Holy cow! Pato O'Ward finally milks a cow before Indy 500, hoping to break his streak of heartbreak

INDIANAPOLIS — Pato O'Ward learned this week that it behooves Indianapolis 500 drivers to take part in the rookie tradition of milking a cow if they ever want to drink the stuff in victory lane upon winning ''The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.''

Problem is that O'Ward never got that opportunity — until Friday.

One day after lamenting that his Indy 500 debut occurred amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the Indiana Dairy Association and his Arrow McLaren team came through for him. The folks at Silverstone Farms in nearby Greenfield, Indiana, loaded up a cow named Rihanna and trucked her to the track on Friday, where she was waiting for O'Ward at the crack of dawn.

O'Ward, one of the most charismatic and popular drivers in the paddock, was udderly amazed.

''Woke up for some morning milking, and it was a really cool experience,'' he said, flashing a big smile. ''Very warm. You know, gotta warm her up. Yeah, she was fabulous. Did you see a video at least? You'll see. First try.''

Yep, first tug and there came the stream of milk.

Perhaps that's a good omen as O'Ward chases his first Indy 500 win. He has finished second twice in the most important race of the season, and has talked candidly about how Indianapolis Motor Speedway has repeatedly broken his heart.

Maybe the fact that he hadn't milked the cow was the karma keeping him from victory lane.

The high-steaks effort to get a cow to the speedway before Sunday's race came after O'Ward sat for a press conference Thursday with Robert Shwartzman, who earned the pole as an Indy 500 rookie. Shwarzman dutifully took part in the traditional milking earlier in the week, and as he explained: "The woman, she came to me and said, ‘The people who didn't milk the cow, they never won the Indy 500,' and they were like (did not finish). It's bad luck.''

Shwartzman pointed out that Alexander Rossi milked the cow when he won as a rookie in 2016.

''You have to milk the cow,'' Shwartzman said, describing his personal experience with a ''very calm, cute'' cow named Indy.

To which O'Ward declared: ''I'm going find a cow, and I'm going to milk it tonight."

''We know some farmers who know some cows who can make that happen,'' the Indiana Dairy Association responded on X.

It only took them a day.

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AP auto racing: https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing