Training at cheap tracks in the 1970's

[Calzone Lord]

I talked with my father some more about his training experiences. Here are some questions I've asked him before, with answers, about training at cheap tracks in the 70s. I know he'd be very unhappy that I'm sharing this with anyone, but it's an interesting subject.

Why did you want to train?

I thought it would be fun. I was in my 20's and had two used car dealerships. I was making a lot of money, but I got sick of that business. I owned horses for a year or two and visited the backside before. So I knew it would be fun to try. I did talk to my trainer and others trainers for advice.


Was it fun?

Once I got licensed it was. They wanted me to pass all these tests before they'd give me a trainers license. I had never spent 2 minutes with a horse before in my life. I had to give the guy a cash bribe just to get a license. But once I got going and figured things out a little, it was the most fun I've ever had working in my life.


Stats show you won at 15% your first year with 108 total starts...

When I started. I paid a little extra to get a good groom. If you have good help, common sense, and are willing to put horses in races where they can be competitive, you'll do fine on any track or circuit. Even at the highest level.

But, I never cared about win percentage. I don't think anyone did in those days. The field sizes were a bit larger. We always had 8, 9, 10 horses in every race. I'd try and enter them every single week if I could.


Did you have good stock?

No. I had a few nice horses like Perfect Penny and GJ From Ioway. But for the most part, I had horses I paid $250, $500, $750, or a grand for. The rock bottom claiming level was $1,500.

In those days, the killers would come right on the track and try to buy. I had to outbid them for a few of the ones I trained. I won with a filly named Piece of Jo that I bought for $250. She was real small. Not much meat on her. She won at 30/1 odds for me the same month I bought her for $250.






Why were the purses so lousy in those days?

The cost of living was cheap in the mid 70's. You could buy a nice brand new 3-bedroom house for under $30,000. The minimum wage had just spiked to $2.00 an hour for the first time. A 4-year college education cost like $5,000. Prices for everything have gone way, way up.

This was also way before simulcast wagering. Slot machines and everything else. The purses still were poor but fields always filled and most people got by. I made money every year, even after helping out some of the good people who were struggling to get by


Did you cheat?

I went into the used car business straight out of college. I came with a mindset that I'd rather cheat the world than let the world cheat me.

But I didn't hop horses with any real consistency. Just on occasion. Usually off the layoff or right after I claimed or bought one. I wasn't the only one doing it either. Far from it. The squares would never do it. People like your mother.

As much as I liked to win, I didn't want to push it and break down a horse or get a jockey hurt. I wasn't in it for that.


What was the best juice?

Depends on the horse. Ritalin got the best results for me. It works on the head of the horse. Cheap old-horses always have issues. Eventually they start to protect themselves. Ritalin takes all their worries and troubles away and get the mind right. It doesn't work as well on a slow horse that can't run. It really hops up a fresh older horse with back class.


Did you have any good betting coups?

Nat's Thunder and Boyarin.

Boyarin was like a broken down umbrella. I figured him out and got his mind right and he won by 10 lengths at a huge price off the layoff.



I was getting destroyed betting baseball with several bookmakers that year. I stalled some of them off the best I could. Boyarin was freshened up for Finger Lakes, where they'd take more action in those days. He had his mind right that day and won easy at 65/1 odds. It was like a get out of jail free card. Some of the bookies stiffed me. Refused to pay. Insisted on capping the odds at 20/1. All kinds of BS. They were hot.

Of all the horses I trained, my biggest betting score was with Nat's Thunder.



The bet failed the first time he ran in Cleveland. I felt sure he'd win that day, but everything went wrong. Before I ran him at Thistle again, I stiffed him in a race at Commodore. When I took him back to Cleveland the second time, it was on a Saturday in the summer and they had exotics in the race. Huge crowd. It was beautiful. I made almost $20,000 at the windows on that race.


Any bad luck with shenanigans?

One time, I was involved in a race where two other trainers and I had all agreed to pull our horse. We were the 3 favorites. My horse was pulled, my buddies horse was pulled, but the other horse won easy. We were played.

The other trainer who stiffed his horse with me got so mad, he went straight for the parking lot and destroyed the truck of the winning trainer.

One time, a jockey named Jerry Stein asked me to make him a $100 win bet on a horse he said "can't lose." -- he rode like a 20/1 shot in the same race. He ended winning real easy on the horse he rode, and beat the chalk that he bet.


Why did you stop training?

I had a bad test for Ritalin. They gave me a year suspension. I bought Clancy's Tavern, got married, had you, went into the bar business. Which was basically just a cover for bookmaking.


Do you think the sport is clean now? Even at low level tracks?

The purses are great. There's no reason at all to stiff a horse anymore. Everyone is trying to win. The only cheating that I think is going on is doping with the intent to win. And I think the guys who are doing it now are way more consistent about their methods. The sharp bettor gets it. I don't think anyone is being fooled. The sports has never been and will never be clean. But, it's probably a more honest sport than it has ever been. Doping to win has probably gone on in horse racing since whenever dope was invented. You know that.