When did you.....
 

..... become a racing fan? Were you taken to the track as a kid or did you fall in love with a certain horse, ie the post-9/11 we-need-a-hero-and-his-name-is-Smarty-Jones mentality? Were you taken to the track by friends or did you just kinda stumble into it, or did you grow up around horses and have a natural interest?

Tell me your story. :)

i've always been a complete horse nut. so it just came naturally to me. i remember the days of the slew crew, and i wanted alydar to beat affirmed. and then spectacular bid came along (i liked general assembly myself...i detect a pattern!)...but then, in '80, that big beautiful chestnut filly with a blazed face came along. oh man, that was it. you see, i'm a tomboy, always have been. and there she was duking it out with the boys, and she beat them. it was great. she was also my first derby horse to win...i love seattle slew, but didn't see him run til after the t.c. he was almost before my time....
i've got a tony leonard print of risk. she had tremendous heart, she was a tough gal on the track and now she's our senior derby winner.

2002 started paying attention.....
2003 became a fan...
2004 became addicted.

Point Given 2001

This is my first post. I've been reading posts for about a year and a half now, first at ESPN, now here. This site is much better. I really admire the involvement most of you have in the sport.
As to the topic, I've been following racing since the late 50's when my family watched any sport on TV and horse racing was popular. The names of famous racehorses, jockeys, owners, and trainers were household words. I remember the newspaper stories when Nashua's owner was shot, when Tim Tam broke down in the Belmont, and when Eddie Arcaro retired. I was hooked and really followed the sport the year that Kelso won the "Handicappers Triple Crown", when Carry Back made his triple crown bid. My favorites at that time were Kelso, Bowl of Flowers, and Jaipur.

For me it was when I was 5 or 6. I used to go to the track with me dad

For me it started in 1989 at age 12 when I watched the greatest horse race ever in that year's Preakness Stakes. I was (and remain) a HUGE Sunday Silence fan. I was a Triple Crown/Breeders' Cup fan for the next decade or so.
Then after I moved to NYC a few years back, the quality of the racing there hooked me as a year-round fan. And though I have sense left the greatest city in the world, I doubt I'll ever stop being a fan of the greatest sport in the world.

thanks for stepping up with your first post. looking forward to hearing more from you either on the "good old days" when the sport was much more popular, or your thoughts on the current scene.

well, welcome! what took ya so long?

lucky you to have seen all those fabulous horses, many of which most of us have only seen in pictures or the occasional grainy black and white film footage. kelso was an amazing horse.

Same story for me... although I rooted for Easy Goer. :)

I was hooked for life after Secretariat's Belmont. "He is moving like a tremendous machine." It still gives me chills.

I loved Easy Goer. My alltime favorite is Secretariat. I waited so long to join because I did feel a little intimidated by the inside knowledge that a lot of you seem to have, but tonight I figured what the heck. It's nice to be a part of a group that shares the same love and interest.

Welcome to the board! :D

I remember being very upset by Swale's death, but the first horse I ever followed from beginning to retirement was Gulch. Man, I loved that horse; he was so classy and even when he ran at distances beyond his best, he never quit. I was lucky to have him as my first horse.

Speaking of Easy Goer... one of his granddaughter's is being auctioned right now at Fasig Tipton.

My older sister never liked Secretariat, or rather never really respected him until that Belmont. During the running of the Preakness that year, I got to her house right after the field entered the backstretch and she said to me that it was Sham's race. When I saw the replay, I realized why she said that; if it had been any other horse making that move around the clubhouse turn, she would have been right. That race, as much as the Belmont, marked Secretariat as truly something special. After the Belmont, she called me up and said that he was a wonder horse, but she still didn't like him. Her favorite was Seattle Slew and before that Nashua. She won't hear of any case for Swaps maybe being the better racehorse.

oh man, i loved swale. a lot like his dad, which was my first reason for liking him. that was awful and so sudden to lose him that way.
gulch, i remember him. champ sprinter the same year that personal ensign beat him in the whitney. now she was something! but i think most remember gulch these days because he's thunder gulchs pop--but you could certainly be remembered for worse things!!

Two Words:
My Father
sat me down at age 2 and literally forced me to watch the 1973 Belmont

Two More Words:
Fred Hooper
a true champion of the sport, who I had the pleasure of knowing
attend Hooper Academy named for the Hall-of-fame owner & co-founder
of Gulfstream Park

Two More Words:
Mike Pawluk
his love from the sport is contageous and also unequaled
have learned a lot about the sport and also made a great friend

Two More Words:
Real Quiet
was down after graduating collegeand had no Mrs. Robinson to cheer me up
the colt was my Mrs. Robinson

special thanks also go to Pat Day, Jim McKay, The Miller's, John Jeremiah Sullivan, Byk, Personal Ensign, and Wil Harbut's pal "The Mostest"

I had the opportunity to meet Mr. Hooper while touring his farm down here (when it was around) as a child. He was a gentleman.