Uncle Sigh continues McEwen's quest to aid veterans

Last updated: 5/1/14 6:08 PM

The Purple Heart will be on display Derby Day thanks to Chip McEwen and Uncle Sigh

(Lauren Pomeroy/Horsephotos.com)

Wounded Warrior Stables and Anthony Robertson’s Uncle Sigh, who had an
unofficial half-mile “mini-breeze” on Wednesday, jogged a mile the wrong way
under Benito Alvarado before visiting the starting gate Thursday morning.

“He’s kicking-the-walls-down good,” said trainer Gary Contessa, whose New
York-bred trainee was clocked in :52 4/5 for a lung-opening half-mile Wednesday.

Uncle Sigh was wearing blinkers and the yellow hood decorated with a Purple
Heart that he will wear for the first time in the Derby. The hood matches the
colors of George “Chip” McEwen’s Wounded Warrior Stables.

McEwen, who has owned horses for 17 years, renamed his stable two years ago
to bring attention to the plight to service people wounded and killed in
Afghanistan.

“It’s not about me. It’s about them and it’s about getting them in the
forefront of people’s minds again, because it’s easy to forget that we’ve been
at war since 2001 in Afghanistan — 13 years we’ve been over there,” McEwen
said. “Kids are getting shot over there every day and nobody thinks about it.”

Wounded Warrior Stables donates 10 percent of its horses’ purse earnings and
his pin-hooking business to various veteran organizations, including the Seal
Foundation, Green Beret Foundation, Wounded Warrior Project and Retrieving
Freedom.

McEwen, who owns a pharmaceutical business in South Carolina, was returning
from a trade show in Las Vegas two years ago when he and the other passengers on
a plane were asked to allow a wounded war veteran to get off the plane first.

“So off comes his kid who’s 27 whose dad is walking him with his arms
underneath his. He’s walking him down the aisle. The kid’s walking because he
still had his arms and legs, but he didn’t have his faculties because he was hit
on the head by an IED. Behind him was his wife and an 18-month-old baby. He had
a five-year-old girl and his mother.

“Right then I realized that not only was he injured but the whole dynamic of
the family has changed forever. He went from being the breadwinner to somebody
having to have people take care of him,” said McEwen, emotionally recalling the
sad scene that spurred him into action.

“Right then, I decided to do something different. What’s going to happen to
his five-year-old and his 18-month-old? How are they going to go to school? How
are they going to get fed? Who’s going to pay the bills?”

Wounded veterans Keith David, Scott Schroeder, Nate Whiting, a Green Beret
whose brother was killed in Iraq, and his parents will be among Wounded Warrior
Stables’ guests at Churchill Downs Saturday.

“We’re excited to have them here. It’s a special day for us and this horse.
Every horse owner’s dream is to get to the Derby,” McEwen said. “We’re hoping
for a miracle, like everybody else.”

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