In 2016, I spoke at a hosted gathering of horse professionals that shared a concern over the upcoming state legislature on gambling that stood to deeply effect their future in horse racing.
This is my speech…
Hello.
Thank-you Gordon Reiss for inviting me to speak with you. I ask that you please bare with me as speaking is not my greatest asset.
Most of you do not know me but you may have read my regional stories in Blood-Horse magazine or my features and stallion profiles at DarleyAmerica.com.
This is not about me, but just so that you know where I am coming from: I am a former licensed Thoroughbred trainer, owner, breeder, bloodstock agent, exercise rider, groom, hot walker, and I even had a Barretts two-year-old sales topper that I previewed myself.
Now with a show of hands, I would like you to respond to a couple of questions:
How many signed the petition of support NOT to De-Couple Florida horse racing as part of the Seminole Gaming Compact legislation?
How many of you wrote letters to your state senators and representatives?
How many have encouraged others to write?
How many went to Tallahassee last March in the middle of breeding season to meet and speak with the legislators?
Thank-you for all that you have done already.
How many of you have painted a star on a horse’s head or given a false name to the clocker when your horse turned in six furlongs in 1:11.2 and you wanted to enter him in a starter allowance race?
A-ha! True Story. That horse, a six-year-old with two old bows, at 105-to-1 was beaten only a head at a mile and an eighth. He paid $76.00 to place and qualified for a starter handicap. He finished second. Pretty good nonetheless.
As a writer, I know that everyone in the business has a back story. I would like to challenge you today and hopefully inspire you. None of us can afford to lose this de-coupling race. We have to win. There will be no consolation prize.
I have another quick story and then I am going to ask you to help me because I now live through your stories.
As I said, I am a Thoroughbred person. I have been since I was a kid. I learned the Quarter Horse racing business when I worked for Vessels Stallion Farm in California. We stood American Pharoah’s great-grandsire and California’s leading sire – In Excess. We also stood the Northern Dancer of Quarter Horses – First Down Dash.
I was at the farm in the Golden Age when we hosted the Vessels Schvaneveldt Sale. I had the privilege one year of having D. Wayne Lukas in the round pen with me while I longed a very athletic colt that he was inspecting before the sale. The whole time I’m thinking, “Please don’t wheel and run this guy over.”
We sold a world record $750,000 Quarter Horse yearling that year. From the same sale, we sold a yearling named Old Habits for $18,500. He was sired by a Thoroughbred, a Lyphard-lined turf sprinter named Apollo. The yearling was out of a First Down Dash mare.
Once at the races, Old Habits was owned by ten ladies who referred to themselves, as “The Girls.” They had big red lips on their silks.
“Habits” was a big gangly chestnut gelding with a blazed face and a patch of white on his muzzle shaped like Mickey Mouse’s head – with the ears. He won a couple of stakes at Los Alamitos and his nominations were paid up to the All American Futurity, so they shipped him to New Mexico for the trials.
For those of you that aren’t familiar with the Quarter Horses or weren’t around when Bugs Alive in 75 won. The race is the original “million dollar race” and probably sparked John Gaines to conceive the Breeders’ Cup.
The Girls went to every race dressed in red – red hats – red nail polish – the lot. In the last trial for the All American – number 18, Old Habits ran the fastest time of 176 horses and qualified for a berth in the final on Labor Day. You can imagine the scene.
For the next ten days, the groom spent a lot of time wiping red lipstick off Old Habit’s Mickey Mouse nose. The ladies had trainer Danny Cardoza agree to have his toe nails painted red if he qualified. It was broadcast on ESPN. On race day, The girls drove up to Ruidoso Downs in a red Cadillac convertible.
All of racing should take a lesson, they had fun!
In the near $2 million final, Old Habits broke a step slow; rushed up, but missed by a head to Falling in Loveagain, a filly sired by First Down Dash. Old Habits earned about a half million dollars for second.
Not bad for an 18.5K purchase, a pretty good story, so far, right? But his earnings is not my point to share this with you.
Galloping out, his jockey Dusty Stimpson could feel something wasn’t right. Habits was acting wobbly. Once over at the detention barn, it was apparent that the horse was in distress.
There were a lot of people at the barn because they test all ten horses from the Futurity. Plus, all ten of Habits’ owners made it over there and were watching through the fence when word circulated that Old Habits had most likely suffered a heart episode. He was beginning to tremble and to go into shock.
Pretty much, all of the horsemen were staring at the State Veterinarian because under state rules, they needed a urine sample and only the groom, hotwalker and trainer were supposed to touch the horse.
I remember one person saying to the vet something like, “Doc, do you want to see all of these women crying if this horse dies?” Thank goodness the state vet agreed to just take blood and signaled for them to do what they had to.
At this point, a group of horsemen – they were the trainers of the other horses in the race – including Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert’s good friend, John Bassett. They jumped in and literally held Old Habits up on his feet. They had one man at each corner, rubbing his legs and his body to circulate life back into his core. This gelding was nearly lost.
I want to ask yourself, “What would you have done?”
…..
Well the good news is that Old Habits recovered from his episode and after a rest came back the following year as a three-year-old, and won the Grade One All American Derby.
With all due respect, it’s my opinion that too many times in the past, Florida’s Thoroughbred horsemen and the racetracks have fought over racing dates and money and divided us all.
I ask you, are you willing to jump in and do what you can to save someone else’s horse, someone else’s livelihood, and save this wonderful agricultural industry that belongs to all of us?
Gordon said that one of the biggest roadblocks that he encountered when he went to Tallahassee is that the legislative members know precious little about horse racing or horse people, so I have a plan to educate them as quickly and simply as we can. And ask that you make efforts to go and be present next year in Tallahassee, even though it will again be breeding season.
Always remember: There is ‘Strength in Unity.’
I have worked in a casino in the race book in Las Vegas. It’s my opinion that it attracts bad elements. The job didn’t pay that well, and it definitely was not fun. We must win this decoupling fight. And always remember that finishing second is not an option.
Thank-you for listening.
-Julie K. Castro
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