Kids nowadays are truly amazing. My 3 YO daughter loves to watch the races with me, and has since she was a baby. Early on whenever she heard Durkin's voice on the replay show she would stop whatever she was doing and come to watch with me. I have about 50 stories already, but I'll share just a few.
She already knows what number matches what color saddle cloth. Now, I'm a NYer (well NJ now, but I grew up going to the NYRA tracks) so I'm not even used to the colored saddle cloths yet, as they are still fairly new to the circuit. Call me old fashioned but I still like the black. Anyhow, the other night I flipped to TVG to watch a race from Hollywood and there was a Harness race on. My daughter says to me "Daddy, that's not right, the 8 is supposed to be pink". I laughed (and cried) for about 15 minutes. Fortunately, my wife loves horses too so she's not bothered by this stuff in the least.
One day last year, when she was 2, I was putting a new address into the GPS and she asks me "Daddy, are you making a bet?". That's not good.
Lastly, the horse we currently have shares in has been the number 9 the last 2 times she has raced, including a win 2 races back that seems to be sticking with my daughter. Now, everytime she sees the number 9 on the track she says "Daddy, is that Sweetie?".
We brought her to Belmont at 2 months and Saratoga for 10 days at 3 months. She looks forward to the 2 weeks we spend up there every year and recognized Durkin's voice right away. Now whenever the horses go into the gate she'll say "and they're off".
Enjoy them and the amazing gift that they are.
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