How did you get into racing?

[JimG]

How did you get into horse racing? As for me...Mom and Dad took me to Charles Town when I was a kid....the rest is history.

Please vote and tell your story below. Should make for fun reading.

[Tom]

My Dad took me to FL in the mid 60's. He let me bet a horse in the first race..Morganfield. Horse won and paid $28.80!
I was betting 4 weeks allowance on him!
Didn't miss another Saturday until the late 90's!

[pmd62ndst]

My girlfriend wanted to go to the Sonoma County Fair. Being the kid from the city, I resisted. Knowing I was a gambler, her grandfather noted to me that they had horse racing there and he agreed to come with us. So while my girlfriend and her mother were checking out the prize-winning begonias, her grandfather was showing me the ropes.

After that I went back to the track on a recreational basis but I really didn't get serious about it until I got laid off from my job and had nothing better to do after sending out resumes and waiting for phone calls.

PMD

[JustRalph]

Pete Rose took me to the Track when i was 12 years old.

[Tom]

Originally posted by JustRalph
Pete Rose took me to the Track when i was 12 years old.

LOL!

[lousycapperII]

:D When I was 4, Grampa said, "Hey kiddo, ya wanta come to the track with Gramma 'n me?" They spent most of the day toddling. Grampa was not happy at all. He didn't make that offer again until I was almost 8. :D

-LCII

[chrisg]

Hey JustRalph (aka Avatar King),

In reference to Elvis & Wayne...

I'm sensing a theme here & cringe each day that I'm gonna see Siegfried&Roy or Liberace next!

PLEASE tell me you'll go the other route & put up topless showgirls!

[Pace Cap'n]

Was 16 (1963) and doing pretty good hustling pool in Ft. Smith AR when some guys invited me to Oaklawn. Prior to that I never knew you could gamble without having to spend the night in some crummy bar. There was a HUGE crowd and everyone was dressed to the nines. Even the bums and touts gathered in front were wearing a suit of some sort. A pickpocket got me right after the first race, lost half my bankroll right there (kept the rest in the front pocket, pool did teach me something). Got the wallet back in the mail courtesy USPS two weeks later, fake ID (my livelihood) and all, except the money,

The atmosphere, the electricity in the air, the color and pageantry of the horses, and, of course, the gamblling got me instantly hooked. Too bad you don't see crowds like that anymore.

The handicapping was easy. Just bet on John Lively, Larry Snyder, or David Whited. One of them was just about a guaranteed winner.

That day still ranks right up there in top 10 most exciting days of my life. Will never forget it.

[Bubbles]

A few years ago, I dragged my dad to the Whitney, the first time it had been run on a Saturday in a while. He didn't want to go, but after he hit eight exactas and three triples, he came around. I asked him how he did it, and he showed me how to handicap. Was a casual handicapper for the next year. However, the next summer, at the Whitney (Left Bank won), I surprised him and myself by hitting the late double worth just over $60. Been hooked ever since.

[Buddha]

I started when I first worked at Mountaineer selling programs the summer after high school. I got to see some races, and actually check out programs and learn what stuff meant. I was always asking questions and trying to learn anything I could.

Ever since them I have been hooked and interested in racing.

[racingrev]

My family had been in and out of racing for years..My dad's uncle owned a top horse called Veilmond in the 1930's in Sydney, Australia, He was the no2 stayer of his day behind Phar Lap.

When I was 6 or 7 I would sit at home and listen to the great Aussie Racecallers of a bygone era on the radio. Ken Howard, Bert Bryant and Bill Collins, they had me hooked, line and sinker.

At about 10, I attended my first meeting at Flemington, the home of the Melbourne Cup and that as they say was that. :)

[MarylandPaul@HSH]

In the early 80's, a friend dragged me to Buffalo Raceway and Batavia downs a few times. My first experience with thoroughbred racing was a grimy NYOTB storefront on the west side of Buffalo (used to be an Arby's I think)....tickets all over the floor, seedy crowd....listening to races over the $10 Radio Shack speakers on the wall.....cries of "F***ING Cordero!" ringing throughout the place. And yet I was hooked.

Gawd, what does that say about me? :eek:

[breakage]

I've been a car racing fan pretty much from birth due to my dad. Well, in 1971 they built a nice new state of the art dirt track near our home and we went there quite often. Just so happened that they built a track twice the size of this one across the parking lot in 1972. Of course it went by the same name but this track was for horses. Needless to say we made the trek across the parking lot one day to see what this place was all about. Didn't take long to get hooked on this other form of horsepower. The track? Penn National.

[Dave Schwartz]

In 1976 & 1977 I was making my living playing blackjack and couldn't play anymore. I needed something else to beat. In 1978 I bought my first computer and decided horse racing was it.

I recall saying, "This should take me about 6 months to figure out."

Right. I did not become a winning player for 9 years!


Dave Schwartz

[BIG RED]

My dad took me when I was about 8. I'll always remember that, the place was HUGE to me. It was right up there with when he took me to Fenway Park for the first time. Been hooked on both ever since:D

[Brian Flewwelling]

In '58 a neighbor's close friend, Joe, retired, bot a new Chey Wagon (transportation and living quarters), and went following the horses on the local circuit. He lived on his $75/mo pension, but didn't collect his cheques while away. He lived off his winnings.

His secret was to calculate the 'length of stride of each horse' in past races ... find one with an advantage, bet $10 win and live off the proceeds. (Speed handicappers note this was not Beyer's system, but it was pretty effective in the days before everyone had speed figs.)

When he was too old to travel, my wife and i took him to the races and we and he had a good time. Almost end of story.

Long after that wife graduated to ex, girl-friend liked horses, showed me that data was available on internet, i decided to amuse her i would go along with the game. Putting the availability of data and Joe's success with 'numbers' with my fondness for programming, i knew i had a profitable hobby available to me. ...

Ooops ... seems there is a little bit more to this business ... so if i can get profitable in 9 years, it should be happening soon ... if i live three more years...

BF

[Myhorse1_X]

Pace Cap't

Do you still go to Oaklawn Park???. Except for 4 years (sickness) I haven't missed a season in 32 years.

I hope this years celebration of the 100th at Oaklawn wakes them up to the quality of racing that is necessary to keep up the crowds.

I can remember back in the early 70's, a crowd of 40 or 50 thousand was pretty common. Now a crowd of 12-15M is the norm.

Good Luck this year.

MyHorse1
Tulsa, Okla.

[David McKenzie]

One weekend in the mid 70's about eight of us were fooling around at a friend's swimming pool. One person was reading what I at first thought was The New York Times. Upon closer inspection it turned out to be The Daily Racing Form which was surprising in its own rite, as I'd previously only seen one newspaper with such a cumbersome size.

The fellow that was reading the DRF was a "friend of a friend." I asked him to explain what the notation meant. He did. So, after one hour I knew how to read the racing form and considered myself a handicapper. If only it were that easy...

This gentleman was a professional handicapper who lived (and still does) in Las Vegas. He came second in the world championship one year and is currently a pit boss at Mandalay Bay. In short, he knew what he was doing.

He stressed one thing above all others, which is still valid today, "Keep an even keel" [meaning don't get too excited when you win, or depressed when you lose].

At the time I was commuting to New York City on a daily basis. Some nights I'd go to the Mayfair Club and play backgammon. One of the fellows there worked for some kind of horse outfit that made funny looking little sheets of paper with numbers on it. He introduced me to someone who made their living betting horses from these pieces of paper. "What a preposterous notion," I thought to myself. After visiting his home which was featured in Architecture Digest I conceded my judgment may have been a tad' premature.

And talk about Synchronicity, a friend of mine in New Canaan had just gotten involved with something called The Turf Investment Society of San Clemente. This was also through a friend of a friend of his who was a real estate developer in southern California. We all wound up taking the T.I.S. course.

All three of these events occurred around the same time. The rest, as they say, is history.

[Lefty]

When I was about 18 I spied a copy of ATM in a the magazine, book, and candy store where I spent part of my lunchtime browsing the mags and drinking a soda. I was fascinated by the mathematics of the game. ELP opened its meet shortly after and I went out there and became more fascinated.

[cato]

When I was a kid--8 or 9--my parents were taking a trip with some friends to Raton, NM...they couldn't find anyplace to park me so they had to take me with them.

To a kid even the run down small time track at Raton was about the coolest thing I'd ever seen (and I was getting to hang out with adults who were drinking and gambling and having a good time--I wasn't sure what was going on but it seemed llike a good thing--everyone was happy).

They gave me a few dollars to bet with (to shut me up) and I won my first bet on a grey named Roman something.

Later that trip I hit two exactas back to back and that's when I first heard the phrase "who do ya like?"

I loved the races and it was one of the few times that my dad (who was wound up pretty tight) was able to relax and have fun.

We went on a few more trips in the next few years to smaller tracks that were relatively close--raton, the track in Denver (I think it was called Centennial at the time), Rui Doso, etc.)

Never was able to go very often (no track in the area and way before computers, etc.).

When RP opened, I started using/studying the Sartin method and starting to understand (?) handicapping and racing.

Only in the last few years have I started to understand betting.

In any event, at all times, its a helluva game.

Cato

[Pace Cap'n]

Sent a PM.

[Derek2U]

My VERY 1st time was at Monmouth Race Track in NJ when I was
15. My father is (was) a math prof + horse lover// no big bettor
but a nerd whose limit ~~50 Win category. Enuff 2 hurt hehe.
neways, he always used horse racing as examples in arithemtic
etc so we have a house in belmar nj near monmoth & he took
me & i picked the DD numbers 1 & 5 (i wont ever 4get that combo)
and i will always love that day.

[bigray76]

My uncle always played the ponies at Monmouth and worked at Fort Monmouth. I can remember summers of hanging out with him after he retired from Naval Intelligence... he gave me my first signer when I was 18 (a tri box in the last race of the day at Monmouth).

However, I do have to call my 94 year old grandmother before each leg of the Triple Crown, the Haskell, and the Breeders Cup... she lives in Cape May and used to organize the retirement home's trips up to Atlantic City Race Course a couple of years ago.

No matter what my uncle would tell, angles, trainer trends, etc., my grandmother would always just bet the grays... maybe there is something to that????

[Alc]

Summer of 1968. Older brother had found a new activity and invited me to join him at Nfld one evening. Was poor in those days and had to cash a $25 saving bond. Went with $20 ,came home with $30. I was hooked.

[MV McKee]

My grandparents were one of 2 or 3 owners in a large greyhound racing kennel during the 1960's and early 70's.
I remember seeing the Kennel Club programs in huge stacks underneath their coffee table when I used to visit.
My parents also made frequent trips to the greyhound track.
On my 18th birthday (1980), well you can guess where we went. Not knowing any better, I just bet straight trifectas, $2 a race. Well, the third or fourth race I bet on came in and paid 524.60. I even remember the dog's names and numbers.
Later that summer a friend of mine took a trip to Longacres in Seattle and watched a horse named Trooper Seven win the Governor's Handicap.
Anyone who ever went to a horse race in the very, early 80's
knows why I was hooked for life. During the time period I was in my late teens and early twenties there was no better place to be in America than at a racetrack.

[ranchwest]

When I was in college, my girlfriend's parents liked to get a table at the track. That usually meant there were a couple of seats available for us.

My girlfriend was very competitive. We didn't know what we were doing, so we bet the jockeys a lot. When I'd switch jockeys and win, she'd get ticked. lol I figured that once a jockey won, it was probably time to switch.

[Tom]

Originally posted by Derek2U

.... i picked the DD numbers 1 & 5 (i wont ever 4get that combo)
and i will always love that day.

My horse, Morganfiled, was number 8.
Love that number too, in fact, if they ever run another 8 horse I will certainly bet on it!:rolleyes:

[AlyshebaFan]

I sort of found it. The first real intro was a book on Seattle Slew in my Elementary School library. My first real horse race was the 1983 Kentucky Derby that my Dad showed me. He wasn't into horses or racing, but he asked me who I wanted to win. He picked Play Fellow, my sister took Desert Wine (she was a teenager and I guess that was the closest thing to real wine... LOL) and I liked Sunny's Halo because I had a friend named Sonny plus I thought he was pretty with all that chrome. And I was very happy that he won that day.:)

[SandyE]

The first racecourse I faquely remember is Librety Bell. There's a mall where it use to stand. Also Keystone aka Philidelphia Park which I've heard has been remodeled since my last visit there. Grandfather took me to my first race meet. My dad to the backstretch where he and his brothers use to work odd jobs around the shed rows. Got an Uncle who owns racehorses. His horses are basedcondtioned at Philidelphia Park.

[Bubbles]

Aside from Saratoga and Belmont, one of the tracks that Dad took me to when I was younger was Rockingham. Went there on our way back from our trip to Boston. Don't remember a whole lot about it, but the little track was, in its own way, charming. Too bad they only run harnesses there now, the Rock could have benefited if they'd stuck around and seen all the tracks with slots and big purses (and profits) nowadays.

[Suff]

Originally posted by Bubbles
Aside from Saratoga and Belmont, one of the tracks that Dad took me to when I was younger was Rockingham. and big purses

The Rock! Boston's Saratoga. They ran Summers when Suffolk was Dark. Located in the oceanside vaction community's of Seabrook NH, Hampton Beach New Hampshire and SalisBury MA. Miles and Miles of beachfront.. a little bit like Lake George is to Saratoga... hokey motels, minature golf, fried dough, nightclubs..et al... a big sumer destination for Boston Residents...many own little cottages up there... A trip to Hampton Beach always included a stop in the ROCK...

Johnny Rocajack has a Private Box there.....he loves it there and still goes 2-3 times a week. He lives 1/2 way between Suffolk and The Rock. he has alot of friends up there,,,including Max Ugall who wons the place. Its not uncommon to swing by there and see Max Ugall,,,Michael Gill(nations leading owner) sitting with John and his crew. If you get near the Rock... check with Johnny..he'll take care of you.

[turffan]

Probably 15 years old or so when I frequented Green Mountain Park in Vermont with various family members. It's been shuttered for over 25 years now. Been at it ever since.

[COUGAR]

I grew up in racing, but i will always remember my first job working for Joe Whittingham ( Charlie's brother ) walking hot's and swimming horses at San L.R Down's Training Center, when i was about 15. Theses people are all dead now, i must be getting old. Fond memories...