This story is about a thoroughbred racehorse named Doketo, who was owned and trained by the person telling the story. Doketo was a good racehorse, though not exceptional as he might have you believe. However, as the racetrack saying goes, he was better than an empty stall.

Life is like that. Friends and associates may not be exactly what you want, but in a very real sense, they can still be better than an empty stall. Doketo’s eventual owner learned this lesson as a 20-year-old boxer competing in the fiercely contested featherweight division of the 1954 Golden Gloves, where winners qualified for the Pan American Games.

The late veteran boxing judge Billy Oaths believed the young fighter had a strong chance of winning his division. His confidence came from the boxer’s previous bout, a stunning televised victory over a top-ranked U.S. featherweight in the opponent’s hometown just three months earlier. As the young boxer climbed the steps to the ring for his first Golden Gloves match before a large crowd, Billy called out, ‘C’mon, let’s get the ball rolling!’ The boxer, full of confidence, shouted back, ‘Don’t worry, Billy. This won’t last long.’

And it didn’t.

The referee stopped the fight in the first round, awarding a TKO win to the boxer’s opponent. While disappointed, Billy would likely have summed it up with the same racetrack wisdom: his boxer and Doketo were both better than an empty stall.