Korea provides blog's 'quarter-century' visit

Just a short note to acknowledge that, at 12:08 p.m. EDT today, my SiteMeter counter recorded the 25,000th visit to this blog.

The nearly 10-minute visit came from Anmin, South Korea, which is appropriate, perhaps, as I'm working on a blog post about horses I've recommended that have been sent to Korea after purchase. The reader was referred to my page from the Horse Racing in Korea blog, the proprietor of which is aiding me in tracking those present and future Korean runners from my sales tips. So, if that stopover was by my collaborator on that research, thanks anyway for the click.

And thank you to every one who has read "Fugue for Tinhorns," even if only once. It's nice to know that there's still enough interest in horse racing that people will scour the Web for information on a sport that some experts, even within the industry, fear is slowly dying.

Trust me, horse racing will be here long after any of us, and this blog, are gone. With some positive changes -- in everything from breeding, to race safety, to media and promotions, to customer and horseplayer relations -- I believe that negative trends can be reversed, and the sport's fan base can grow.

And I'm looking forward to the ride.