How did you get into racing?

[pmayjr]

My family was never into it, but we'd watch the big races on TV (my pops is more into it now, we watch the races together, and Wire2Wire since we both get home early in the afternoon). When i was about 9 or 10, I remember watching Unbridled win the Derby. I was pissed that Mr Frisky didn't win lol.

I started getting serious with it when Canterbury Park re-opened in '95. by then I was 14 and could watch race-replays of ****ty 5k claiming events every night at midnight locaclly. Combo that with Cigar's streak, and I was hooked! My interest still kinda went up and down from year to year, but at least for the last 5-6 years I've been really inot it. Sites like this and ESPN only help matters.

[tanner12oz]

i was (and still am sometimes) a degenerate gambler. was betting sports, playin numbers and goin to the casino. it was a logical step. figured id check this out. i have an uncle thats in the business as well and once he found out i was into racing we started talkin alot and goin to races.

[kenny p]

In the early 70s I worked in produce with " wiseguys' . They owned trotters. Every friday for about 8 weeks I won more than my salary. this was at Roosevelt Raceway. Kellytuck Direct and Greentree Phantom are 2 that I remember. Then I went to the flats at the Big A and that was the end of my trotter career. I still like going to Aqueduct. KP

[saucon17]

Hey Pillow you had it good growing up at Laurel, I spent my days at Penn National, Philly, Charles Town before they had slots. I started getting interested when Unbrildled won the Derby. During my high school years we use to spend my summers working at Delaware. Then when I graduated high school moved to Kentucky and worked the Keeneland Sales and the various surrounding racetracks. Moved back to Pennsylvania in 2000 to help my dad to take care of my mom who has Alzeimhers. In the early 90's dad got into a small partnership at Penn and owning couple of cheap claimers. We eventually owned horses at Delaware because our trainer moved there. Now we currently run at Delaware and Oaklawn. We currently have 2 two year olds, a yearling, and a 4yo mare in foal.

[sham]

My first memory of horse racing was reading about Swaps while waiting to get a hair cut as a young boy. I didn't really get interested until a certain big red 2yo starting making noise in 1972.

[infield_line]

took me to watch the morning workouts at Hollywood Park in about 1954-55 I'm guessing. Then move to L'ville 40 year later and loved hanging out at the Downs, but did not get serious about learning to handicap until I discovered I was the older brother of the famous Hooves.............lol

Still learning all that I can afford, more or less... will play until they make me stop in the retirement home.

Chris

[2MinsToPost]

Sitting in a bar in Grove City Ohio talking to the guy next to me and he said why don't you come tomorrow, meet me over at such and such place. Hooked since. Made many friends at the track and the barns. Burned a lot of cash. Love every aspect of this game and crave information like mad. Love the stars of the show, the horses, like no other.

Originally Posted by 2MinsToPost

Sitting in a bar in Grove City Ohio talking to the guy next to me and he said why don't you come tomorrow, meet me over at such and such place. Hooked since. Made many friends at the track and the barns. Burned a lot of cash. Love every aspect of this game and crave information like mad. Love the stars of the show, the horses, like no other.

2Mins, where do you go when Beulah is closed?

[2MinsToPost]

Originally Posted by Blue Eyes

2Mins, where do you go when Beulah is closed?

I actually hang at Beulah thru the year. Facilities suck on the whole, but I know a lot of the cats their. I can be found at Scioto Downs from May thru September on many a Friday and or Saturday in Box 53. That is my box now baby, put a deposit down on it for the season next year. I have an online wagering account and prefer the creature comforts of home. I spend every Friday afternoon now at Beulah, simulcast hall lower level usually first table on the left. Ask Herb, he'll point you the way.

Hey Kyrosesinmay, my friend said he'll check to see if anyone has a exercise saddle for sale at the track.

I whored myself! and all it got me was a job hotwalking
at least in Hollywood I'd have a line on Law & Order

[ddthetide]

like so many others, my grandfather would sometimes take me to the track in the mornings, hagerstown fairgrounds. eventually closed but was used for a training facility and stables. horses would then ship to the OLD charles town
or the 3 baltimore tracks.
i would then follow the triple crown races but to me thats all there was to racing until i was much older.
after the internet got big i began to follow it again.
three years ago i spent opening fall weekend at keeneland and the following spring i went to CD for the kentucky oaks. that hooked me. even hooked my wife and she had NEVER been to a track.

[Sightseek]

So I think the solution to the lack of interest in racing is for all of us to have lots and lots of grandkids!

[kentuckyrosesinmay]

Originally Posted by Blue Eyes

Hey Kyrosesinmay, my friend said he'll check to see if anyone has a exercise saddle for sale at the track.

Thanks, I appreciate it...

[sumitas]

i loved watching the races on tv as a kid. and reading about them in the paper...kids really identify with the horses as only kids can. but the feeling always stayed with me...Carry Back was my hero.

[paisjpq]

I have been thinking about this since I saw this thread few days ago, I was amazed at myself because I couldn't remember how I got in to racing...sumitas just jogged my memory...
My very first exposure to racing was reading all of the walter farley books when I was in grade school...no one in my family had or has any interest in horse or racing...but I was bitten early.
My first trip to the track came @ age 11 (saratoga). First time sitting on a TB @ 13 (my best friend had one off the track named Buster Brown).
And it all went down hill from there, my mother is still trying to figure out where she went wrong. I told her it was that we had to drive past a horse farm on the way to my piano lessons when i was 5...

[Downthestretch55]

I've been around horses since I was a kid.
My first time at a track was back in the '80s..Meadowlands trotters.
Then Toga with my sons many times.
When my mother had a teminal illness in her old age, I tended to her needs.
To pass the time, I'd put her telivision on to the Derby preps, then the TC races. Talk about a "red boarder"!!! I'd pick one before the race. After they crossed the line, she'd say, "that was the one I liked in the post parade!"
Bless her heart. Those races gave her something to forget the pain for a little while.
After she passed on, I got a call from a friend. I had gone to the Belmont with her and her husband, the Real Quiet /Victory Gallop one. My friend had an in with the Jim Jerkens barn, and they ran the 3rd place finisher, Thomas John. Anyway, she asked me if I was interested in buying a race horse.
Seems the gentleman that owned him had gotten very far behind in his "barn bill". So, to make a long story short, I bought the colt and his dam with some money that my mother left to me. That was eight horses ago.
Still love them, still a thrill.
Race on!

[31lengths]

Funny Cide.

[GPK]

My very first experience with horses cam through my uncle. He is known throughout the States as a famous trainer of Tennessee Walking Horses. Traveled with him a few different times, the biggest one being "Celebration" in Tennessee. I used to marvel at the size of some of those horses. His wife had one of her own...never will forget him...biggest freaking horse I ever laid eyes one. His name was MASTER MINDER and he was jet black. What a beautiful specimen he was.

[repent]

Originally Posted by Sightseek

Whether you're a casual fan, handicapper or work in the business, how did you get involved?

its the most intellectual form of gambling that I know of.
simple as that.



Repent