Quotes from Joe Layden

Horse racing is not so much a business as it is a calling. The work requires too much time and energy to pursue it with anything less than utter passion; and even then, the odds against success can seem practically insurmountable.

You've gotta work hard to stay on top, and when you stop wanting to work hard, you just become average. That happens to anyone.

You take whatever victories you find in this game, and you measure success in the smallest of increments.

Just because a horse can run, or train, does not mean that it can race. It might have the ability to run just as fast as everyone else - or faster - but it can't race, or won't race. There are plenty of horses working at Penn National or Finger Lakes, everyday, putting in workouts that are just as fast as the horses at Belmont. But they can't race; that's why they're at Finger Lakes.

Everyone who works around a racetrack knows the starting gate is the most dangerous place to work," said Tim Snyder. "You've got a thousand-pound horse, a hundred pound jockey and you're putting them both in a steel cage. Out on the track you can get thrown, but the ground is forgiving and in the event you get trampled, you'll probably be okay. In the gate you can get absolutely crushed".