The thing that I love most about Boom Towner is that if you’re a New York racing
fan you know him, if you’re from anywhere else you probably think his story is made up. He started his career at Rockingham Racetrack, the type of track where jockeys and trainers drive used pickups to get to work and a losing streak means having to decide between putting gas in your truck or food on your table. He quickly proved that he was too fast for the local horses and was on his way to Aqueduct to race on the NYRA circuit.

My grandmother, who used to take me to the track, always gave me one piece of
advice “do not bet on anything Diane Nelson rides, she has stonehands!” I had no idea what my grandmother was talking about, but I tried my best to follow her advice. I don’t remember much, but I do remember seeing Boom Towner make his Aqueduct debut and passing up on him because Nelson was riding. As Boom Towner quickly mowed the field down, I realized that I had made a mistake and that maybe my grandmother wasn’t right about everything.  Of course, since I was seven, I still needed her to place the actual bets for me, so I would have to wait to cash in on this mystery horse from Rockingham.  Two more races went by and nothing changed, Boom Towner won without me cashing in. My
grandmother could see that I was upset and not even delicious Aqueduct racetrack pizza could make me happy- I was missing out.

I believe he wound up running a few weeks later and I was determined to place a win bet on him. By this time he wasn’t a secret and his odds were much lower. I was  disappointed that I hadn’t got on the bandwagon sooner, but rules were rules and betting Diane Nelson was against the rules. I finally got to put a win bet on him but he had already won three times in a row, could he make it four? I don’t remember the details of the race, but I remember seeing him cross the wire first with Diane Nelson sitting in the irons like a statue and old men in the stands applauding.

If you ask me details about any of the major stakes races or the horses who won that year, I wouldn’t be able to tell you, but I remember Boom Towner pricking his ears back and running his foes down. With all of the medications, poor diets and poor bloodlines horses don’t start as much as they used to and that worries me. The racing industry needs kids to fall in love with the sport, and kids don’t fall in love with the Bernardinis of the world; they fall in love with the Boom Towners.