Archive for the Notices Category

Left At The Starting Gate

Ok, so that didn’t go exactly as planned.  If I were a racehorse, I think I’d have been declared a non-starter!  My intention a few months ago was to make a return off a long layoff.  What I didn’t know at the time was my biggest obstacle to recovery was lurking around the next corner.  In later September I went into a tailspin that nearly resulted in a crash landing.  It wasn’t until December that I was able to pull out of my dive and right the plane.

So once again I push myself up from the ground, spit out the dirt, and try again.  However, this time I’ve decided to hold off on horse racing and focus on my mental and physical recovery.  On the physical side, I’ve made tremendous strides in the past two months and for the first time in a very long time I’m able to walk, exercise, and rebuild my strength.  It’s a slow process since so many muscles and joints were inactive for a very long time, but progress is being made.

On the mental side, let’s just say that I’ve had to draw on every bit of courage I could muster to survive this ordeal.  But with the undying support of family, friends, and some special caregivers, I’m finally hopeful that I will survive this ordeal.

And, on the subject of courage, I have created a new website (www.daringways.com) called Daring Ways (Living with Courage).  The content of this website will be based on a lifetime of experience with an emphasis on personal anecdotes and messages that I hope will inspire readers to adopt a daring lifestyle of their own.  It is here that I will devote my attention in the upcoming months while continuing my recovery.  If all goes well, then I hope to resume authoring material on this website later this year.

In the meantime, I invite you to visit the new website and subscribe to my blog via e-mail.  There are a couple of essays already posted for your reading pleasure.

Sincerely,

Neal Benoit

Returning From My Long Layoff

After nearly 2 years away from my website, I am attempting a return from this extended layoff. At this time I prefer not to go into details about why I have been away so long. It’s not a very easy story to tell, and even more unpleasant to listen to. Suffice it to say it was a combination of successive medical problems that made it impossible for me to continue posting articles. The good news is that I have been improving recently. However, with that said, I still have some obstacles to overcome before I return to full health.

It was suggested by one of my doctors that I make an attempt to resume doing something that I am passionate about as I continue on this recovery process. If you followed my website in the past you know there are few things I am more passionate about than thoroughbred horse racing. It is hard for me to make any promises about the frequency of my new articles nor the content. I do make this promise, I will try to stay focused on horse racing, with the understanding that I am not the same person I was when I stopped writing two years ago. I ask you, the readers, to have patience with me … as I try to regain my racing form.

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Saratoga and Personal Update July 2015

Saratoga is just around the corner, 10 days away. That means it’s time to change the photo on our homepage to be the starting gate for Saratoga race course. Like all horse racing fans who live in upstate New York, I feel this is the “most wonderful time of the year.”

Unfortunately for me, I might have to enjoy it from a distance this year. For those of you who have been following the website recently, you know that I had medical problems early in the year, which were resolved with surgery in May. However, after recovering from those issues, I had a serious back injury that I am still dealing with to this day. With that said, there is some hope. Tomorrow I am going in for a series of injections in my back that hopefully will relieve some of the severe pain in my facet joints, and allow me to return to physical therapy, where I am trying to regain the strength I lost from the prior surgery.

OK, so enough of the bad news. Here is the good news, I have the good fortune of several friends, family members, and people I have met through this website that are going to help me produce material throughout the course of the Saratoga meet. In fact, it will be very interesting to present some material that I probably would not have written due to my own ignorance of the subject matter.  For example, in a survey I did last year there were several requests from readers wanting to learn more about the housing options when visiting Saratoga. Since I’ve lived in this area my entire life, I really had no expertise in providing this information. So, our first contributing author is going to provide an article about housing options in Saratoga.

Following this first article, she will write about sights to see and things to do beyond the race track. Also in a third installment, she will discuss important information for people who are relatively new visitors to Saratoga racetrack. I truly feel these will be a valuable series of articles for people who are not from this area and can use some guidance on what to do when they arrive here for the first, second, third, or tenth time.

In addition to these articles, we will have traditional racing information for our experienced fans, with the help of some experts in the field. And hopefully as my condition improves, I will be able to resume producing the type of material I have been doing for the past two years. And with any luck, I’ll make it to the races for the latter half of the meet. If you happen to see me in the paddock with one of my Getting Out of the Gate T-shirts, feel free to say hello, but hold off on any pats on the back!

By Neal Benoit

Personal Break – May 2015

I’ve been dealing with some health issues over the past few months. During this time period I’ve tried to keep the website going with at least one article a week. However, present circumstances require that I have some corrective surgery and take the time to recover.  The good news is that my doctors expect a full recovery and a return to “normal” activities … which for me means getting back to the race track!  With that said, I have been told to expect a few weeks of downtime after the surgery, which will take place the first week of May.  During that time period I will not be posting any new articles.

In the meantime I will be publishing an article a few days before the Kentucky Derby that will provide some thoughts about the Triple Crown races and links to past articles that might help in your preparation for these exciting events.

Enjoy the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes!

Neal J. Benoit

P.S. My sincere thanks for all of the kind words and best wishes in the comments section … very much appreciated.

My Thanksgiving Day List Of Thanks

There are many things for me to be thankful for this year.  So many that I decided to make a list and share them with my readers.  Maybe there are a few here that are on your list too.

Tom Morley and Maggie Wolfendale – As candid, interesting, funny, and accessible people as I have found in the sport … and the fact they are engaged makes me happy they found each other.  I’m thankful to have gotten to know them on a personal level.

Christophe Clement – An industry leading head trainer who sets the gold standard in how he conducts his business.  I’m thankful that he has permitted me the opportunity to witness his operations firsthand and share that information with the readers of this website.

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Reader Survey – We’d Really Like To Hear From You!

Website founder Neal Benoit

This website was launched eighteen months ago with the primary purpose of promoting the sport of thoroughbred horse racing through education and entertainment. In that short time, we have seen our readership steadily grow. In September we surpassed 100,000 hits for the calendar year 2014.

Our traffic and reader comments suggest that we are reaching an expanding number of people and we’d like to learn more about you and where your interests lie. For example:

• What type of articles have you read on our website?
• What topics would you like to see covered in the future?
• What individuals would you like to learn more about?
• What is your level of experience?

With this interest in mind, we have prepared a short survey.  A link to the survey appears at the bottom of the page.  Your feedback will help us determine where to focus our efforts in the future and allow us to continue to grow this website in a meaningful way.

We sincerely THANK YOU for your support and interest in our website.

*** Please CLICK HERE to launch our Reader Survey. ***

By Neal Benoit

Vacation Break 2014

My wife and I are going on our very first cruise … to Alaska.

I have been unable to find a thoroughbred racetrack in Alaska and I’m beginning to understand my wife’s intentions in handling the booking side of this year’s vacation.

So, I intend to use this opportunity to recharge my batteries for Saratoga.  I have many exciting projects in the gate (pardon the pun) this year and I’m looking forward to Saratoga more than ever.  If you can imagine that!

See you all soon … At The Spa.

By Neal Benoit

Staying Connected with Getting Out Of The Gate

As I near the end of my first complete year doing this website, I confess that I’m still learning as I go about the logistics of managing this enterprise.  Finding and creating material has always been easy for me.  As I mention in my Bio, I am a teacher at heart.  I also LOVE a good story, so that comes easy to me as well.  However, the notion of social media and being “connected” has for the most part eluded me.  But, I am learning.

Thanks to my friend, Jessica Peterson, at Horse Races NOW … I am beginning to learn the importance of this whole being “connected” thing.  So, with that in mind, we created Getting Out Of The Gate Facebook and Twitter accounts. Connections to both are provided on the right hand side of every page on this website. If you “Like” our Facebook page … every time we post a new article, a link will automatically be posted on the Facebook page and you will be notified via Facebook. Click here to preview the Facebook page if you’re interested … but just don’t want to commit to that whole “Like” thing.  Who knows, maybe you won’t like it.  I hope you do.

If Twitter is your thing, and you “Follow” us on Twitter, a “Tweet” will be sent out every time a new article is posted.  Also, I intend to use Twitter for much more in the future … including comments about current events, notice of activities I’m involved in, horses I’m watching, people I’m following, stories I find interesting, places I’m visiting, and maybe … just maybe some race day thoughts live from the track.  That does not mean picks … read my lips, “I don’t do picks.”  But I do have lots of “thoughts.” Click here to preview our Twitter page.

Lastly, for those of you that don’t “like” Facebook, or prefer not to “Follow” Twitter … there is an old-school way to receive a notification when a new article is posted.  It’s called e-mail.  Again on the right hand side of every page on this website, there is a “Subscribe to Blog Via Email” option.  If you enter your e-mail address there and click “Subscribe” you will be sent a confirmation e-mail to complete the subscription.  After confirming your subscription, you will then receive an e-mail with a link provided for all new articles published on our website.  And, rest assured … we do not sell, give out, beg, barter, or steal your e-mail addresses.

I hope one of these options will allow us to stay connected, or be connected, or have a connection.  Whatever.

By Neal Benoit

Mobile Friendly Access

Getting Out of the Gate Home Page – On an Android Phone

In November we announced that the popular phone and tablet App Horse Races NOW added us to the iPhone and iPad versions of their program.  Since that time, they have also added us to the Android version of their App. This addition now provides a “mobile friendly” version of our website to all of our followers on all mobile devices.

This is especially important now that we have attracted many new readers accessing our website on mobile devices.  Also, for the Horse Races NOW subscribers, our articles are presently being featured in their daily e-mail of racing stories.  If you see an article of interest in your e-mail, and you are on a mobile device, you can view it using the methods described in this article.

In addition to the new HRN visitors, we have also been receiving inquiries from other readers on how to view our articles using their mobile devices.  The short answer is this … first, download and install the Horse Races NOW App on your phone or tablet.  Then, look at the steps below to see how our content is displayed inside of their App.

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Happy Holidays 2013

With my family soon to be all together for the holidays, I intend to take a vacation from writing articles for a couple of weeks.  You see, both of my kids are away in college now … and quite frankly I miss them.  We have always been a close family; whether playing games, vacationing, traveling, or just hanging out.

Neal and Mike on Xmas Day 2012

Something recent we’ve come to enjoy,  is spending Christmas together in South Florida.  Some people say that it’s not Christmas without snow.  Well, in the Benoit family, we now say that it’s not Christmas without sand.  To the side is a picture of my son and I on the beach Christmas Day 2012.  It’s also not Christmas without suds.  Cheers!

But seriously, as we all are adjusting to these big changes in our lives, it’s nice to know that we can pull together for this short time together.  They say that you can pick your friends, but not your family.  I guess I’m pretty lucky, because if I could pick my family … they’d be exactly the same group of people.

So, from my family to yours … Happy Holidays!

N.Benoit