[Dunbar]

I grew up in Miami before there were any professional sports teams there. With 3 major tracks and no Dolphins/Marlins/Heat, horseracing got lots of TV-Sports coverage. I liked watching the Saturday TV races, too. Nashua was my first favorite. The match race with Swaps was a big deal.

Like Danzig, I ate up the Black Stallion books. I had the "Kentucky Derby Game", too. That's the one with the spinner and the 5 horses, each a different color. Whirlaway (purple) became my favorite in that game. (I'll bet several here could name the other 4 horses and their colors!)

We had family friends who owned some pretty good horses. One friend raced the stakes winner Stratmat. Another friend won the Belmont with Sherluck, denying Carry Back a triple crown.

By the time I was in high school, I was doing some very amateurish capping. I even wrote a letter to the Miami Herald applying for a job as their capper. (didn't even get a response!)

My fan interest dropped some in college, but the Affirmed/Alydar rivalry and then the Breeder's Cup jumped it back up again.

With the ever-shorter racing careers I keep thinking my fan-interest will fade away, but so far it hasn't.

Hooves asked "what made you play the horses as your gambling of choice". I understand and agree with the thought that horseracing is the most intellectually challenging form of gambling. That's not enough to make it my game of choice, though.

My game of choice involves a number of factors. The game's 'expected value' (EV), is a big factor. When I make a blackjack bet or play video poker, I KNOW I have some measurable positive EV. In most cases, the expected value of a horse bet is pretty subjective. There are just a few times a year when I am 99% sure I have an edge with a horse bet. So I spend more time with other forms of gambling.

--Dunbar