Racetracker Zen

Among the sect of racetrackers, there are those full of zen. Few trainers, and even fewer management types fall into this group, but a number of the guys and gals that make the card happen each day do. They may be recent immigrants that groom and walk hots by day and claim a tack room as castle by night, or some third generation tracker that works the stable gate at hours obscene to most taxpayers. When I first spent substantial time on the backstretch, I mistook their easy-going-ness for the resignation I've always seen among financial district ladder climbers toiling for the man, for the mortgage, for the next office over. It's different, though. Most of these folks have a decent work ethic despite little to no opportunity for ladder climbing. Many of them could have higher paying jobs in secular society, but each day the return to the track. I wont assign them motivations, but I can attest there are intangibles to spending one's days at the track.