How did you become interested in horse racing?

[Mohawk mac]

I'm always interested in how people got started.  Doesn't matter if you're a trainer, owner, groom or fan.  I'll go first. 

Dad was a casual fan and he took me to Sportsman's Park one Saturday afternoon to see the T-breds when I was in high school.  We planned on getting there for the feature race (the old get in free for the last few trick).  Well, Dad was never on time for anything in his life.  By the time we arrrived, there was only one race left.  We waded through the ankle deep quagmire of discarded racing forms, programs, liquor bottles, popcorn containers and hot dog wrappers to secure a place right on the rail.

I'm not sure I had ever seen a real live horse until that day.  But as they paraded past us on the way to the post, I was mesmerized by the sight of these magnificent beasts carrying tiny men in brightly colored shirts.

The race was a mile and a sixteenth so the field started on the backstretch of the five furlong oval and the horses passed us twice.  Dad went to the window to bet.  I had five bucks to win on the favorite.
 Turning for home the final time, the crowd noise got louder and louder.  At least half of the stands were still occupied meaning there were 10,000 people screaming for their steed.  As the field approached the finish line, I could hear the crack of the whip and jockeys yelling at their horses.  I could see nostrils flaring and the determined look in the leader's eyes.  Even though my horse finished 4th, it was love at first sight.  I was hooked.

My first time at the harness races was also at Spk5/8.  I picked several winners and ended up ahead $91.20.  A tidy sum for a college kid working part time at a health clinic filing x-rays for $1.85 an hour.

Your turn

[Fuguzzi]

My parents met and married late 50s in the Bronx, Ny. My mother's side of the family was semi - associated with low level mobsters in the Arthur Avenue section and her aunt and uncle ran nightly poker games complete with food and drink for a "cut" that went to the hosts, from apartments in the North and East Bronx. Aunt Rose and Uncle Frank were always going to the "trottas"n at YR as gambling was in their DNA and obviously they had cash. This was like 1961/2/3 as I was being conceived. My parents loved it. My father loves recounting being witness to the epic battles between Bret Hanover and Cardigan Bay. Many of you will remember the giant b/w photo of those finishes in the old track kitchen/card room at YR. My parents were instantly hooked.

As a young family we ad moved out of the Bronx when I was a little guy and vacations with my maternal grandparents were often centered around a racetrack in the NE. Especially, Scarborough, Rockingham, Saratoga, Monticello, etc. My grandmother, the sister of the poker games aunt, loved racing and these were essentially racing /hotel poker weekends to cater to their tastes. I was along for all of it and loved it. By the time I was 10, we were going to Monticello every weekend, especially Sunday afternoons. I loved to handicap and my parents gave me money to bet. Their advice for my future was to work hard, be honest, save a portion and from THAT portion devote some for betting if I chose to. Not novel advice, but they just wanted me to have some sort of foundation since gambling was in my DNA too LOLOL.

I recall standing and staring at the outdoor paddock, seeing the horses come on and off the track and very carefully watching the drivers. How they sat, especially by 1975 and the modified sulkies appeared, what they did with their hands and whips, etc. I would go down to the rail and listen to hear if they yelled at the horses in the stretch.

My favorite Monti drivers in those days were Jimmy Allen, Joe Ricco jr and Joe Romano jr.

Columbus day weekend we were in the Bronx to pick up my grandparents and my Dad on a hunch, decided to stop in to an OTB to bet  6/8/4 straight and boxed for $3 each - total of 21 dollars, a typical max bet for him in those days, in the last race triple at Monticello later that day. A decent amount of money for the average guy in 1975. He chose that because he had a friend and attny. who owned some Standardbreds and a horse that man bought recently had finished 6th, 8th, and 4th in his first 3 starts and my dad's friend was rather upset by that. A crazy idea my dad conceived, but.....

Because of the holiday and other plans we actually did NOT go to Monti that Sunday, so my dad put the tickets away and figured he would check the results in tomorrows Daily News.

The next morning was Columbus Day and my parents had a golf outing with friends a pretty good drive away. They picked up the papers and coffee and got back on the highway because they were late. after a few minutes, my Dad asks my Mom to check the results at Monticello. She had no idea that he had even bought the tix. He asks what the last race triple was and she says 684 casually. He says, "Really?" "Well what did it pay?" She responds , "$3,336" My dad had his toy car, a Datsun 240z in those day/stickshift. He reacted so emotionally with joy that he almost put it into a dead stop in the middle of the highway! He's like holy fuck, we won almost $4500!!! A lot of money in those days and by far the most they had ever won.

A few weeks later, my dad's attorney was buying in to a new horse with George Forshey who trained the Collins horses at the time.

It was a 3yr old coming 4 for around 12k and he asked my dad casually if he wanted to "pick up the other 3rd". We were not poor or starving and he still had his windfall, so he said sure.

One horse led to another and by late 76 we had a few with Forshey and a french/canadian trainer driver who always seemed to win with longshots named Jacques Dupuis.

Soon we were going to the backstretches at RR and YR and I was an awestruck 14 year old. To see the names of all the "people in Sports Eye' on the trunks for some reason made a big impression on me. Like taking me to Hollywood. I vowed to finish school, skip college, save a nest egg and as soon as I turned 19 hit the road and learn the business. Through contacts my parents made in the sport I went to Illinois ( Graham/Willis ), Ohio, New England ( several different trainers ), then Pococno ( Bernie Proud and Arnold Teat ) then the Big M ( Jerry Silverman and Lew Wiliams ) then YR where I started to branch out on my own late 80s.

Btw, when i met the lady i would marry some 30 years ago, after we had been togather a couple months we decided to take a ten day driving trip to see if we could live with each 24/7 outside the bedroom - LOLOL. our first stop? Maine and Scarborough Downs! Wink/wink    She loved it and the rest, as they say, is history.

Thanks you for letting me share....

[Fuguzzi]

I'm always interested in how people got started.  Doesn't matter if you're a trainer, owner, groom or fan.  I'll go first. 

Dad was a casual fan and he took me to Sportsman's Park one Saturday afternoon to see the T-breds when I was in high school.  We planned on getting there for the feature race (the old get in free for the last few trick).  Well, Dad was never on time for anything in his life.  By the time we arrrived, there was only one race left.  We waded through the ankle deep quagmire of discarded racing forms, programs, liquor bottles, popcorn containers and hot dog wrappers to secure a place right on the rail.

I'm not sure I had ever seen a real live horse until that day.  But as they paraded past us on the way to the post, I was mesmerized by the sight of these magnificent beasts carrying tiny men in brightly colored shirts.

The race was a mile and a sixteenth so the field started on the backstretch of the five furlong oval and the horses passed us twice.  Dad went to the window to bet.  I had five bucks to win on the favorite.
 Turning for home the final time, the crowd noise got louder and louder.  At least half of the stands were still occupied meaning there were 10,000 people screaming for their steed.  As the field approached the finish line, I could hear the crack of the whip and jockeys yelling at their horses.  I could see nostrils flaring and the determined look in the leader's eyes.  Even though my horse finished 4th, it was love at first sight.  I was hooked.

My first time at the harness races was also at Spk5/8.  I picked several winners and ended up ahead $91.20.  A tidy sum for a college kid working part time at a health clinic filing x-rays for $1.85 an hour.

Your turn

Excellent story. Wonderful times with your Dad. Memories you cant replace, just relive....Hell yeah $91 was a lot when we were kids.

[Meadow Ford]

Thanks Guys!
Great Stories!
Mid-west farmboy.
Dad raced horses at the Mid-west fairs as a hobby.
Drove my first race at 16 in the mid 1960's.
Been going around in circles eversince.

[Fuguzzi]

Yeah and in 2 different directions!

Usually it's through family, naturally.

God Bless, good health and good luck!

[theokodjak26]

My story is from a young fan’s perspective. I was 15 years old. My friend’s family had rented a house somewhere in Sullivan County near a big lake. My friend’s dad was a small gambler and told us on this Saturday that we were going to Monticello Raceway that night. I believe the races started at 8:45 P.M. My recollection was all sensory. The smell of the horses warming up. The absolute excitement from a lot of summer vacationers that were in attendance. Then the influx of all these hotel workers arriving after their work night had ended. And finally my first sighting of all the Hasidic jewish people arriving in clothing and grooming I had never seen. What a scene this was for a kid with no experiences to match that night. I compare it to the the first time I went to Yankee Stadium and saw the field was green and sandy not black and white. Anyway I got close to the rail to see the action up close. My friend and I split a $2 show bet and away we went. My first of many losing tickets. After the race there was cheering. Then I heard some booing. And of course I heard a few f-bombs directed at the drivers that lost. We stayed for 6 races after having a great time. What a place Monticello Raceway was in 1966.

[Fuguzzi]

Great story/great times!  Best of America! Ty for sharing!

[The Thorn]

I was a freshman in college in NJ.  This dude was hot for this girl and wanted to take her to Yonkers she wouldn't go without someone else present, and I was there and said I'd go having no clue about horse racing much less harness racing.

I made a bet to place on a 8 horse and the guy who apparently did have handicapping knowledge laughed at me.   It came in 2nd paid 11 bucks or so and he wouldn't talk to me for the rest of the night.

I went back to Yonkers just a few times in the next few years but won every single time, so I got more serious about it.  Early on Henri Filion was entered with a trotter named Christina and my fiancée's name was Christina and it was her birthday.  So we went to Yonkers and of course she won at 5 to 1.  That totally hooked us.

[bello]

What is so great about these stories is the love we all have for live racing. The sites, the smells, the horses, the gamblers.

My father would go the the track and never bet more that $8 dollars. 2 dollars and 4 races.

There was a 1/2 day at my High School in Queens and my dad picked me up and took e to Belmont.

I was 14. Well I knew from the very first race I ws hooked to it all.

Found a crew of us that worked in Supermarket in Queens and after work we headed to YR or RR at least 3 times a week.

My father would ask me where I was and I would tell him I went to see American Grafittii, to which he would comment, " How many time can you see that Fuckin movie. Finally he caught on

[theokodjak26]

Hey American Graffiti was a great movie 

[bello]

Hey American Graffiti was a great movie 

The track was better!

[Fuguzzi]

What is so great about these stories is the love we all have for live racing. The sites, the smells, the horses, the gamblers.

My father would go the the track and never bet more that $8 dollars. 2 dollars and 4 races.

There was a 1/2 day at my High School in Queens and my dad picked me up and took e to Belmont.

I was 14. Well I knew from the very first race I ws hooked to it all.

Found a crew of us that worked in Supermarket in Queens and after work we headed to YR or RR at least 3 times a week.

My father would ask me where I was and I would tell him I went to see American Grafittii, to which he would comment, " How many time can you see that Fuckin movie. Finally he caught on

Love that! I think I saw it 3 times Max

[rainman2]

I was a teenager in 1977.  My friend's dad owned a $ 3500 claimer at Buffalo Raceway.  Usually stopped midpoint in the long stretch.  On February 26, 1977, My friend and his dad took another friend and myself to Buffalo Raceway for the first time.  This was a few weeks after the famous blizzard of 1977. On this night, the horse didn't quit in mid-stretch and held on to win by a diminishing neck in 2.13.0.  The 3 teenagers each had a $2 win ticket that paid $ 10 and change.  Easy to get hooked on a first great experience. I still have this winner's circle photo and it's the first one in my albums of memorabilia and other pictures.   Ever since I was a fan and started owning horses in 2004 when my girlfriend and I claimed a Big Towner mare at Pompano Park in 2004.  Have owned a few from then on, and also bred one too with zero regrets.  My trainers were/are 100% above board so I never worried about that and were open in all of their discussions with me. My current trainer goes far beyond that.  If I am up north and the horses' race, I can travel with the trainer and the horse to their racing destination and hang out in the paddock to observe what is going on live firsthand.  Some trainers are very reluctant to have their owners hang out in the paddock all evening with them as well as travel on race day too.

[bello]

I remember the blizzard 0f 77 well living in Brockport and working as a wine salesman in Rochester. Got starnded on Ridge Rd in Greece and somehow made it to my girlfriends parent house in Hilton.

Had a company car which led me to Batavia, Buffalo and FingerLakes more than my to customers.

On Friday afternoons My final stop was in Palmyra NY so I was pretty close to Finger Lakes.

Well driving out of Brockport one Friday morning on route 31 with the DRF open on thee seat next to me. You got it, handicapping and driving mix worse than alcohol and driving. Ran down a ditch on rte 31 in Spencerport. Lost the company car and my job and moved back to NYC with my German Shepard in a jalopy I bought for 50 bucks

[Fuguzzi]

Wow.. One great and sometimes crazy story after another.   Ty All!