Although I hate to date myself, I was born just four years prior to the inaugural chariot races and thus have grown up in the Platte Valley in a time I will coin the ‘Chariot Era”.

My memories abound, even though I was never directly involved in the sport, which has brought me to the understanding that the races were an important and highly popular event from the first gate break in 1980.

My recollections are dim in the earlier years of my attendance, but the highlights include a team of chariots on top and underneath a brand new Camaro that sat trackside and was owned by Shawn Bridgewater, a Saratoga High School student at the time. From what I recall, at least one if not both of those horses had to be put down, which is part of the game and why the memory has stuck with me for nearly thirty years. Oh, and yes, the car did not fare much better than the horses!

At one point or another, I was either related to or had eaten dinner with 90 to 100 percent of the chariot race outriders. If you are new to the sport, the outriders are the people on horseback who jockey the teams to the starting gate and then assist the driver at the end of the race to get the team slowed to at least a trot.

In my teen years, I not only continued to watch the races, I rode a retired chariot horse through the Cheyenne Frontier Days Parade and Grand Entry when I was the Carbon County Fair Queen. “OD”, as the bay gelding is known because of his shoulder brand, is owned by Ron Garretson and was loaned to me for queening and ranching purposes. I can recall that OD was super fast, and if you thought you were gonna rope on him, you had better do it before he would run smooth by the yearling or cow that was in your sights!

When I made the trek home from college to partake in the chariot weekend, I remember being too broke to play in the Calcutta, so I was reduced to betting my mother and sisters, one dollar bill at a time. I always picked any team that had a gray horse in it, and most of the time won on that hedge, but not always. If there was no gray horse, I looked for the team that appeared to be the fed-up, athletes that handled easy for their driver.

I also punched cows with one of the Valley’s decorated chariot racers, and recall that he made sure there was always an ‘outrider’ around due to the fact that he rode one of his winning chariot horses. At times, we could move a bunch of cattle from one pasture to the next at lightning speed.

My husband now outrides at the chariot races and just a couple years ago we acquired a pair of colts that were destined to become a chariot team. Although the colts are on the path to maybe someday be an outrider’s horse, they will probably never see the inside of the Buck Springs gate. My personal involvement with the races has gone from screaming spectator to now official photographer and reporter (with my co-workers, of course), which to me seems as I have come full circle.

What is my point in telling you all of these meaningless memories or happenings, well because I have lived in the Valley for the duration of the Donald E. Erickson Memorial Chariot Races, and while other events have come and gone, the races have remained as an important part of Saratoga’s history and with luck, Saratoga’s future.

Go and enjoy the 30^th Annual Donald E. Erickson Memorial Chariot Races this weekend, I know I will!