what got you in .. why is horseracing ...

[letswastemoney]

Originally Posted by Cajungator26

First race I remember seeing as a kid was the Wood Memorial... a big chestnut horse named Easy Goer won it and I've been hooked ever since. I never have been into the gambling aspect of it in a huge way, but I'll admit that figuring out how to read the form a few years ago was 'interesting.' I miss picking horses based on their names and looks.

Oh the Racing Form is just hosh posh. Picking the gray horse is still in!!

[cowgirlintexas]

What a great thread. Been fun reading a lot of these postings. For me it was Seattle Slew that forever changed my life. Made me persue my childhood dream of working and riding racehorses. He will always have a special place in my heart. As far as the gambling part of it goes, I did'nt really understand how to wager or really care to until I was out working at Santa Anita in 1989. Have always been pretty much a $2.00 better and always love telling anyone that cares about how I hit the trifecta in the Derby that Chrismatic won. Paid $6500 for a $1.00 bet. I remember jumping up and down like a complete idiot Go baby Go!!!!

[SCUDSBROTHER]

It's the best form of gambling(they all do this though) to take your mind to another place.Sports do this well.Gambling does it better.Horseracing does it D BEST.I'm not saying everyone does it to escape reality,but I think it is uniquely good at that.

[PPerfectfan]

My mother trained racehorses before I was born, so I grew up on the shed row so to speak. Shoot I was betting before I was in kindergarden. One of my earliest betting memories is of me throwing a fall down, kick my feet, flail around fit till my dad bet a horse named Scooby Doo,,,,yes Scooby Doo. Who just happen to win and according to my dad years later paid almost $100 to win!! And I almost had an above mentioned fit when Giamiaco beat Closing Arguement in the Derby and made me miss my tri/super. I only had him in the 2nd/3rd/4th spots....freaking nag.

[Riot]

Gambling does it better.Horseracing does it D BEST.I'm not saying everyone does it to escape reality,but I think it is uniquely good at that.

Even better, try riding a horse. No way to think of anything else in the world when you're riding

[NoChanceToDance]

I've been into racing for as long as i remember. I grew up on a stud farm just outside Newmarket. I was taken racing by my parents as a one year old. The first meeting i actually remember though was Salisbury when i was about 5 or 6.

My father has been working with racehorses in one way or another for my entire life, and my mother has been working in the betting industry since i was 7.

Although, as a kid, i hated the sport. My father used to shout at the TV and i just used to scream back at him or turn the TV off. I dreaded Saturdays because i knew the racing would be on all afternoon. Now, it's completely different, racing is on almost every hour on a Saturday.

[golfer]

Growing up near the Meadowlands, got into Harness racing originally, switched to thorobreds over the last 10 years. I remember the old t-bred programs, not much information... and who was this jockey named "No Boy" who rode half of the horses in each race??? What was up with that?

[otisotisotis]

I've been pulled in and out so many times.....
1st memory is Affirmed winning the Derby.
A few years later a friend's family took me to Latonia Downs (now Turfway). Didn't realize the place was a dump because I thought it was so fancy that we were sitting @ a clothed table and somebody was waiting on us!
Lost interest for a while, got back in around 16 when another friend's parents were working as tellers.
Then one day a horse breaks down in the stretch drive right in front of me.
I walked out and swore never to go back, but I did a few years later and I've been hooked (again) ever since.

[TheSpyder]

Earliest memory was Randall Park in Cleveland as an eight year old with my mom. She loved the races...and the rest is history.

Later growing up from 14 on would go to the Big T (Thistledowns) through high school. If you've been there you know you can only go up from there and next track was Churchil for the Derby.

Being in sales traveled the US taking in most tracks.

Why do I do this? The challenge, excitement, horses, the people. Yea, gambling is a big part of it but becoming less, especially thanks to Steve, in the enjoyment of learning more about the sport...and having your own (albeit small part) of a horse.

Bottomline it's one of the few things in life where you get back more than you put in.

Spyder

[ateamstupid]

I like animals. I'm a statistics and figures and charts geek. I like gambling.

[azerica]

My grandpa got me hooked on the track atmosphere. I never bet except to say i placed a wager on any race and that was a rare occasion. I love the crowds, the horsey smells of the paddock, the thunder of hooves....it wasn't until a few months ago i decided to try to learn to read the form......

[AeWingnut]

I took my uncle Charlie to the riverboat. He was bored stiff. He took me to the OTB and that was it. I didn't know it at the time but his uncle Ed owned horses. I'm afraid we are losing more of the old breed without new blood filling the void.

I agree with hoove's it is solving a puzzle. For some reason the very first thing I look at is bloodlines.

[Benny Leger]

My dad owned thoroughbreds when I was young. Mostly cheap claimers who ran at River, Latonia or Beu. Little Stevie Cauthen setting records as a young teenage apprentice rider did it for me. I just saw him at TP on KY Cup Day. Looks like he could still ride both ends of the Double. I'm facinated at how competitive horses are with nothing on the line but their pride.

[Thunder Gulch]

Always been an avid fan of all sports and was at least somewhat interested in horses, but getting roped into going to the 1991 Derby hooked me.

[MaTH716]

Originally Posted by letswastemoney

Oh the Racing Form is just hosh posh. Picking the gray horse is still in!!

Dad, I didn't know you posted here!

Just kidding, but that is my old mans philosophy,
The first race I saw was on tv in the 1981 derby when Pleasant Colony won. I was 9. That winter my father took me to Aqueduct, I thought that place was great. But my father only took me to the track a handfull of times. I really didn't fall in love with it until much later in life. My friends and I used to go to Atlantic City every weekend. After a while I want an alternitive to blackjack and craps. That's when I found the track, but then it was just about gambling. Eventually it turned into a love of the sport. Now I am trying to share my love of the sport with my 4 year old (pictured in the left hand corner) He has been to Monmouth and Freehold (which he calls the hurtin track) at least 20 times. He watches it on TV with me and we even play Saratoga with his Lego blocks. That's where I bulid a paddock and a starting gate out of legos and he puts his horses in and they race. We even bought him this electronic track for Christmas that comes with 4 horses and jockeys, it looks so cool. I can't wait for the day to come where both of my boys are old enough to go to Saratoga.