While the eyes of the horse racing world are turned to the Triple Crown, there are other races to be run and less hallowed tracks than Churchill, Pimlico and Belmont have their meets just beginning.

This is a story about a horse whose retirement won't be generating any headlines, just a tough, hard knocking type that races everyday across North America with little fanfare but carries on his back the hopes and dreams of small time owners.

With the passage of legislation in Maryland to allow either slots at the race tracks or, at the very least, slot parlors contributing revenue to the racetracks, it got me thinking about what I would do if I could build a racino.

The very first ownership group I was a part of was right here in Minnesota. Managed by chart caller and bloodstock agent David M Miller we ran under the banner of Star of the North Racing.

I wrote this on the evening of Tuesday, June 17, 2008 after a very long day driving around the Upper Midwest. I preface this way because I had a lot of time to kill. I had time to slip into a favorite American (and most definitely horse owners) past-time: day-dreaming.

I thought I would take this 'quiet' day to introduce you to your TBA bloggers this week. All three run partnerships of various sizes, shapes and forms. No, this won't be a week long commercial of 'join my group', but rather views on racing from one of the many unique perspectives the TBA offers up to readers. In our case: owners.