Page 22 - January 2008 The Game

22 The Game, January 2008
WA Fond Memory of Bill Hartack
MApprenticeship 101
help of trainers like JC Gilbert. My rst lesson with JC was trying to decipher his Cuban accent, thick as heavy cigar smoke. One of his grooms acted as interpreter until I was familiar with his lingo. Though English was a second language to JC, he was fluent in Equine.
Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
By John Stapleton
hen Bill Hartack came up to Woodbine this past summer, I got an invite to the post position draw
y apprenticeship moved along with the
at Woodbine where Bill was the honourary draw master for the second running of the $700,000 Northern Dancer Stakes.
turn, the horse began to drift. The temptation
to grab the inside rein was over-whelming but I resisted. The horse rounded the turn beautifully, and I knew I had passed another apprenticeship milestone.
Bill noted that this was his rst trip to Woodbine or to Canada since winning the 1964 Queen’s Plate aboard the race’s namesake,
Northern Dancer.
Morning instructions with JC were speci c.
On average, the morning gallop consisted of
an easy rst mile followed by a quicker second lap and a snappy nal furlong in 16 seconds. To add endurance, we did a two minute mile. It began with 18 second furlongs and nished with either a 14 or 12 second furlong, depending on how sharp he wanted the horse. But one thing never changed—the stop watch must click off
at exactly two minutes. A fth of a second either way was not acceptable. In a race, it could mean the difference between winning and nishing last.
Another horse in the barn was one of the most magni cent I’d ever seen. Sea Tangle was a dark bay gelding with perfect conformation and bright, intelligent eyes. As beautiful and amiable as he was in his stall, on the track, nobody could hold him. He ran off with even the toughest exercise rider.
A Head at the Wire
A Series of Real Life Stories by Paddy Head
Bill talked in a moving way about winning the Ken- tucky Derby with Northern Dancer and setting the Track Re- cord that ‘could not be beaten’ (except by the immortal Sec- retariat nine years later). These equine athletes who stood
Northern Dancer was a tiring third to the richly talented Quadrangle in the third jewel of 1964 Triple Crown but for the third time that Spring, the Dancer nished ahead of the mighty Hill Rise.
I appeared in the shed row one morning after a rare night of partying. Sea Tangle was saddled up and JC paced impatiently, waiting for the exercise rider. Still in the glow of the night’s celebration, I volunteered to gallop the horse.
at the top of the Thoroughbred world allowing Hartack his special place in history.
Eddie Arcaro (left) & a young Bill Hartack in 1960
Bill Hartak was guest draw- master for the 2007 Northern Dancer Stakes at Woodbine.
My initial mount was a bay gelding named Fur Trim. After two years of racing, the stout gelding had de nite views on track conditions. He didn’t like it fast or muddy, de nitely not sloppy and a drying out track he liked least of all. With JC’s guidance, I honed the nicky horse to the peak of tness, ready to run whenever he found the track to his liking.
In my relaxed condition, there was barely a moment of uncertainty. I rode out of the shed row enthralled by the power of the horse beneath me. When he jogged onto the track and broke into a gallop, his stride was fluid and effortless, his rhythm perfect. On the rst turn, he changed leads right on cue. I looked straight ahead through his perfectly shaped ears, mesmerized by his talent. I was so enchanted I forgot there were other horses on the track. I was startled every time someone passed.
Two days later,
fans stood in a long line up to pay their respects to the taciturn jock that bene ted so grandly from Shoemaker’s handicapping of the prospects of Hill Rise and the Dancer. The Shoe’s decision took the regular rider of Quadrangle and put him on the little horse from Canada.
Most of JC’s horses worked and raced in blinkers. One morning I arrived to see the blink- ers on Fur Trim and asked how far we were working. With a smirk, JC told me he wanted an easy gallop. It may have looked easy from where he stood on the trainers’ stand but my arms were almost pulled from their sockets as the eager horse tried to break off at every furlong pole.
I had no idea if we’d galloped once or ten times around the track but Sea Tangle knew when the gallop was over and edged to the outside rail.
He stayed fully in the bridle as we jogged back, performing an extended trot that would make a grand prix dressage rider envious.
In line with more memorabilia than anyone else, pictures - programs and ephemera, I lined up patiently with fellow smiling greybeards on Woodbine’s breezy fth floor at the end of July. All this to obtain the coveted small but care- ful signature of the man that rode the horse that had me - at age 14 - breathlessly running home (after completing my newspaper route on the rst Saturday in May 1964) to see if the little Canadian horse could do it.
Another horse, a big leggy chestnut, had suddenly started bolting to the outside rail. JC knew his big gelding was sound and he felt
the horse was reacting to nervous riders who were trying to force him around the turn. As
we headed to the track, he instructed me to stay relaxed and keep a loop in the reins. I whistled my way around, as much to keep myself relaxed as the horse. Galloping into the homestretch
It was a ride I would never forget and yet I knew my real challenge lay ahead. How could the apprentice remain in this wonderful calm state in the normal sober everyday life? The horses who provided the answer would appear in the coming months.
But having seen Bill Hartack as an older man a few days earlier, I realized that something was missing. After a long search through boxes of memorabilia, I found a
Surrender the Sword wins Damshacuir Memorial
Michael Burns Photo
Northern Dancer Pin for 1964 given to me by historian Lou Cauz years earlier.
When I came to the track for the Sunday autograph ses- sion, Bill clearly enjoyed signing and looking through the 1964 memorabilia. He stopped at the race card that included him up on Quadrangle ( Wood Memorial) and he said, “You know - I don’t think people have any idea what a good horse Quadrangle was.”
Memorial was Surrender the W
Standing before him with my armful of newly signed stuff, I told him, “Now I have something for you” and handed him the Northern Dancer Pin.
Sword (a.k.a. Arthur). “Arthur” is owned by Linda Hale and was ridden to success through two rounds by Julie Restivo.
He looked at it for a minute and said “I don’t think I ever got one of these”. He stared at it again and then carefully pinned it on his lapel, smiled, looked up and said “ I thank you for this”.
The Damshacuir Memorial was
established in the memory of a two year old
colt who died unexpectedly prior to having
a career as a race horse or show horse. The Hunter Classic, open only to Thorough-
breds, was held at beautiful Old Orchard
Farm in Moffat, Ontario and attracted nearly twenty horses and riders of all ages. Sponsored by Velocityworks, a company specializing in Human Resources, the winner was presented with
a trophy, prize money and cooler.
The Damshacuir Memorial will be held again
About two weeks later, I was not proud of the fact that I had some misgivings about giving away my only Northern Dancer Pin . There is not a lot of them around.
in 2008 and “Five” continues to live on in our hearts and memories.
Then in November I picked up a copy of the Racing Form and saw the obituary.
inner of the 2007 Damshacuir
Did You Know....
That UK Jockey, Kieren Fallon and two other jockeys were cleared on charges
of race- xing after being dismissed from trial in London in early December.
Fallon and jockeys Fergal Lynch and Darren Williams were acquitted of the charges of
a betting scam involving 27 races. Justice Thane Forbes was quoted on the reason for the acquittal, “There is no suf cient evidence from which the jury could conclude that
the jockeys agreed to stop their horses as alleged.”
I suspect that someone will nd the Northern Dancer pin commemorating his last ride in Canada, Northern Dancer’s 1964 Queen’s Plate, in Mr. Hartack’s effects.
Canadians will remember fondly and with pride his memorable rides in the Spring of 1964 and appreciate what will stand as his last return to the country that gave him his most memorable mount, Northern Dancer.
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