Honestly, I don’t really like kids. In shopping malls, grocery stores and doctor’s offices — the sight of them makes me squeamish. Around the racetrack is different

. There’s a few that I find truly endearing — like Trevor Henry’s daughter, Tessa. And, I certainly appreciate having kids buzzing around the tarmac on a Friday night. I love the natural zing their uninhibited little personalities add to the racing atmosphere.

I do have a fondness for kids that love horses and I get a real kick out of the Youth Camp kids. True, I’m not around them all day, every day, for four days straight (too much exposure could kill my enthusiasm).

When I was a (very, very, very young) kid, I had imaginary horses, which is as close as I ever got to a real one until I started working in this industry. Even at that age, without any tangible connection to a real steed, there must have been some innate understanding of what a horse symbolized: power, grace, independence, control.

I’m fascinated by the way kids connect with horses. Maybe the Youth Camp staff will disagree (I guess they would know better than I), but it seems most kids have an intrinsic inclination to approach horses with a healthy respect that overrides fear or overzealousness. They have a natural balance that I doubt most uninitiated adults would possess when introduced to a horse for the first time. I’ve heard many horsepeople compare horses to children, and maybe that’s the key.

Whatever the answer, the magical connection between kids and horses should be celebrated, and — dare I say it — exploited! And while I’ve said this many, many times before, I’ll say it again: the Ontario Harness Racing Youth Camp program is perhaps one of the best marketing mechanisms in place for engaging people in racing.

If you’re watching Grand River this Friday night, throw out an uninhibited cheer or two for the Youth Camp kids in their exhibition races. They’d do the same for you!