How did we get hooked on this sport? We all have stories about how our love affair developed and blossomed. The TDN will be reaching out to numerous notable people in the industry to get their stories to find out how they got hooked and stayed hooked on the sport.

Dr. Barry Eisaman, Eisaman Equine

I’ve been in the horse world my entire life. So, I think it started just with horses and a love for them in general. That quickly transferred to love of horse racing because in my teenage years, and earlier, I started working around racehorses.

But I think as the years would go by, I’m not really remembering, ‘oh, that was the moment I got hooked’ but instead I get constant reaffirmation of what a wonderful sport this is and what wonderful creatures these racehorses are.

A lot of the work that I do is breaking and preparing young horses to go to the races and for rehabilitation. It’s just so impressive how tough horses can be, and then the flip side of the coin is how fragile they can be. In my life I’ve enjoyed trying to help them stay healthy, get them fixed up and get back to their athletic wellness. So, my love of the horse just grew and kept getting reaffirmed over the years.

Anytime that I have hands on a young horse or a rehab horse that goes on to be something really special, that’s a reaffirmation that this is a wonderful sport. You get the sense of pride that maybe in some way you helped.

My whole exposure was when I went to veterinary school and then it was in equine practice at the racetracks in Miami for eight or 10 years. Then I moved to the Ocala area. Those years were spent being impressed by horses from a veterinary standpoint. And then during my years in Ocala, time gradually changed things from a veterinary practice to a training center.

My wife Shari [Eisaman] and I run Eiseman Equine, so we have well over 200 horses on campus at any one time. And it’s just like a snowball. It just keeps getting bigger as life goes on.

Shari has been instrumental in my thinking as she was involved in racing before she and I met. Her background was in horse sales. So, after we got married and over 30 years thereafter I became more involved in sales and getting horses ready to sell. Probably had we not met, I may have stayed in a more conventional veterinarian-only role. But the role that I’m in now is just like the best of all worlds. I get to work with young horses and use my veterinary skills much more than I would in a practice.

All the contacts we have continue to reach out to us and that’s never really stopped. That’s a reason to stay hooked. I have to say that it’s not like a Seabiscuit jogging through the dark sort of the moment. But it just continues to be really fun.

Nick Tammaro, announcer/handicapper/oddsmaker

Once I was old enough to join him on the day trips to racetracks in neighboring states, my Dad decided to bring me to Fair Grounds while we lived in the Dallas area. From the minute we walked in, and I remember it vividly, I was captured by the whole scene. The paddock, the box we sat in, the horses running by, and most importantly the Daily Racing Form. I opened it up and as he explained to me what was on a running line, it all seemed to make sense.

From that point forward I asked him to buy me the DRF as often as possible so I could read it and handicap, even if we weren’t going to the track. I asked a million questions of the veteran horseplayers we surrounded ourselves with at Trinity Meadows [near Ft. Worth] in an effort to hone my handicapping skills. The process to be a successful horseplayer started for me as a child and will never end. Racing is the greatest game in the world. Needless to say, I was hooked very early!

To share your own story of how you got hooked on racing, email suefinley@thetdn.com.