In ten years I want to be able to sit down and talk about horse racing with my friends in ways that currently don’t exist today. I want the casual fan to be able to identify some of the top runners in the sport the way fans of major sports can identify Bryce Harper, Stephen Curry and Russell Wilson, etc. I want a ten-year-old to be able to pick up a racing program and understand how to read it. I want to be able to go home from a long day of work and turn on SportsCenter, watching key highlights from yesterday’s big race in Florida or California. I want the name Bob Baffert to be up there with some of sport’s most recognizable names such as Joe Torre and more. In ten years’ time, I want my kids to beg me to take them to the track the same way I use to beg my dad to take me to baseball games growing up. I’m done with the notion that in order to get involved with the sport of horse racing you have to get through the “old boys club”. I want horse racing to be the best and biggest sport out there…simply because I believe it can be.
Four years ago I was an 18-year-old kid beginning my college career at the University of Kentucky. I knew nothing about horse racing whatsoever but a trip to Keeneland in the fall would change that. Working at a vet clinic outside of Atlanta for over five years before college led me to believe I wanted to be a veterinarian. The realization that this was not the right path for me hit me when I was only a few months into college. I skipped a pre-vet class one Friday fall afternoon and headed to the track with a group of my fraternity brothers. In hindsight, it was one of my greatest decisions while in college.
As I walked through the entrance to Keeneland, the atmosphere struck me immediately. I felt like I was in another time throughout history and a nostalgic feeling overcame me, I was instantly drawn to the possibilities that racing could show me. Racing provides an element to the fan that no other sport can really provide. When you place a bet on a horse, you instantly build a connection with that athlete because if that colt/filly runs well, it could directly benefit you. Keeneland’s layout allowed me unprecedented access to the sporting event, I was right up there next to the horses and felt like a part of the action. To watch an athlete of that size run as fast as it was capable of, caused a huge adrenaline rush to wash over me. It was a thrilling experience that can’t really be described unless you’ve actually witnessed it yourself; words don’t do it justice. Tickets to sit courtside of a basketball game can cost hundreds of dollars but I only had to spend five dollars to get into Keeneland, where I was literally feet from the starting gate and the track.
Soon after that day, I changed my major to Equine Management and added a second major (Communications/marketing). I was dead set on taking that experience I had been a part of at Keeneland and turning it into a career one way or another. I just didn’t realize how hard that would be. In my early college classes, I was shot dirty looks or scoffed at from fellow students because I didn’t know the difference between a pony and a foal. This would happen many times throughout my classes but it wasn’t enough to scare me away from my goal of changing the sport and bringing it to the big stage. 
I did not fall in love with horse racing for the same reasons many others have fallen in love with the sport. I fell in love with horse racing because it presented me a challenge and because it acted as a greater metaphor to life for me. Since that time, as I have worked my way through the industry I have been told “no” more times than I can count. I’ve had individuals high up in the industry tell me I’m not good enough and that I should give up. That’s the beauty of my journey so far. Life is all about turning the no’s into yesses. It’s about proving to others that your capable of doing some really great things, even if you were an outsider at one point. It’s about understanding that not everybody is going to support you or like your ideas because they’re different and/or new. I’ve used my time working at some of the biggest Thoroughbred Farms in the country to learn from those who know the industry better than me and at the same time, have instilled some of my own beliefs and ideas that I think would bring the sport back to prominence. Some people like my ideas, other people hate them. The important thing is that I’m getting people to talk about racing, I’m getting people to discuss ideas and ways to improve the sport. My biggest goal is to bring in the younger generation and to get other people to become fans of horse racing. I realize that I’m still going to get a lot of disgruntled faces and no’s, but I also know that with a few yesses I can really bring a positive impact to the sport and industry that has taught me so much.
American Pharoah
At the end of the day, people will tell you to DREAM BIG, but I want people to actually mean that statement. There needs to be a balance between the older and younger generation that allows for people to share ideas proactively without being ripped apart for taking a unique stance on a particular issue or concept. It’s all about working together and if you shutdown a 22-year-old kid because he thinks differently than you, your only hurting the sport and the possibilities that a younger generation could bring to it. I’ve found that people in the industry are afraid of change, but life’s all about adjusting to change and trying to improve things so that others may seek benefit from it as well. I’ve always believed that horse racing is a sport sitting on a pile of gold and with the right attitude, that wealth could be spread throughout the country and the world to make racing one of the greatest sports out there. I will continue to chase this goal through the ups and downs, navigating around the “no’s” and “yesses”. I’m Dreaming Big.
Witt's Horse Racing 