Starting a horse racing website or blog is something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time, but unfortunately, due to other projects, I never thought I had the time available to give it the attention I thought it would require, or more importantly, deserve.
That has changed, or at least I hope it has.
So I’d like to introduce myself. My name is Joe West, and while I’ve been a casual horse racing fan for many years, I’ve been quite serious about the sport for the last decade.
My first memory of horse racing was in 1987, the year Alysheba won the Kentucky Derby. At that time I was around 12-years-old, and I watched the race alone in a hotel room while my parents were attending a business function.
The excitement packed in those two-minutes stuck with me for the rest of my life, and from that point on, I always reserved the afternoon of the first weekend in May to watch the best race of the year.
Alysheba will always be my all-time favorite, but I’ve had others. Sunday Silence, Strike the Gold, and Thunder Gulch are some of historical names I fondly remember.
However, it wasn’t until the late 1990’s when I attended Santa Anita’s opening day that my perspective changed, and I suddenly became interested in the handicapping angle of the sport.
For the first time, I was able to attend and see the sport as it is meant to be seen, instead of through a television tube. And luckily, that day I was able to observe a familiar name and great champion, known as Silver Charm.
I was hooked. Not in a bad way. The money I played with was modest, but the effort I put into studying the sport became much larger.
I started by reading Andrew Beyer, and then I moved on to pace handicapping, and eventually I was reading everything I could about the sport. I started to share my knowledge with others, and my friends and I began traveling to the larger races.
We’ve been to the Breeder’s Cup, we’ve been to the Belmont, we’ve been to some of the important Kentucky Derby prep races around the country, and we make the Preakness an annual pilgrimage. And over the years, I’ve built up a lot of knowledge and skill around the sport, which brings me to the here and now.
I expect this blog to be as much of an aid to me as it is to anyone else. This is my effort to create a disciplined opportunity for me to collect my thoughts and record them as I track the sport throughout the year.
To be honest, it is awful timing to be starting now. I wish I had started this 3-4 months ago, as I’ve been spending a lot of time on the 2008 Kentucky Derby preps, and would have liked to have had all that hard work documented. With only 12-days to go until the year’s greatest race, there really isn’t enough time to launch a blog and provide much information on the Kentucky Derby itself.
But worse, in my opinion, would be to start this new venture immediately after the Triple Crown season, and miss the time of year when horse racing it at its best.
So with that said, let’s launch this thing, and see where it goes. It’s off to the races.
With much karma,
Joe West
April 23, 2008 at 2:56 am
Please do not contribute the the immoral world of sin betting. Gambling is a tax on the poor. Those who lack the discipline to avoid the easy dollar, and whose family’s suffer when daddy cannot produce the rent or food money to provide for the family, are the perpetual victims. The house always wins.
Reply: I disagree. Gambling is a freedom of choice, and for every person that cannot manage their hobby in a healthy way, there is a person who can. By the same logic, fast food restaurants should be put out of business because some people cannot eat fast food in moderation, and it contributes to fathers who spend too much money getting fat and dying, while their children suffer. Besides, horse racing is para-mutual. It’s not built on the casino business model.
April 25, 2008 at 3:48 pm
It’s about time you started this!
April 29, 2008 at 2:39 pm
Bookmarked. But now you won’t hear from me each April when I track you down for Derby info. Great stuff Joe!