Out of the Stalls Quickly

People often ask me; where does your interest in horseracing come from? So many others get their interest through a family tradition of racing horses, or from a father overly enthusiastic about gambling, but my interest stems from no such family ties. Instead, it was a young fascination with lists and colours which brought me to the ‘Sport of Kings’. Growing up in a household which had The Times delivered daily, I would be up early and scouring the sport section before school, taking particular notice of the lists of peculiar names pitted to race each other in the racing world.

I was especially enthused when a big race would be highlighted, showing a list of the intricate colours the jockey would be sporting on his mount. At this stage in my life, I would pick a horse on the basis of name or colour; the interest soon extended to television, as I would watch intently on my parents’ 14 inch Grundig, hoping my selection would win.

There was no money involved. This was pure fascination with a new sport. While other children my age would be playing with toy cars or soldiers around their room, I would be creating names of horses, listing fictional races, drawing out colour patterns and setting out improvised fences with logs of wood and pencil cases to race my imaginative pieces.

The first race I remember was the 1997 Grand National, won by Tony Dobbin aboard Lord Gyllene. I was aged five. In the years that followed, I would be up every morning to pick my ‘winners’ out of the newspaper; scarcely did I miss a day’s racing in about three years. Soon enough I was dragging my parents to the races, where I could see the action unfold live. The first racecourse I attended was the beautiful Fontwell Park. This course was a perfect introduction to live horseracing; a vivid memory I have is of A. P. McCoy (a personal hero of mine) taking a heavy fall and venting out his frustration with a series of expletives within earshot of the spectators (including myself) who were situated by the fence.

It was a childhood obsession, and one which has endured. I have experienced the incredible successes of personal favourites such as Istabraq, Best Mate and Galileo. While I don’t have the same neurotic enthusiasm as I did back then, I still take a keen interest in a sport that has become close to my heart. I have become accustomed to ‘having a flutter’, and study the form now rather than a random selection of names and colours (not that it’s improved my win ratio significantly)! Now at university, I am attempting to put my interest to good use alongside my history degree and sports journalism. After meeting a like-minded student, we have set in motion a ‘Birmingham University Racing Society’, with the aim of organising trips to the races for enthusiasts and newcomers alike. I hope I can make a contribution to extending the profile of a sport I fell in love with from a very young age.