- Mac Diarmida a chance to recall Schulhofer
This game moves fast, and racing does a poor job of utilizing Stakes renewals to advertise the history of the game and its' immortal runners, trainers and owners. If it wasn't for Jay Hovdey's regular historical perspective pieces in the Racing Form, there would hardly be any mention of the landmarks, milestones and principals that give the game its' wonderful lineage. Sunday's running of the Mac Diarmida at Gulfstream is one of those opportunities though, as had Scott Schulhofer's first great horse as a thoroughbred trainer not turned up, we likely wouldn't have had a chance to know the man so many came to love.
Scotty Schulhofer was the top guy to me when I first started playing horses and going to the track regularly in the 80's. When I would see "Flint Schulhofer" as trainer listed in the PP's, I would always take note and give extra consideration to his entrants. I loved Mrs. Vance's Lemon Drop Kid, and it turned out he would be Scotty's last "big horse". One benefit of the good fortune delivered to me as a racing correspondant has been the chance to meet and get to know people like Scotty Schulhofer.
Steve Haskin tells the story of how Schulhofer was working as assitant to John Nerud on November 1, 1969 when Ta Wee was entered in the Vosburgh. Nerud told Scotty to go and saddle her as she was running in his name. Nerud "forced" a re-start of Schulhofer's training career, he had briefly been on his own earlier in the 60's, and he almost never looked back. And I said "almost" above because of the story Schulhofer told me in 2006 when I sat with him and his wife Stephanie at one of Bill Hirsch's Horseman's Dinners in Florida.
After opening his stable to the public when his exclusive training for Tartan ended in the 70's, Schulhofer struggled. He and Stephanie explained that they had recently had son Randy, and that the money was just not coming in. They were in Florida for the winter of 1978, and Scotty said that if things didn't turn around, he and the family were going to have to pack it in and return to his native South Carolina.
Enter Dr. Torsney and Mac Diarmida... Schulhofer had saddled the allergist's colt to unsuccessful starts on the dirt at Belmont and Hialeah, and finally moved the son of Tartan sire Minnesota Mac to the lawn. The rest, as they say, is history.
Starting with his maiden win February 1, 1978, Mac Diarmida ripped off 10 straight grass victories under Jean Cruget, including the Long Branch (Gr. III), Leonard Richards (Gr. III), Lexington (Gr. II, by a head over an unknown John Henry), Secretariat (Gr. II) and Lawrence Realization (Gr. II), before being beaten by Waya in the Man o'War (Gr. I) in his first try versus older horses. He came back to end his three year old campaign with wins in the Gr. I Canadian and D.C. Internationals and was the easy choice as Champion Grass Horse of 1978.
Mac Diarmida kicked a tack box in January 1979 while preparing for his 4 year old season, injured a tendon and had to be retired. Though his career as a sire at Cashel Stud, (the farm where he was bred, stood, pensioned and is buried), was largely undistinguished, he will always be remembered as the horse that kept Scotty Schulhofer in the thoroughbred game as a trainer. Mac Diarmida helped launch Schulhofer into a two decade long skein of success that included management of 5 more champions, 2 Belmont winners (Lemon Drop Kid, Colonial Affair), 2 Breeders' Cup winners (Smile, Fly So Free) and dozens of important stakes scores in Florida, New Jersey and New York.
More than anything else, Schulholfer will be remembered as a kind, gentle, quiet and humble man who prefered to let his accomplishments speak for him. It only took 2 hours of hearing him credit others for his success for me to understand what kind of special individual Scotty Schulhofer was, how much he is missed by anyone who had the opportunity to be close to him, and how much racing could use more like him now.