Page 168 - Speedhorse April 2019

Town Policy
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Town Policy possessed a charisma
about him that attracted attention – he had what
Stars are made of – talent, stamina, determination, opportunity. In what was to be his last race at Los Alamitos on January 3,
1984, he broke his shoulder. He was put down on January 5th. Speedhorse asked four men who have watched and written
about the gelding through the years to reminisce. Presented here are personal memories of Bruce Rimbo, Brad McKinzie, Scott Wells and Ty Wyant. The March 1982 Speedlines is also reprinted as a tribute to the outstanding athlete.
Town Policy is a legend – like Go Man Go and Kaweah Bar before him. Legends are more than horses – they are horses with personali- ties and Town’s personality is reflected in those around him.
I will never forget the Blane Schvaneveldt I saw sitting in the Los Alamitos Post and Paddock Room one hour before the races began on Janu- ary 4. It was the day after Town had broken his shoulder and a day that was spent agonizing over the inevitable. Schvaneveldt’s eyes were red, no doubt from a sleepless night spent with Town and probably more than one good old-fashioned cry.
“It’s tough,” he said, referring to the deci- sion of whether to try and save the horse or not. “He’s just like part of the family.”
Town was indeed just like part of the fam- ily to Kenny Hart, to Blane Schvaneveldt and to everyone who ever called himself or herself a Quarter Horse fan at Los Alamitos.
Town Policy became the first horse to be buried in the infield at Los Alamitos, just a few yards from the scene of most of his greatest mo- ments, from the scene where he received most of his cheers and call of “Thatta boy, Town!”
But maybe therein lies the beauty of the sad tale. Town Policy, the horse, they could destroy and bury...Town Policy, the legend, will live on forever.
– Bruce Rimbo
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“Could you please do a story on your thoughts and feelings about Town Policy?” the voice on the other end of the telephone asked.
“You bet. No problem. I’d enjoy it,” I said as I thought about joining three other colleagues in contributing to a special article to Speedhorse.
But now as I sit here thinking about it, I real- ize I have a problem. I mean, where do I begin? Do I touch on my thoughts and feelings about:
• the night he broke his maiden in 1977 as the
much heralded two year old that worked in
:18.1 in preparation for his first start;
• the night he battled Easy Della Jet every step of the way to win the Kindergarten;
• the day he had the worst part of a heavy
track and still managed to finish second in
the All American Futurity behind Hot Idea;
• the day I joined Blane Schvaneveldt and several
other horsemen at a Stanton, California ranch just a few miles from the race track the morn- ing after he had been stolen into the night;
• The pain on owner Ivan Ashment’s face
as he sat talking about the bizarre ordeal of Town’s theft and the subsequent clandestine meeting at the Fresno airport, the involve- ment of the FBI and the late night ransom phone calls;
• the cheers and joy on the night when he won a division of the Los Alamitos Derby trials in his first race back just 60 days after his return from Mexico and his stakes record performance a week later in the Derby;
• the night he battled Winning Copy and Father Jim to narrowly win the Vessels Ma- turity, making him the first horse in track history to sweep the three major divisional races (Kindergarten, Los Alamitos Derby, Vessels Maturity) in three consecutive years;
• the night in February of 1980 when he carried a badly injured Kenneth Hart to vic- tory in the HQHRA Championship;
• the same year when he became the first horse of our breed to exceed $100,000 earnings four consecutive years with a third in the Los Alamitos Championship;
• and finally, his last moment on the track when, as a nine year old, he broke his shoul- der but still refused to go to the ground.
I guess this is where you begin, at the end. There have been and will be horses to race with more ability and more speed than Town Policy. But accomplishments on the track are not the only thing that go into making legends.
166 SPEEDHORSE, April 2019
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