Derby suggests more worries for our future

I was honored to host Kentucky Derby Day at Harrah’s Pompano Beach last Saturday…and a memorable day it was.

Many members of the harness racing “Send It In Army” came by to chat and reminisce about the “old” days here…and some unfamiliar faces were in the crowd, as well.

After all, everybody seems to be a horse racing fan one day a year—and that’s Kentucky Derby Day.

Many New Yorkers were at the old Pompano Park site and were saddened that the track surface is completely gone now…as are the stables, paddock, racing secretary’s office and, most of all, the entire structure that housed our great “Top of the Park” restaurant—a legendary place that hosted just about every major name in the sport and entertainment world at one time or another for nearly 60 years.

Larry “The Hat” was there…so was “Mike The Psych”…”Big Rob”…”The Mooche”…a hundred others…or more.

The conversations were endless from late morning to Derby time with some 252 novices asking questions in between about wagering, odds, keying, boxing and how much certain wagers cost.

One gent from New York was about to celebrate his 90th birthday and his mind was as sharp as a tack with a memory going back to before Pompano Park opened in 1964.

Yes, Bill B. from Corona was sharing stories about the early days of both Roosevelt Raceway and Yonkers Raceway with details of races that defy belief in today’s world of the “fifth dementia” and worse.

He recalled, “Yeah, I remember the old days of Henry T. Adios and Stephen Smith and Irvin Paul and horses like that…

“I remember the Dancer’s and Haughton’s…man, they could DRIVE!

“I’ll tell ya a story,” he said, “Yonkers had the (National) Pacing Championship and it had some of the greatest horses back then like Henry T Adios…a two mile race—-TWO MILES!

“They all went at it early and I bet Stephan Smith” (driven by Gene Sears, Jay’s dad and Brian’s Granddad) “and was sittin’ third most of the way.

“The guys really knew how to rate a horse in them days and, it being a long race, they were just rolling along until the top of the stretch.

“Royal Rick was leadin’ and my Stephan Smith had taken over second turning for home and got by in the stretch to win.”

“I remember the last quarter in a TWO MILE race was 30 seconds—the fastest quarter in the whole race!”

“They guy next to me said, ‘you don’t see many quarters as fast as 30 seconds.’ “And I said,” ’especially in a TWO MILE RACE!’”

During the afternoon, the name Hugh Bell popped, up, along with William Hudson, Del Insko, Satch Werner and Paul Vineyard, among many, many others.

For you youngsters—say, 65 on down, Hugh Bell, born in 1902, was one of the great “catch-drivers” in an era where “catch-drivers” were few-and-far between.

He was the leading driver at Yonkers in the early 1960’s with his earlier claim to fame when he upset Bye Bye Byrd and Shadow Wave in 1958 Cane Pace with Raider Frost. He also “pinch hit” for John Patterson in the $50,000 Roosevelt Trot and won with Lord Gordon.

The “Mooche” brought up William Hudson’s name and said, “he was one of my favorites and I loved his horse Lochinvar King…Abbot Hanover, too.”

Hudson had a whole slew of winners including The Real McCoy, Victory Flash and Zip Time, among others, but lost them in a tragic fire in late 1963.

The “Mooche” said, “He could handle a horse with the best of ‘em! You can quote me!”

That’s why “The Mooche” classified him as “one of the very best!”

“Big Rob” stopped by and asked if I remembered Del Insko.

“Is there a cow in Texas?” I answered!

Toothpick Del got his start in my hometown of Chicago and us “Windy-Citians” were not happy when he moved east to the New York circuit.

My favorite story out of Chicago involved Insko and another owner-trainer by the name of Al Locascio, who owned a bar on Chicago’s south side.

Locascio had a horse that he called “a plug” and got so disgusted with him that he told Insko that he’d sell him for $1…yes, one dollar!

Del had just come from the track kitchen and checked his pockets and told Locascio, “I’ve only got 37 cents!”

Locascio said, “That’s good enough!” and the deal was made.

Del did pretty well with him, too, after that!

He was a “mighty mite” in the business at 5’5” and, maybe, 120 pounds.

Oh, there were other names remembered on Derby Day from “way-back-when.”

Some were born right at, or before, 1900…Earle Avery (1894)…Sanders Russell (1900)…Paul Vineyard (1895) and Satch Werner (1898), to name a few.

All-in-all, it was great day helping those novices with questions about wagering mixed in with a day of reminiscing the great days of yesteryear.

Then, I got to thinking…

Of all the folks passing my help desk on Derby Day—and there were HUNDREDS—not a single one appeared to be under the age of 25 and the vast majority were well over retirement age.

From walkers and wheelchairs…to gimpers and limpers…I witnessed an aging fan base and began to wonder who will replace them in future years, months, weeks and, even, days?

One guy missing on Derby Day was the immortal “Fluff,” who passed away in his mid-80’s a year or two or three ago.

Fluff—real name John Sailey—was a standardbred trainer for years with a small stable and loved the action.

He used to come into Gabe’s office at Pompano Park just about every race night to chat about the night’s card and had some pretty good insight.

He got his nickname while he was running bets 60-odd years ago for the New York punters.

One guy asked him to run a $200 win bet and, after the horse won, the gambler was looking to get his money.

“Where’s the guy with the FLUFFY hair?”

He had been known as “FLUFF” from that day forward!

Anyhow, I was bothered by witnessing an aging fan base with a limited future ahead for many of them.

Then, I realized that harness racing got hit with a “double whammy!”

Our sport has such a wonderful rich history going back even before Messenger came to the U.S.A. back in 1788.

Heck, Narragansett Pacers were prominent a century before that, and our first recorded records go as far back as 1806.

We have honored both horses and humans with stakes events so that their contributions and heroics will be etched in history forever—our superior Hall of Fame in Goshen, New York insuring that.

But, instead of adding to our great history, we are beginning to destroy it.

The great Nat Ray drove the first Hambletonian winner back in 1926 and, in honoring that historical first, The Nat Ray Memorial trotting race solidified that occasion with a Stake named in his honor..

Fairly recently, the powers-to-be in our sport decided to re-name the event, virtually erasing Nat Ray from our storied past.

I thought, “wouldn’t it have been better to just ADD another stakes race, instead of erasing history.?

We should always have room to add to our history when the occasion arises.

Now, we’re taking the same path again, destroying a stake race honoring one of the great fillies (and mare as a four-year-old), Mistletoe Shalee,  from way back in the mid-1970’s and re-naming that, as well.

It doesn’t matter whom the re-cycled stakes event now honors—it matters that another piece of our history is destroyed when a new Stakes event could have been foaled honoring the great Jerry Silverman…Hall of Fame now immortal Jerry Silverman.

From Romeo Hanover almost 60 years ago to Hilarion and Masquerade…to Glowing Report and Die Laughing…to Hit Parade and Peachbottom…and so many others…

Not only was Jerry an exceptional trainer, but he was also a great individual who exemplified all great about our sport.

He didn’t deserve to “take the place of another”—whether it be an equine or a human.

He deserved to have a brand-new event—a Stake race named in his honor and memory!….with all the “hoopla” leading up to the inaugural edition.

Is MLB about to rename the Cy Young Award? I think not.

Is the NFL ever going to rename the Vince Lombardi Trophy?

The idea is to build on history—not destroy it!

So, the crux of this Mane Attraction is this…We are showing that we don’t care about our history…and, as evidenced by Derby Day, we care little about the future.

We only care about today!

And that is a shame.

May The Horse Be With You.

By the way, as Corona Bill B was leaving the park after throwing his Derby tickets away, he put the icing on the cake about his winning bet on Stephan Smith over 60 years ago yelling, “He paid $6.20 to win!”

by John Berry, for Harnesslink