Thursday Thoughts with Jason Beem for March 28, 2024

Jason looks back at this week and finding inspiration in racing from a few different sources. 

A good Thursday morning to you all! Hope everyone’s week went well. Currently writing to you from my couch in Clearwater, Florida, where we’ve had an insane amount of rain falling these last few hours. But I digress. I wanted to write today’s column about finding inspiration from others in racing. I feel like this week I found it from three different places and kind of needed it. I’ll never complain about my two jobs that I have, but sometimes at certain stretches of the year, the passion level can wane.

I mentioned briefly in Monday’s column about the passing of trainer George Bryant last week and on Tuesday we had a friend of his on the show to help remember him. George’s cancer battle and how he faced adversity were certainly remarkable. But I found the inspiration from going back through his timeline and seeing how he lived his life and how much he loved racing. It was apparent that it was his true passion. When faced with a potential terminal illness, he dove head-first into becoming a trainer and was successful at it. It’s really incredible what he achieved in his last few years, but it was the passion that really moved me the most. We remember you, George, and we will continue to remember you and appreciate you.

The second place I found motivation from this week was another interview from the podcast — this one with Sean Boarman. I suppose this interview, along with a Twitter Spaces I did with the great Emily Gullikson, kind of falls into the same category of finding inspiration. Getting to talk to smart horseplayers always instantly motivates me to be better — Be a better racecaller, participant in racing, heck, just a better person. I think similar to what I mentioned about George above, it’s the passion that others have for something that ignites a passion in me.

I think that, in general, I’m not a very passionate person. I just don’t think I feel as deeply or get affected by things as much as others. I’m 43 and still trying to get to the bottom of what makes me tick. But I have found that seeing passion in others generates some kind of feelings within me. Passion is such an attractive quality in a person, not in like a dating/attractiveness kind of way, but just in a feeling drawn/interested in that person kind of way. When I see someone who is passionate about something, anything, it makes me want to do better at the things I do in my life.

Our top shows are almost always horseplayer interviews, and my hope is it's because our customers (horseplayers) find great enjoyment out of hearing from their fellow punters. They want to learn something from someone who’s successful at an endeavor that is very, very difficult. Or maybe they just want to hear some war stories from the windows. Anyone who plays the races wants to be a winner, or at least win more than we already do. I think it’s important as an industry we do more to showcase those who actually do win and discuss how maybe others can be better. I’m not a good handicapper at all, but I aspire to become a better one. And I think a key to that is to try to learn from folks who really are adept at it.

Anyways, hope you guys find some inspiration in some areas of your life this weekend, and we’ll see you back on Monday!