My dad somehow got into it (I don't know how, he passed before I realized I was also in love with it, so we never talked to much about it) and used to take my brother and I to Raceway Park in Toledo once in awhile. At the time, I was too young to know anything, but enjoyed rooting for the best, "coolest" sounding names. I remember him "calling" races as we drove on the highway back then ("It's Marty's Red Car three-wide on the outside!"). I also remember going to thoroughbred tracks on occasion during family vacations (much to mom's chagrin -- she never cared about it at all).
Still not understanding anything about handicapping, I'd drag my friends to Raceway later on in high school for the occasional fun night of betting blindly on odds and hoping it make a few bucks. I was/am a huge fan of sports, so I took note of the Derby every year, but then I'd forget about the sport until the next spring, for the most part (save for the Raceway trips now and then).
In '97 I moved to San Jose, California and took advantage of the fact that Bay Meadows was thirty minutes up the road. I found myself going every chance I got -- and then drive an hour up the other side of the Bay when they switched to Golden Gate. I had known how to read PPs since I was a kid, but didn't really understand them. At a bookstore, I picked up Beyer on Speed, absorbed what I could, then picked up Betting Thoroughbreds, then everything else I could get my hands on about the sport. By the War Emblem Triple Crown run I was hooked completely. Went to all three races at the local tracks to watch and wager and was crushed when he came up short.
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