Horse business reporter has his dream job

Gregory Hall, who has been covering the horse business and agriculture for the Louisville Courier-Journal since 2005, writes about his dream job.

Hall writes, “Basically all I ever wanted to do in journalism was cover the horse industry for The Courier-Journal. Here I sit doing just that, since late 2005, counting my blessings (and cursing a few photo finishes that went the other way). This job gives me trackside views of the Kentucky Derby, the Kentucky General Assembly and multi-million-dollar sales of horses.

“In younger daydreams, I always hoped to be able to break a story like the one last week about the Breeders’ Cup coming to Lexington, Ky., at Keeneland Race Course in 2015. I didn’t expect in those dreams, though, that I’d also be writing this much about industrial hemp or medical marijuana. Those two issues have sort of consumed my agriculture-related coverage lately. I also cover the alcohol industry, though that usually gets a lesser share of my time.

“Everywhere I’ve ever worked as a journalist, I figured out a way to write stories about the horse industry. Covering minority owners in Hoosier Park, when the Anderson, Ind., track was majority-owned by Churchill Downs Inc., led to me in 1994 covering my first Derby — after serving as a pall bearer that morning at that same grandmother’s funeral.”

Read more here.