My nephew, at 11, is a HUGE race fan. He drives me nuts to take him and my son to The Spa, like every day of the meet. It is 2 hours on the dot from here, yet we go at least 10 times a year.

He follows the races with passion, and particularly Todd Pletcher's stable of horses. He can cite for you where Todd's horses are running today and what they have done recently.

Anyway, I emailed Pletcher's barn and told them about this nutty kid. Would you believe Pletcher called him? Swear to god, he gave the kid a pop quiz over the phone, then told his dad to pick a day and sure enough, my nephew and his dad were met by Todd Pletcher at 8:00 AM one morning in August at Pletcher's barn, and he took the kid on his rounds for 2+ hours. My brother-in-law said Pletcher was fabulous to the kid, and generally amused by all he knew. He told him when the kid is old enough to start working to call him.

Add to that the general degree of welcoming all the horse people show the kids up at Saratoga, and you will have a hard time convincing me differently........horse folk are damn fine people. Who in baseball would do anything like that nowadays?