[King Glorious]

I would go over my grandfather's house and no matter what was going on, he'd always go to another room at a certain time of night. Turns out it was when the race replays show was on. I started going in and watching with him. I didn't know anything about the races but I liked the action. I'd say that hearing Trevor Denman call the races was what really excited me the most. The next year, I started paying more attention and was really drawn in watching Snow Chief in the SA Derby. By the end of the year, watching on tv wasn't enough so I told my grandfather that I wanted to go to the track for my 16th birthday. Just so happened that this was the same day as the BC at Santa Anita in 1986. First bet I ever placed was on Capote in the BC Juvenile.

The interesting thing for me is that I don't care for the gambling part of the sport. If I see something that I like, I'll play it. Sometimes it's weeks or months between plays for me. What's even more interesting is that I don't like horses at all. Never have. Well, I like them when they are racing and winning but that's all. If they can't win or once they retire, I don't care anymore. I think that the fun part for me is trying to decipher the form and how a race will turn out. I like watching horses that don't need anything. They don't need a certain track, a certain condition, pace, weight, level of competition, etc.; they just go out there and take the race to the others. I like flat out speed. Give me a horse that is going to run as fast as he can as far as he can and that's a horse I'll follow.

I like the promise of tomorrow. Seeing an exciting 2yo that I think could be the next big thing is what keeps me. I don't care so much about the Derby. We all know that's a crapshoot race anyway. I remember in April I said that I didn't know if Curlin would win the Derby or not but that by the end of the year, he'd leave no doubt as to who the best 3yo was. I care about the entire season and watching things unfold.

I care about the top races and the top horses. I know that the claiming game is the backbone of the sport but I have no interest whatsoever in watching the lower levels of racing. If it's not grade one or two, I'm not interested. Which makes it hard to keep interest these days because the lines between top horses and middle level horses has never been so blurred.

I love the trainers like Lukas and Biancone. They aren't afraid to step out of the box and try unconventional things. I don't like the guys that pigeonhole their horses into certain things and stay there.

I'm disappointed that next year, we will be without so many of the top horses from this year. Street Sense is gone. Lawyer Ron is gone. Hard Spun, AGS, Octave, Dylan Thomas, etc. It's basically like starting over from scratch each year. But the prospect of seeing War Pass turn into an all-time great will have me back next season.