Happy Fourth Anniversary Turk and Little Turk Blog

Four years ago, during my endless business travel across country, I sat in the Chicago O'Hare Airport and surfed mindlessly while a rain delay kept me from home. I came across these blogs about horse racing, all of them with different points of view, and in a moment I knew that this was for me:  For better or worse, The Turk and the Little Turk Blog was born , focused solely on my personal handicapping method and my approach to the game. When I originally envisioned my blog, the subject matter would be strictly "Horses, Handicapping and (personal racetrack) Hijinks.  That's all I offer, no cutting edge commentary, no controversial statements about drug use, politics, historical perspective, nada. I have too much respect for fellow bloggers that focus on those matters and do it far better than I do.

Blogging has changed quite a bit even in the past four years; Many fellow bloggers Tweet more than the blog these days.  The Turk and the Little Turk use Twitter to spread the news of our blog postings, but my personal belief is that the several hours I dedicate to a multi-race handicap, and the analysis that goes into creating it, should be backed up and that if I'm going to talk winners and losers, I need to show the work, even if in outline form, from a credibility perspective. Long story short, I may blog less, but when I do blog, its as old school as you can get with new tools, pen to paper figuratively, and I try to stay true to what I preach.

It was a big year for the Turk: 9,991 individual visitors walked through the front door and over our four years, we have now greeted 30,568 folks with a cup of coffee and no BS, no macho talk. After 473 blog posts, and 636 visitors per month, there is still more Turk in the tank.  I've blogged less this year, but  I try not to focus on quantity and while I wont ramble about quality, I'll say that I'm only blogging about races that truly interest me.  Yes, that is an indictment on racing right now. Lulls come and go, the Turk is here for the long run.

This has been a year of lulls, highs and lows:  The last blog post I ever discussed with my friend Tim was my Happy Third Anniversary posting.  I flew last year to San Francisco, and then drove two hours to Santa Cruz, and when I arrived at my hotel room, I learned he was gone.  I knew life was fragile, but that drove the point home.

My friends, close and just acquaintances, know that I travel quite a bit for work, but what I do may be a bit hazy.  I don't mix business and blogging, but I will say that my job is at times very stressful and demanding.  It's the horses, at the end of the day or the weekend, that take my mind off of those daily struggles.

I had some wonderful horse travel this year: I saw stakes races at Hollywood, Golden Gate, Santa Anita, Del Mar, Arlington, Churchill Downs, Saratoga, Woodbine, Presque Isle and Fort Erie. Not a bad list.  I love watching races with friends and family.  I find myself near nirvana when the Little Turk nails long odds: my boy's no bridge jumper.  The Mrs. may not love the races as much as I do, but none of this would be possible without her support, plus she allows Barbaro and Rachael Alexandra's pictures to adorn our dining room walls.

In year five I do plan on adding more short blog postings mid week to discuss general horse racing observations, notes on horses I'm tracking, and thoughts from a horse player.  These will be included under my "Hijinks" mission statement.

If I bore you, I'm sorry.  If you think I'm stupid or no good, I'm sorry.  What I won't apologize for is caring about the horses, caring about the horse people I meet, and caring about the shrinking community of souls that view the world through horse racing goggles. That's how the Turk rolls.

Thank you for your continued reading and support. 

Have Fun, Turk Out!