Joining the 'racetrackers'

In 1973, I met my future husband Ernie Poulos. One of the first places Ernie took me was to the racetrack to watch training in the very early morning hours. I was immediately smitten by the world of thoroughbred racing.

Having grown up on a farm in Missouri, I had already developed a deep love for horses. Life on the backstretch fascinated me. The men and women who worked seven days a week and up before dawn in order to care for those beautiful, athletic creatures.

Thus, in addition to teaching business classes at Forest View High school in Arlington Heights, I began "hot walking," grooming, cleaning stalls or doing whatever chores were necessary in order to become part of the thoroughbred racing world. Eventually, I left teaching and became a full-time "racetracker."

Arlington Park became my summer home. Ernie and I worked together for 24 years. During that time, we were fortunate to win the Breeder's Cup Classic with a horse of a lifetime named Black Tie Affair, owned by Jeffrey Sullivan, an Arlington Heights car dealer.

In 1997, Ernie lost his life due to a severe bacterial infection. One of the first calls I received was from Arlington's owner Dick Duchossois, who was in France at the time.

Arlington Park was so dear to us that it seemed completely appropriate for his "final farewell" to be there.

The day after Ernie's passing, we raced a horse named "Icy Clipper," who won impressively. That seemed an omen that Ernie Poulos Racing Stables needed to continue; thus, we have kept to the task for another 24 years.

In my latter years, I would sometimes ponder as to what I would do if circumstances would mean I would have to leave Arlington; never did I think Arlington would leave me. I, like so many of my fellow horsemen, am devastated.

Dee Poulos

Palatine