From the starting gate to the home stretch: Here’s to you, Bud

No more horsey dreams. My Dad died last Sunday. He was 89.

He was sitting on the steps at the front door tying his shoes, waiting for the neighbour to pick him up for church, when he just slumped over. The neighbour tried CPR. The paramedics arrived and did what they could.

But he was gone.

He wasn’t in the best of health, but he was still sharp mentally and he could get around the house with a walker. And lately our conversations had become much more animated, especially when it came to his new horse. After decades of not owning a racehorse, he had a new two-year-old at Woodbine.

The first horse he owned was a 1970 model named Peak Efficiency, owned in partnership with Daily Racing Form trackman Paul Turney. That led to more horses and partnerships that included stakes winners Jadosa Gambler, Buck Domino and Hook the Dragon. Jadosa Gambler went on a tear at Assiniboia Downs in 1981 and won six in a row, including four stakes enroute to championship honours. Buck Domino was purchased for $7,500 after being well beaten in maiden claiming races at Greenwood and Woodbine, and went on to win back-to-back Assiniboia Downs Gold Cups in 1984 and 1985. He was also named champion older horse in 1985.

Dad spent most of his working life in the military, and we ended up in all kinds of places including France, Belgium, Germany, England and Canada. He was born in Winnipeg, graduated from St. James Collegiate, and went on to a stellar career, receiving the Order of Military Merit, and retiring as a Major. He spent a number of years as a bomb disposal expert, more officially known as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal tech, while in the military, and the analytical and pressure skills required for that job are probably the reason he was the best horse racing handicapper I ever met. He also charted races and wrote articles for the Daily Racing Form for years at Assiniboia Downs, Woodbine and Fort Erie.

Dad and my uncle Johnny would often take us to the races at the Downs as youngsters, and we’d spend the nights running around the tarmac looking for thrown away winning tickets. We found a few, but the pure unbridled fun of just running around at the racetrack was enough. Later, when I was around 17, he suggested I get a job in the backstretch. That took me from being a groom for trainers that included Melvin Schanzenbach, Don Gray, Red Johnson, Ron Brock, Bert Blake and Mike Luider in Canada, and Hall of Fame trainers H. Allen Jerkens, Charlie Whittingham and Woody Stephens in the U.S., to becoming a trainer for Buck Domino and numerous other horses we bought for a song and turned into winners.

It was then on to the Daily Racing Form in 1990, and a writing career that has now spanned 36 years — the last 14 for the Free Press — highlighted by five Sovereign Awards for Outstanding Newspaper or Feature Story on horse racing in Canada. None of this was luck, according to my Dad. He said I would be good at it, and…

He and my Mom taught my brother, sister and I how to read, write and spell. Long before we got to school we were ahead of the game. And there were also some long nights spent memorizing times tables. More importantly, they taught us to always do our best, do the right thing, take the high road, have manners and class, and to have empathy for people, which for me also included horses.

Dad was an excellent chess player and curler and he could hit the golf ball a mile in his prime. He taught me all three skills. And to think none of this might have ever happened. The last time I saw him he told me the story of us travelling to France on a ship when I was one month old. I wouldn’t stop crying and he was outside walking me on the deck in the pouring rain when another lone rain walker asked him in jest, ‘Are you going to throw that kid overboard?” Of course he didn’t, and 67 years later I’m still here, writing about horse racing.

Last fall, Dad asked me to find him a horse. I contacted former Downs trainer Devon Gittens in Toronto and asked if he could find one that wasn’t too expensive. Gittens found a yearling in the Ontario yearling sale for $2,500 and it was game on. The horse has started four times so far and finished third twice. He finished fourth in the $300,000 Simcoe Stakes two starts ago and in his last start he finished third, beaten a neck for second in the $150,000 Bull Page Stakes. My mom said the horse reminded her of Buck Domino and his big late run to win his Gold Cups. Her and Dad got excited every time he raced.

The horse gave him a new lease on life, and resulted in some of the most enjoyable conversations we’ve ever had. Horses always give you something to hope for, especially young ones, but over the last few months he also mentioned he thought he was going downhill physically. In the end, the name of his horse rang true.

It Wasn’t a Bluff.