Let’s be clear. I wasn’t planning on liking horse racing.
I spent the first four weeks of the shutdown in a hazy search for sports, looking for signs of it everywhere — in old NBA classics, Madden simulations, the car chases on TV from which I couldn’t unglue myself.
Growing up in Edmonton, Alberta, I made the three-hour trek to Calgary Stampede parties multiple summers in a row without ever giving a single thought to buying tickets to the rodeo. Horse racing was even less than an afterthought.
Even though I thought it would be tedious, maybe a little charming but ultimately not for me, I was ready to play the ponies.