Jon White knows a lot about racing. He's passionate about the game. Don't believe it? Go ahead, ask him a question. It's 3-5 he'll not only know the answer but why you asked the question.

Jon White brings to HRTV extensive experience as a television commentator at Santa Anita Park complimented by a familiarity with racing at tracks throughout North America, stemming from a 25-year career as a reporter, columnist, handicapper and chart caller with Daily Racing Form. He also has worked as a racing official at the highest level, serving in the capacity of steward at tracks in Washington state and Idaho. His background is further enriched by having spent one year as media relations manager at Lone Star Park in Texas, and by participating in the sport for three years as a licensed Thoroughbred owner.

Jon received the 2004 Mark Kaufman Media Award from the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders' Association "for his excellence in reporting on the Washington Thoroughbred industry and Emerald Downs." On Dec. 28, 2003, he won a Santa Anita Pick Six that paid $45,981.20 with a $120 ticket that had been displayed on HRTV. Charlie Sigrast, an HRTV viewer in Chicago, also won $45,981.20 because he saw Jon's ticket on HRTV and decided to bet it.

When Jon White talks racing, people listen. So should you.

White Up Close

Q. What is your most memorable experience in racing?
A. It's very hard to choose one because there have been many. I'd have to say it's a tie between the following:

• Watching my favorite horse, Turbulator, win the 1970 Washington State Breeders' Handicap from 20 lengths off the pace under 134 pounds
• Winning my first $100 win wager when Turn to Fire prevailed by a scant nose in the 1971 Fashion Handicap at Longacres
  
• Watching on TV as Secretariat won the Belmont Stakes by 31 lengths after I had predicted in a sports column in my high school paper two months earlier that Secretariat would become the first Triple Crown winner since Citation in 1948
  
• Winning my first $1,000 win wager when Refusal romped to a seven-length triumph in the 1974 Harvest Handicap at Playfair
  
• Watching Political Pull, a horse I owned with seven other members of the media (our stable name was Media Madness), win his first start for us after we claimed him for $3,200 in 1977
  
• Being named a steward at Yakima Meadows in 1979 at the age of 24
  
• Covering the first Breeders' Cup at Hollywood Park in 1984 as a columnist for Daily Racing Form.
  
• Calling the chart of the 1987 Breeders' Cup Classic for Daily Racing Form in which Ferdinand nosed out Alysheba.
  
• Winning the Pick Six for $45,981.20 at Santa Anita in 2003.
  
• Receiving the 2004 Mark Kaufman Media Award "for excellence in reporting on the Washington Thoroughbred industry and Emerald Downs."

Q. If you could own any horse in the history of racing who would it be?
A. Definitely Man o' War because I truly believe that he was the greatest racehorse in history. I also wouldn't mind having owned Secretariat, but he did lose five races. What Man o' War accomplished is mind-boggling. In 1920 as a 3-year-old - I repeat, as a 3-year-old - he set world or American records at five different distances (a mile; a mile and an eighth; a mile and three-eighths; a mile and a half; and a mile and five-eighths). In the Lawrence Realization, which he won by 100 lengths, he broke the world record set in England by one and three-fifth seconds and smashed the American record by four and one-fifth seconds. In the Belmont Stakes, which at that time was run at a mile and three-eighths, his clocking of 2:14 1/5 bettered Sir Barton's American record by three and two-fifth seconds. This particular record was held by Man o' War until November 23, 1991, when Timely Warning posted a faster time at Aqueduct. In other words, Man o' War held an American record for 71 years!

The only loss by Man o' War came during his 2-year-old campaign when he finished second to the aptly named Upset. Man o' War won six times as a 2-year-old while carrying 130 pounds. Think of that. It is truly remarkable for a 2-year-old to have won so many times with that kind of weight. Not only that, in one of his victories as a 3-year-old, he carried a staggering 138 pounds. In his final career start, Man o' War won by seven lengths while defeating the first American Triple Crown winner, Sir Barton. And keep in mind that in all 20 of his victories, Man o' War was not fully extended. Yes, if I could own any horse in the history of racing, it would be Man o' War.

Q. Who is your favorite horse of all time?
A. Turbulator, who in 2004 was voted into the Washington State Racing Hall of Fame, joining Chinook Pass, Trooper Seven, Captain Condo and Saratoga Passage. My license plate even reads TURBLTR. Before he ever raced, Turbulator injured a knee on a farm, which caused his owner to try and trade him to a neighbor for two cows. The neighbor looked at the knee and said no thanks. Therapy on the injured knee with a whirlpool-like device called a turbulator was how the horse got his name. It's also how he got his nickname, Tubby. Turbulator made his first career start as a 4-year-old in 1969 at a little track in Idaho called Coeur d'Alene. I was there. Later in 1969, from Aug. 22 to Oct. 26, Turbulator made seven starts at Playfair and won them all. I was there for all those races, too. He won the biggest race of the meet, the Playfair Mile, under 124 pounds (defeating future Bay Meadows Handicap winner Silver Double). Just seven days after his Playfair Mile triumph, he won a stakes race at two miles under 128 pounds. At Yakima Meadows in 1970, he won the Yakima Mile while setting a track record that would stand until broken in 1993 by Slew of Damascus, the Hollywood Gold Cup winner of 1994.

At Longacres in 1970, Turbulator broke the world record for 6 ½ furlongs by two-fifths and broke the track record for 1 1/16 miles that had stood since 1954 by two-fifths while carrying 128 pounds. In 1970 at Playfair, he came from 20 lengths off the pace to win a mile race by two under 134 pounds (one of the most amazing performances I've ever seen) and lost the Playfair Mile by a neck under a whopping 138 pounds, 21 more than the winner. That tied the state record for the most weight ever carried. He became so popular that there were Turbulator T-shirts, coffee mugs and buttons. He died on Nov. 9, 1989, nine days after Sunday Silence edged Easy Goer in an epic Breeders' Cup Classic. After his death, Turbulator was honored with a monument in the paddock at Playfair. Inscribed on the monument were these words: A Memorial to the Heart and Spirit of a Great Horse Who Won the Respect and Love of Fans of Thoroughbred Racing.

Q. What is your favorite racetrack?
A. Santa Anita. In November of 1974, while living in Spokane, Wash., I took a trip to Southern California with a friend. I had never been to California before. The first day I was in Los Angeles, my friend asked me, "What would you like to do today? Disneyland? Knott's Berry Farm? A Laker game?" I said, "You know me better than that." And he said, "OK, you're right. Let my rephrase that. Santa Anita or Hollywood Park?" I said, "Santa Anita first, then Hollywood Park tonight for the harness races." And that's exactly what we did.

There was no live racing at Santa Anita and we couldn't get inside. But even that was a visual treat. Then in February of 1977, I spent three glorious days of seeing live racing at Santa Anita as a visitor with my father. We witnessed victories by Crystal Water and Ancient Title. That first day I walked into Santa Anita was like a baseball fan visiting Yankee Stadium or Fenway Park for the first time. For me, it was love at first sight.

Within five minutes of my first visit inside Santa Anita, I turned to my dad and said, "I promise you that I will be working here some day." That day came four years later when Daily Racing Form promoted me to the position of Southern California columnist/reporter. To work at Santa Anita truly is a dream come true for me. And I've been fortunate to live that dream first with Daily Racing Form and then as a television broadcaster. But while Santa Anita is my favorite track, I can emphatically state that I've never met a racetrack I didn't like. I've worked at so many tracks that some of them, sadly, don't even exist anymore, such as Bowie, Sportsman's Park and picturesque Longacres. Others have changed their names, such as Philadelphia Park (formerly Keystone) and Fairplex (formerly Pomona). Lone Star Park, where I spent one year as Media Relations Manager, is a very impressive modern facility. I've also been to many tracks all over the world as a fan, such as little Rillito in Arizona, Turf Paradise, Sunland Park, Portland Meadows, Golden Gate, Santa Rosa, Oaklawn Park, Remington Park, Centennial, Ak-Sar-Ben, Belmont Park, Meadowlands, Delaware Park, Gulfstream Park, Churchill Downs, Keeneland, Fair Grounds, Caliente in Mexico, Stampede Park in Canada, Hastings Park in Canada, gorgeous Longchamp in France for the 1984 Arc, the Curragh in Ireland, Newmarket in England and Tokyo Race Course for the 1991 Japan Cap won by Golden Pheasant (ridden by Gary Stevens and trained by Charlie Whittingham). I also was at Pimlico in 2003 to anchor HRTV's coverage leading up to the Preakness Stakes won by Funny Cide. And I've visited such harness tracks as The Red Mile, Louisville Downs and Liberty Bell Park. Having been to so many racetracks certainly has been very helpful to me as an HRTV host.

Q. What was your biggest score at the windows?
A. When I won the Pick Six for $45,981.20 at Santa Anita on Dec. 28, 2003. There was a carryover of $151,840. I loved two horses in the Pick Six that day, Redattore in the San Gabriel Handicap and Pesci (owned by actor Joe Pesci). So I put together a $120 ticket with those two singles. A graphic of my ticket was displayed a number of times early in the day on HRTV. I don't believe it's right to display a ticket for the public and not bet it myself. So even though I wasn't too thrilled about spending $120 on the Pick Six that day because my finances at the time were somewhat depleted from Christmas shopping, I made the bet and was lucky enough to hit it when Yogi's ($8.40), Castor Troy ($7.80), Chadwicks Well ($9.60), Pesci ($4.60), Redattore ($4.80) and She's a Olympian ($62.40) all won. I was on the air for HRTV during the victories by Pesci, Redattore and She's a Olympian. I was broadcasting from the winner's circle where it can be rather difficult sometimes to see what is showing on our rather small TV monitors because of glare. After the final race, when I saw what looked like a $45,981.20 payoff for the Pick Six on one of the TV monitors, I thought that it couldn't possibly be right since I had a winning Pick Six ticket in my pocket. I stalled for a bit, hoping someone in the control room would say the figure in my ear to confirm the reality of the payoff. But no one ever did say the figure to me. So after a few moments, when satisfied that the $45,981.20 figure must indeed be correct, I went ahead and announced the Pick Six payoff on the air.

Realistically, I doubt that I will ever top that particular score, but you can bet that I am going to have a lot of fun trying to do just that. By the way, many people have asked me how I came up with She's a Olympian. It was a maiden claiming race. Because I didn't think it was a particularly strong race for the class level, I looked hard for a live longshot to use with the two logical horses that I liked, Purple Toi and Lobersterathepalms. She's a Olympian didn't show much in her career debut, but her subsequent workouts indicated possible improvement and she had an apprentice rider who had impressed me (Alex Bisono). There also was some sentimentality involved. She's a Olympian is by Olympio out of a Skywalker mare. When I was a chart-caller for Daily Racing Form, Olympio ran one of the most remarkable races I ever saw for a first-time starter. He reared at the start to get away far behind his rivals, got shut off entering the stretch and closed with a rush to finish second. I wagered $1,000 to win on him in his second career start, which he won easily. When Skywalker won the 1986 Longacres Mile, I had $606 in my pocket and bet $600 to win on Skywalker. With Laffit Pincay Jr. aboard, Skywalker won the Longacres Mile by a neck. I then flew back to Los Angeles the next day on the plane with Skywalker and trainer Michael Whittingham. It was, of course, quite a thrill to have one of 13 winning Pick Six tickets for $45,981.20. It also was very gratifying to learn that Charles Sigrast, a horse owner in Chicago, decided to play my ticket after seeing it on HRTV. An excited Sigrast called HRTV the following day to offer his thanks for what he said was the biggest win of his life as a bettor.