A Day at the Races: An Aspiring Journalist's Perspective

McDaniels and America's Best Racing ambassador Jose Contreras in the Santa Anita paddock. (Photos courtesy of James McDaniels)
It’s amazing what can happen in the course of a year.
A year ago, I was finishing high school and preparing to head to the University of Southern California, where I would focus on a degree in broadcast journalism with an emphasis in sports. I had been a sports fan my whole life, primarily basketball and NASCAR. Horse racing, however, never was on the list of sports I wanted to watch, let alone report on.
I’d watch the Kentucky Derby every now and again, but that was about it. I didn’t know what a furlong was, how horse betting worked or what races made up the Breeders’ Cup Worl Championships.
Over the last year, that has all changed. I have become a fan of the sport, keeping up on the big races and watching the online stream of the Eclipse Awards. I’ve gone to the races and have placed bets as well. 
What has been the catalyst to my newfound passion to the sport of horse racing? It all goes back to 2014 Horse of the Year California Chrome.
California Chrome fans around the country are inspired by him for a variety of reasons, but my fanfare of the 4-year-old colt began for one of the best reasons of all: he has a connection to my hometown.
When I’m home from college I live in Yuba City, Calif. Perry Martin, one of California Chrome’s co-owners, calls Yuba City home as well.
When I heard about the connection, my view on horse racing changed for the better and it has been uphill ever since.
I had the opportunity to cover the Breeders’ Cup for the campus newspaper and meet California Chrome and his team at the event. Click here to read more about how I became a fan of California Chrome and my Breeders’ Cup experience.
After the Breeders’ Cup, my article received positive reception from several people, including Jose Contreras with America’s Best Racing. He contacted me through Twitter and said he would help me enjoy a day at the races if I wanted to go. He said I could also write a blog about the experience and it would be posted on ABR’s website. I was grateful for the opportunity and decided to return to Santa Anita Park on Feb. 7 since California Chrome was going to face Shared Belief in the San Antonio Stakes that day.
Once I got into Santa Anita, I started testing out my new Nikon D5200 camera. I took pictures of some of the famous statues around Santa Anita and also visited the saddling area.
When I was at the Breeders’ Cup, I didn’t realize that fans could get so close to the horses when they were being saddled. To me, that’s the equivalent to being in the locker room with a team before a game. Once I saw the saddling area and thought about my Breeders’ Cup experience, it hit me that horse racing, at least at Santa Anita Park, is one of the best fan-friendly sports where the general fan can be so close to the action without paying a huge premium.
I soon met up with Jose at the paddock area and he took me to the press box. 
The press box itself was lined with tables that filled almost the entire length of the box.  Handicappers and journalists were busy breaking down each horse and the statistics in their past performances, so there was not too much talking.
As you might expect, the view from the press box was terrific and you could easily see around the entire track. The press also had the privilege of having its own kitchen, where food was laid out for journalists to eat at their convenience, a dining table and a soda machine.
I exchanged a few words with Jay Privman, whom I met at the Breeders’ Cup when he was doing an interview with Art Sherman, before leaving with Jose to explore other parts of the track.
Jose made various stops along the way to places I didn’t visit during the Breeders’ Cup. He took me up to the club terrace and also showed me the Chandelier Room. I asked Jose if this was the place where they had drawn the post numbers for the Breeders’ Cup and he said it was. To me, the Chandelier Room looked similar to the lobby that you’d find in a fancy hotel.
We then went up the stairs and he took me outside to the balcony to show me the magnificent view looking toward the south. We also visited the saddling area again. 
One other new place we visited was the Winner’s Terrace next to the winner’s circle, since that was where I was going to be spending most of my day.
The view of the finish line had no obstructions, but the view for photography down the homestretch was not, so I spent most of the time that I was photographing races next to the rail or a few feet onto the track where other media members were standing. The Winner’s Terrace consisted of seating, a big television, catered snacks and sodas and a betting machine. The terrace also had overhead protection in case of rain, which helped keep things dry since it was drizzling rain throughout the day.
Eventually, Jose and I made our way back to the press box to eat a much-needed breakfast.
My meal consisted of mostly meat, including sausages, bacon, and sliced meat, in addition to some honeydew melon. During the meal, I asked Jose about his career, including moving from Apple and Google to work for America’s Best Racing. He also helped me refresh my memory on how to calculate a bet. 
When we returned to the Winner’s Terrace, it was time to prepare for the day of racing. My camera seemed to work well in the sports setting as I was able to capture several great pictures throughout the day of racing.

Close to race eight, I went down to the paddock area.
Because of my media credentials, I was allowed to be in the middle of the paddock as the horses came out. Since there were many people in the paddock, it was sometimes difficult to get a clean photograph, especially since I had a zoom lens attached.
My focus was largely on California Chrome, but I got a good shot of Hoppertunity and Shared Belief as well.

I followed the horses to the track and then prepared myself in a good position to take photographs during the race. When the San Antonio began, I took a couple of photos as the Thoroughbreds charged down the stretch.
I put my camera down while the horses were on the backstretch and I was excited to see California Chrome in front as they entered the homestretch. I picked up my camera again and concentrated on getting a quality photograph as California Chrome and Shared Belief were side-by-side with a few hundred yards to go. Despite seeing through my camera that Shared Belief passed California Chrome for the win, I didn’t flinch and captured these fantastic two photographs at the end:

After the race, I also captured some images of the celebration for Shared Belief from his jockey, Mike Smith, and his connections.

Once the presentation in the winner’s circle was complete, I put my camera away and decided to enjoy watching the last race of the day, especially since I had a bet on it.  Coming into the day, I had never placed a bet on a horse race, but by the end of the day I’d bet twice. 
The first race I bet on was Race 2, which was a claiming race. I went with two of Jose’s three $2 win picks with American Act and Vegas Street. The other horse I selected to win was Pray Hard, who had good odds. I forgot, however, that Jose’s third pick was Limited Response and it ended up costing me because Limited Response won the race.
Going off at odds of 10.20-to-1, Limited Response’s victory paid $22.40 for a win bet, so instead of a $16.40 net profit, I lost $6. 
For the last race, I put my remaining $10 on the line and this time remembered Jose’s picks. I doubled up on my win picks, making a $4 win bet on both Smoove It and Intoxicating Move. I also put a $2 show bet on Sky Mega to go along with Jose’s advice. While Sky Mega failed to finish in the money and Smoove It came in second, Intoxicating Move won the race, giving me my first ever winning ticket! The payout was $10 on a $2 bet, meaning that I was able to cash in a $20 payout.  Since I wagered $16 on the day, I came out with a $4 profit. 
Throughout my day at Santa Anita Park, I talked (and sometimes gave my business card) to several different people. I chatted with both Alyssa Ali, who works with The Jockey Club Tour on Fox Sports 1 covering horse racing, and Ciara Austin, who is Jose’s fellow America’s Best Racing ambassador stationed in Los Angeles.
I also made a trip up to the club terrace to spend a few minutes with a longtime friend of the Sherman family, which included watching one of the day’s turf races take place.
In the Winner’s Terrace, I also met two guys who work in the entertainment business. One of them was a comedian who said he was going to the United Kingdom for a tour and even showed me the locations where he was performing on a map.
But perhaps my favorite part of the entire day came after the day’s racing had concluded.
After briefly visiting the Chandelier Room, I waited with Jose for California Chrome’s owners, who we could see were still in their suite. At the Breeders’ Cup, I never had the chance to tell Perry Martin about my connection to Yuba City and personally thank him for how California Chrome impacted both Yuba City and me.
When Perry exited the suite, I talked with him for a minute or so. I told him I was from Yuba City and I thanked him for his part in helping California Chrome succeed. I then asked him if he had known about Yuba City’s big festival for Chrome and he said he did. 
I briefly described how the streets were lined with businesses, music, and two big TV monitors, and how great it was for Yuba City to come together to support an athlete with a connection to the city. I even got a picture with Perry, but just simply getting to meet him in person made my day. 

On my way out after my encounter with Perry, I got one more pleasant surprise. Ahead of me, I could see Steve Coburn.
He walked up to a few girls and surprised them. The girls grabbed a few pictures with Coburn as I stood by, and then Coburn continued on his way. I was walking next to Coburn when someone pointed out that I was the guy that Coburn met at the Breeders’ Cup. With that, Coburn recognized me and asked how things were going for me. He noticed I was carrying my camera in my bag and offered to do an interview if I wanted, but I declined since I wasn’t doing video for this article.
We exchanged a few more words before I departed, including that if California Chrome raced at Santa Anita again that I’d try to make it out for it. In addition to Coburn recognizing me, the way Coburn talked to me made me feel like I was a little bit more than just another member of the media. I definitely had a great feeling as I left the “The Great Race Place.”
In the career of sports journalism, it is possible for days like the Breeders’ Cup or San Antonio Stakes day to be a daily occurrence.
Journalism can be rough at times, from researching facts to getting the perfect video or photo, and writing stories can be especially time consuming.  But the reason I love this field is because of days like the Breeders’ Cup and the San Antonio. 
You meet all kinds of different people, including in interviews, build connections, develop social skills and maybe even learn something new.
You have the opportunity to experience the action of sporting events in locations that the average fan might not, like on the rail during a horse race or the paddock where you are standing within a few feet of the Thoroughbreds. You can bend over backwards to make an article to your liking, but all the trouble is worth it when someone tells you that they like it or even if someone has constructive criticism for you to use next time.
It is these experiences that make me love what I do and make me want to continue doing it. I treat my horse racing experiences as exciting opportunities, and I don’t take them for granted. I thank Jose for helping bring last Saturday to fruition, and I hope that I’ll return to the track soon. 
Horse racing is an exciting sport and I hope more people can find inspiration from it, like me.
A day at the races is certainly a way to have fun, whether you are a bettor, someone who loves statistics, someone who has a connection to the horses racing, or just a casual fan looking for excitement. But the great thing about the field of sports journalism in horse racing is that my job combines all of these things, plus special opportunities. 
That is what a day at the races is like from my perspective: a journalist’s perspective.