Support Your Local Track
In these days of simulcasting, OTBs, and phone wagering
it is easy to forget what makes horse racing fun. It's the HORSES! While it's nice to watch and wager on the best horses in
the country, don't forget about the local live races. Your local track, whether
it is Del Mar, or Hoosier Park is an important part of racing.
The claimers are the backbone of racing. They fill the majority of the races and keep thousands of people employed on the backside and in the grandstands. They make hundreds of owners and bettors happy when they win. If it wasn't for them we couldn't have the spectacles of the Kentucky Derby or the Breeders Cup. Just like any other sport, you have to have the little guys to support the superstars.
None of the horses owned by my partnership
are world beaters, but we love them just the same.
The thrill of winning a race is just as big for us as it is for the owner of a million dollar
winner. One of our horses, Swiss
Watch, is racing at the bottom levels at Prescott Downs in Arizona and
when she won 3 of her last 4 races everyone was elated. As far as we are concerned she
is a champion. :-)
If you haven't been lately, take a trip to your local track this weekend. Have a hotdog, drink some beer, and make a few small bets. Watch the horses in the paddock and post parade. Watch the race at trackside, not on a monitor. Watch the people watching the race for a real spectacle. Get the whole live racing experience, there's nothing else like it.
For a wonderful series of humerous articles about racing at the smaller tracks in the US and Canada, check Terry Bjork's McChump Racing Tour pages.
