The Races and Hot Dogs -- a Memoir

I've been to the races before. I went to the 1975 Queen's Plate in Woodbine Ontario. And I still remember the jockey who won. Sandy Holly. And crazily enough I still even remember the horse who was showered with champagne for beating all the other horses. His name was Longileure. A Or something phonetically akin to that. And he was retired shortly after this event probably because he pulled a tendon or had something else happen to a leg. Those thoroughbreds typically have very short-lived careers.

I was just a kid--maybe twelve or less, and yet that day at the track had a huge impact on me. I don't know what was more impressive--- seeing my dad place bets and get all excited when his horse got in on the game and hearing him curse when his horse didn't make it, or maybe just watching the crowd go ape wild. It was something to behold.

See, In Canada, racing was as big as any soccer betting. I just stood there eating my hot dog and popcorn, watching all the pretty horses fly by and picking which one I wanted to win based on the color of the numbers and jockey uniforms. That's the kind of thing that mattered to me back then. The riding and the aesthetics. I was crazy about horse-back riding then and a pre-adolescent so for me, it was more of an equestrian event than it was a money maker/time waster.

But I crack up thinking back to my dad taking me to the track. That's his kind of thing. He's an interesting man. Horse races, and billiards. The stuff he exposed me to--when I was a mere child--well, needless to say, my mother didn't approve and she would show her disapproval. Not surprisingly, the two of them were divorced when I was only twelve and my mom had little control over where we went or what we did when my dad had us during the weekends.

It wasn't usually Christian-centered activity. But he was a good father in that he always tried to expose us to new places (i.e. Mexico, California, Europe) and he always wanted us to appreciate good food and the things that make life interesting. He took us to African Lion Safari, Niagara Falls on the lake, the North Atlantic coast and many other spots that I never would've been exposed to had he not been all that interested in life. He's just the sort of man who takes a genuine interest in exploration of ideas and places.

And for that reason alone, I will appreciate his energy and curiosity forever.