The Real Players Inside The Backstretch

My name is Rasi Harper, and I am the creator and co-founder of The Real Players Inside The Backstretch. As many of you know, our podcast has been interviewing the unsung heroes of the horse racing industry for almost two years now. We have covered a lot of ground over the two years. However, we need everyone's help to continue our journey to more stories from these unsung heroes that dedicated their lives to the backstretch and the horse racing industry. Our goal is to raise $25K to help us travel to racetracks and horse farms across the country and around the world.

Building this platform has grown into my passion, and I found my calling through these stories. I am honored I get to document living history and tell these stories from legendary people and legendary places. In 2022, we visited Gulf Stream, Santa Anita, Belmont, Churchill Downs, The McMahon Thoroughbred Farm, and Saratoga racetrack, all on our own dime. However, we exhausted most of our resources to continue to travel to tell these great stories. Moreover, our way to the Breeders’ cup is uncertain. Important races are coming up around the country, and we also have so many people reaching out to us daily to share stories from individuals who have been around this life for a long time. We must travel and meet these people. It’s essential to us and the industry that we can continue to tell these stories because they need to be shared and heard throughout the world.

The money raised will be used for travel expenses such as hotel rooms, airfare, car rental and food. Every dollar raised will be used on these items only to help us get to racetracks and farms. If we raise more than our goal, the money will be invested in equipment to help expand the platform.

Thoroughbred Racing Commentary article

The New York Times article