This is a special message for the Turk: the 17th anniversary of the start of the blog, and today the 750th post on the blog. The Turk is nothing if it is not determined, and I was determined to make a blog that few would read and enjoy. Yes, I said that. It is a handicappers blog in the fading sunset of horse races. When this blog started, I visited tracks such as Suffolk Downs, Hollywood and Arlington. Everything away. I met other handicappers from time to time, but now, even on the circuit, the people who like to decode the mysteries of performance in the past are a decreasing breed.
With Twitter it all came down, and suddenly. Beyond were the days of long form prose, in were 140 characters. Fragments, shallow, but by that time a mirror of the attention span of most of America. For me I just kept writing. My blog is a blog of a nerd where I handicap and try to assemble bets. I don’t break news stories, I have no fascinating connections with the sport, and the worst of everything, I am a worthless networker. All the positive friendly connections that I had gone out when I broke my own golden rule on Facebook and spoke about politics during the 2016 election cycle. Most of my racing bands for horses leaned to the left, I leaned to the right and suddenly I was cut off from aggregators, to wilt in the vacuum. My own fault.
I learned, I don’t talk about politics on my blog and I don’t talk about politics about my social media feeds. The readership is up, the more I place and the more effort I put in it. Why am I still writing? Because I enjoy it, it’s that simple. I think I have something to offer in terms of my disability, and my bet construction is also not too poor. I concentrate on peat races, not the most popular form of racing in the United States, but it is what I like. I could get a few more views if I gave the road to the roses and the triple crown yacht, but I just don’t care to do that. My favorite horses are not the Regally Bred Ones who win different races as three years old and go to Stud. Mine are 4 years and older, sometimes concealed, dirty racing errors or just bred more for peat, who beat the following year from job to track and come back to do it all over again. That is what I love, runners of the travel companions who can still surprise with that late turn of foot.
Anyway, if Turk is starting to consider retiring, I have re -invested myself in this blog. I use AI tools to help me build tables and graphs. I post more often. I have made specific socials only for the blog and I do all the little things to grow the blog organically. I dream to be aggregated at one of the big horse racing websites, but that is no longer the dream. Now the dream is to nail the handicap, to nail the bet, and if someone reads it, great, rinse and repeat. I was that I was determined and stubborn. This blog is still in its infancy, I have at least 17 years more in me, God wants it.
I was 42 years old when I started this blog. I have been disabled since 1986, 39 years old. When I started, my son, the little Turk, was my sidekick. He went to so many degrees 1 races before the age of ten it was stupid. He is now a chiropractor, engaged to get married. He still likes to go on the track with his pops from time to time, but the blog is now all.
Anyway, have fun friends, Turk out!
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