Training at cheap tracks in the 1970's

[tiggerv]

Nice read

[fantini33]

I could read your stuff for hours....

[ninetoone]

Great post!

[Left Bank]

Fabulous! But I'm still waiting for the sequel to the "trip to Mountaineer"

[Sightseek]

Did your parents meet at the track?

[philcski]

I love stories like this, Doug. Real guido sh1t. A conversation I had with my dad a long time ago about betting horses (he doesn't talk about his childhood much, so this was opening up quite a bit for him):

"So dad, when did you get interested in the track?"

"Well you know, my mother was gone early and my dad was gone when I was 15. So it was just me and your aunt, broke, homeless, nowhere to go. One day in high school I was at the deli and some guy offered me $5 to run a paper bag down to the bar on my way . He says don't look in there. The guy at the other side paid off. He tells me come back tomorrow and do it again for another $5. Naturally, after a few weeks of doing this I got curious about what it was, so I looked in the bag and it was the daily double at Aqueduct. So I started watching which guys [numbers] were winning and would take my lunch stipend and bet it with them. I started hitting $15, $20 doubles a few times a week and thought I was rich. I didn't even know what I was betting or even where to get the results. I just would ask around at school and some of the wiseguys there would get the results on the radio and we'd all either eat well or not at all. That was a lot of money in those days."

FYI he still has no idea how to read a racing form, 50 years later. Rarely bets but really enjoys watching the races.

[outofthebox]

Fantastic read. Things like that were also going on at the big tracks in So Cal in the late 70's too. Your dad was spot on about todays racing too.

[jms62]

Originally Posted by Calzone Lord

When did you meet Mom?

She got her trainers license right away and actually won a few races at age 18. She was smart and very handy around horses, but too much of a know-it-all to work for anyone for long. She thought she was Woody Stephens. She knows everything about horses and medicine, just ask her.

I got to know her better because of Viagtoni. The horse was a complete dog-biscuit. My buddy Mike Trivigno had the horse at Tampa and couldn't get it to run. In those days, Tampa was a junky track. Nothing like today.



I got the horse off of Mike and couldn't do anything with it either. I didn't like anything about the horse. I called him Macaroni. The horse was nuts and had no ability at all. I figured the horse would be a perfect match for your mother, so I recommend her "as a great fit for this horse" to the guy who owned him.


Tell me about Vigatoni's race for mom on July 4th? Geezers at Presque Isle Downs still occasionally talk about that race...

There was a huge crowd that day. She stretched the horse out to two-turns. The last time that horse ran two-turns, it tried to bolt at Tampa. It was eased and Mike wanted nothing more to do with the horse.

Commodore Downs was a bull-ring like Charles Town. Much tighter-turns than Tampa and your mother had a bug up that could barely stay on a professional horse.

Vigatoni was about 5 or 10 in front on the far turn at like 20/1 odds. He looked like he couldn't lose, but suddenly he bolted. He dumped the rider, ran around until he jumped over a fence, and ran straight back into his stall. By the time your mother got back to the barn, all she had to do was fasten the latch. I got back there before she did and said "Wow! Now that is impressive training!" He knew exactly which stall was his and went right in, unassisted.


Mike Trivigno, of Vigatoni fame, trained eventual Kentucky Derby winner Lil E Tee as a 2-year-old. Did you ever ask him anything about Lil E Tee?



They paid just $25,000 for Lil E Tee as an April 2-year-old at OBS. Mike knew he was probably going to lose the horse after he broke his maiden like a future superstar. The offer came fast.

Lil E Tee debuted in a hot maiden race at Calder. The top four finisher all won back next-time out. And the horse who finished 5th in that Calder debut race, was a Kentucky Derby starter the following year. When he improved big-time in his second start, the vultures had a perfect target.

The same year that Lil E Tee won the Kentucky Derby, Glenn Wismer won the Kentucky Oaks with Luv Me Luvmenot. He upset Mineshaft's dam, who was undefeated. And he beat the horse who won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile fillies as well. It was neat, two of my best friends from Commodore Downs, and one of them trained the Oaks winner and the other had the Derby winner, and all in the same year.





Any other trainers from Commodore still around?

Quite a few that I recall. Steve Klesaris was at Commodore. Loren Cox. Gerald Bennett. Dale Baird ran there a lot and everywhere else. I can't believe some people say he belongs in the Hall of Fame, he ran a Livery stable. What a joke that would be.

Wismer came to Commodore from Canada. He had nothing at the time. I let him stay with your Grandma and Grandpa. He slept in the upstairs bedroom that used to be my bedroom. Your grandparents really liked him a lot, he was a hard worker and a good guy. He wasn't a cheater either.

Great all-around horsemen. Unfortunately, he's not very clever when it comes to all aspects of racing that involve common sense. Great guy. A+ horsemen, F- with everything that doesn't involve hands-on horsemenship.

You need to write a book. I will be in line when it comes out.

[Danzig]

Originally Posted by jms62

You need to write a book. I will be in line when it comes out.

' a real know it all'

i love it!