why we love the game....

[hoovesupsideyourhead]

id like to hear from all of you dt ers what drew you to the game and why you continue to support it...this is a smart ass free zone..i dont care what level you play at and your opinion is just as valid as any.. please tell me your story why you have supported horse racing...thanks in advance for those that do tell why they a' love the game and b' tell what made you play the horses as your gambling of choice.thanks in advance on your posts..


hooves

[Heels1989]

In somewhat chronological order just to name a few:

SARATOGA
BIG RED
Ruffian
Affirmmed
Saratoga - chasing jocks for autographs and goggles
PERSONNAL ENSIGN
BARBARO
Evening Attire
2007 Kent Derby
DEE TEE STABLES
2007 BC
2008 BC
SARATOGA

and

May 17, 2008 ARLINGTON PARK WINNER'S CIRCLE!!!

[NTamm1215]

A trip to Fair Grounds with my Dad when I was five is what got it all started for me. Soon after we made regular trips to the now defunct Trinity Meadows and by the time I saw my first Belmont Stakes (1993) I was hooked. I still get odd looks when reading the DRF on an airplane and I have friends that thing I'm completely obsessed. It's long past time to explain that horse racing draws you in like no other game. It is the greatest game in the world, bar none.

NT

[3kings]

As a kid I used to visit my grandparents in the summer and they would take me to Monmouth Park. It was just a fun time at a great old race track. We would watch the triple crown races and it just grew my interest in the sport. When I went to college we used to Waterford Park and have enjoyed and followed the sport ever since.

[asudevil]

Pops started taking me to the track at 3. We would go to Pimlico, Laurel, and even cruddy Timonium. When I was a senior in high school, I was able to convince the junior class chemistry teacher to make me his teachers aide. I would "supposedly" grade papers, keep the lab clean, etc. The guy never cared where I was or what I did. So I had 50 minutes to kill every afternoon. School was 4 miles from Pimlico....get the picture.

Eventually moved out west and have not lost one ounce of passion for the game. Have been very fortunate to be a part of some ownership groups. Making a score at the window is always a blast, but it doesn't come close, in my opinion, to taking a picture every so often.

[sdjcom]

September 1974,
I just got out of the army(drafted) and was attending Eastern Ky U. on g.i.bill. a few friends i shared a house with ask if i wanted to go one night during the week to Latonia (Turfway park now.) i said sure we pile into the car went to the trk,drank some beers, i could not read a form but had the program, and could not lose!!! i think the story goes,where has this been all my life? well after i won about every race, a couple of weeks later keeneland opened up on first sat in Oct, i was hooked, and came back to earth when my majic touch worn off there, so new i had to read some books. I bought every issue of turf guide, ATM, and the next year Beyers Picking winners(he had some long hair them) lol...

[jrajf]

As teenagers we used to hop the fence at Suffolk (sometimes stoned sometimes not) and bet the few dollars we had in our pockets. The first time I bet, my buddy and I hit a 600.00 exacta on a two dollar bet. I was rich!! I went home and gave my mother a 50.00 bill and she whacked me in the head because she thought I was dealing drugs. Needless to say we hopped the fence a bunch more times and spent many a fall weekend in the grandstand with 20 bucks or whatever. Eventually fell in love with the problem solving aspect of it..then came Rockingham on Labor day with a morning card ..glorious and also back then Wonderland Park at night was as idyllic and nice a place to be on a warm summer night as I could find. Only 60 day meets ..it was nice enough to bring a date and impress her by going to the 6.00 combo window.

and today it keeps getting better..on my couch with a laptop and TVH/HRTV..multiple Saratoga trips each summer...with buddies..then with faamily then with golf buddies..horse racing remains the center..

just wish the game had more of a future..

[EpBurns]

I went to Bowie Race course when I was 9 years old to see a horse that my uncles friend trained he was running in a stakes race the trainer actually had a starter on belmont day this year his name is Leon Bluewiezs (sp?) well my uncle bet an exacta for me with Isella and another horse and Isella won the race and the exacta paid 172.00 and my uncle gave me all the money and I havent stopped betting the races or playing the horses since and now Im 45 so I have played the races for 34 years, now my uncle has his own just born Filly who he hopes can break her maiden in 2 years her father is Alfeet Alex now the mother is back in foaled to Discreet Cat so hopefully in the next few years my uncle will have bunch of winners for me........the mother is Ms. Diz she has thrown one winner fathered by birdstone and had trouble conceiving a few times with Johannsburg and Lion heart.