"I could have made my home anywhere in the world," reminisces noted jockey Steve Cauthen in his introduction to Northern Looking to the New Millennium. "But it was here in Northern Kentucky near Covington that I would again make my home, to raise my family and build upon the roots that I had never strayed too far away from." For Cauthen, the youngest rider ever to win horse racing's celebrated Triple Crown, the glitz and glamour of Europe could never compare to his beloved bluegrass country. From its proximity to Cincinnati to the slowly rising and falling hills, "Northern Kentucky holds all for me that life needs to hold," Cauthen writes. As the center of the horse breeding industry for the entire world, the area boasts numerous top-rated facilities and tracks. Yet, Northern Kentucky incorporates much more than just horses. A growing economy and healthy business climate join with colleges, hospitals, museums, and parks to draw some 300,000 residents to the area. For Cauthen, Northern Kentucky's lure seems to originate in its pastoral, small-town "Those who come here are so refreshed by the people they run into and meet that the rough edges they might have started to get from city life seem to kind of smooth out a little bit." In the end, Cauthen--world traveler and racing wunderkind--faithfully declares, "It's here that I plan to stay."
