Fantasy horse racing is a realism - based hobby where participants breed, train and race their own horses. It grew out of model horse showing and actual plastic or china "bodies" were once required. But as the hobby grew, that requirement was put aside and our ponies were just on paper, although now they are also in cyberspace too.
This form of fantasy horse racing differs from the computer simulation variety in that we don't depend on existing racehorses, although the bloodlines we use are based on real Thoroughbreds.
I've been nuts about horses from a young age, and the first televised Kentucky Derby viewing was Dust Commander in 1970. Like many horse loving girls, I also collected model horses - Breyer, Hartland, Lefton, and the like. But I didn't start showing them (with a Canadian model horse club!) until my teenage years; although it didn't take me long to start offering races at a track that I called Lakeshore Park.
I'd heard about a group called the Blood Horse Seminar and joined it in late 1981. At the time, the BHS was less a club and more of a gathering place for other like-minded fantasy racing groups, like TOBA, MTRA , SAA, & IMTBR, etc. I started small in this group, but in a couple of years, I had my first Gallery (our version of the Eclipse Awards) Champion with Dear To All.
After over 30 years with this group, which has gone through a couple of name changes (from BHS to MRF [Model Racing Form], and finally to FTRA [Fantasy Thoroughbred Racing Association, which has its own Weebly page: http://ftra.weebly.com); I've made changes of my own, from names and race records on 3 x 5 cards, to completely digital by about 2006.
I've added a couple more Gallery Champions since then, and for 2015, notched my second IOR-International Champion. I've got a large roster of stallions and broodmares at my domestic farm, Nighthawk Stud, plus a smaller group of stallions and mare at my German stud, Gestut Trakehnen. Last year, I opened an English stud farm, The Brinkley Court Stud (P.G. Wodehouse fans will get the reference).
My Angelfire page, www.angelfire.com/wi/crimsonpegasus.index.html is still up, but I no longer update it as all operations have been moved to this site. Please use the contact forms under the "About" or "Contact" tabs to request bloodstock, or send updates. Thank you.
