Amanda, will be listening to the call of the race on the phone.

Brandon's Cowboy has become a part of their family even though they do not own any percentage of the horse, nor do they even know anyone affiliated with him. Brandon's Cowboy has become part of the Cochran clan simply because he has provided them with a diversion, and some joy, during a difficult period in their lives.

On February 23, Brandon Cochran was born to Jeff, 30, and Amanda, 24. His birth was nearly two months premature, precipitated when Amanda began to hemorrhage and was rushed to the hospital. Doctors told the Cochrans that if another hour had passed, it was likely that both Brandon and Amanda would have died.

Brandon, who has a 3-year-old sister named Faith, spent a month in the neonatal intensive care unit before eventually becoming strong enough to leave the hospital.

Soon thereafter, Roger Cochran was home in Pentwater, Michigan, surfing the Internet. The 60-year-old retired minister saw a headline about Brandon's Cowboy preparing for an upcoming race, and he called his son.

"I told him I had a coincidental feeling," Cochran said. "I told him he should go to Tampa Bay Downs and put some money on Brandon's Cowboy to win. We're not big racetrack people, but I just thought it would be a good thing. I thought, 'Brandon is doing good, and this horse is going to win.' My wife's brother and a nephew were in town. We gathered around the computer and we're watching this race, and my son is listening on the phone, and we're cheering him on - and Brandon's Cowboy wins."

"I think he paid $3.40 to win, so I told my son to cash the tickets and keep the money in Brandon's medical fund. We didn't get financially rich on the bet, but we were richer for the experience of both Brandons in our lives."

The Cochrans continued to follow Brandon's Cowboy, and were thrilled by his nose victory over Four Starzzz King in the Berry's Creek final at the Meadowlands on May 8. That was Brandon's Cowboy's fifth straight win, although he has won just once in four races since then. About that same time, Jeff Cochran was diagnosed with skin cancer. Jeff is undergoing a second round of chemotherapy after the cancer was found to have spread to additional tissue, but it has not spread to his bone marrow.

"The prognosis was much better after finding that out," Roger Cochran said. "It seems like we've had some parallel weeks with Brandon's Cowboy. It seems that if my son and Brandon are doing well, then Brandon's Cowboy does well. We're always looking for Brandon's Cowboy to do well. In the midst of some difficult days, it's given us something to look forward to and root for.

"We've been through a tremendous amount of stuff," Cochran said, adding that Jeff was once electrocuted and Amanda survived a car accident that left her in a coma for a month and uncertain whether she would ever be able to have kids (hence, the name Faith for the couple's first-born).