Page 47 - New Mexico Horse Breeder Summer 2018

A MOMENT IN TIME
Jack Van Berg, has already been mentioned, and Burns knew Jack’s father, Hall-of-Famer Marion Van Berg, well from many seasons working together on Nebraska tracks. For a couple of years in the late 30’s and early 40’s, he trained a string for one of New Mexico’s most prominent and successful horsemen/ businessmen, the Santa Fean Tom Closson. His longest stint as a private trainer, however, was the three years 1969-72, when he worked the horses of Les Davis and his wife of the famous CS Ranch in Cimarron, New Mexico. For the Davises Burns delivered a series of champion- ships seasons, years “in the black,” a difficult feat in the competitive world of Southwest rac- ing. Many other names familiar in the history and record books of Southwest racing could
be listed among those with whom Burns has worked and competed: Harvey Foster, Murph Palmer, Sr., Tom Smith (trainer of the immor- tal Seabiscuit), Guy Patton, Dean Davis. Burns is the historian’s dream, a walking reference work on the events and personalities of almost five decades of racing in the Southwest.
But no discussion of Burn’s career as a trainer would be complete without reference
to some of the splendid horses associated with him. Several of them could claim a place in a Southwest Equine Hall of Fame, if such a thing existed. First of all, at least chronologically, there was Panther, a Thoroughbred/Quarter Horse/ what-have-you-mix which was the terror of New Mexico and Colorado bush tracks in the 1930’s. Owned by Burns, Panther was a determined sprinter which dominated meets at Pueblo,
Las Vegas, Raton, Trinidad, Colorado Springs, or wherever horsemen were rash enough to challenge him. At three to five furlongs he
was almost unbeatable, and his toughness was incredible. Burns recalls running him one sum- mer 29 times – and picking up 27 purses! For the CS Ranch Burns handled a number of first-rate horses, among them Rayado which in seven years of racing won or placed in virtually all the major races of the Southwest. Rayado
was of such class that for a decade he held
the New Mexico State Fair record at a mile- and-a-sixteenth – 1:42.1 – until it was finally broken in 1981. Burns remembers also with special affection and respect the CS Ranch’s cast-iron old gelding Cheju, winner of the New Mexico Thoroughbred Futurity, Clyde Tingley Memorial Handicap, Texas Derby, and many other top class Southwestern stakes races. In addition to class, Cheju was almost indestruc- tible, compiling a record for endurance that surely must rank among the most extraordinary in Southwest history. In a ten year racing career (two through eleven years), Cheju started 185 times and came under the wire first in 42 of those races! The record shows fifty-one more second and third place finishes, making a grand
total of 93 times on the board and $113,827 in total winnings (1960’s dollars, too). Cheju ate up and spat out two or three generations of run- ners at his favorite distance of around a mile and was finally retired at age 12 by state racing regu- lations, not by dwindling ability or courage. As a matter of fact, he won the last two races of his racing career – as an obviously spry 11-year-old.
But of all the Burns horses, Joy Boy was
by far the most memorable. When Burns bought him – for the princely sum of $200 –
at a Caliente race track, he was a big, gangly two-year-old whose record and prospects were decidedly unimpressive. But Burns liked his breeding – he was by the great Bull Dog stal- lion John’s Joy and from a family of runners – and the potential he saw in the still developing young gelding. Bringing his new investment along slowly, Burns did not start him until June of his three-year-old season, but within three short months on the La Mesa Park track Raton Joy Boy showed he was something special. In that period he started seven times and picked up 5 wins, a second (in the Raton Derby), and a third. It was quickly clear to all that at five or six furlongs Joy Boy meant business.
Over the four racing seasons 1958-61, Joy Boy established one of the most impressive records ever seen in Southwest racing. He started 45 times over six different tracks (La Mesa Park, the state Fairgrounds in Albuquerque, Turf Paradise, Centennial in Denver, Sunland Park near El Paso, and Ak-Sar-Ben), and many others – Joy Boy won a total of $54,112 and became one of the most highly respected sprinters of his day. At least twice Frank turned down big figure offers for the horse, including one for $50,000,
a tidy sum in 1960 and a handsome profit com- pared to that intitial $200 purchase price.
After a successful 1961 summer campaign at Ak-Sar-Ben which included several wins and a solid second in the prestigious Ak-Sar-Ben Handicap, Burns returned Joy Boy that August to Centennial Park in Denver. On August 1 the Denver Post headlined, “Joy Boy to Run at Centennial” and later that day a specially large crowd turned out to see the horse the paper called “the Cinderella horse of the Southwest.” The crowd expected to see Joy Boy walk off with the six furlong Sedalia Purse. Instead they saw him bobble near the sixteenth pole, then break down completely. Though he struggled on toward the finish line on three good legs, despite the frantic efforts of his jockey to pull him up, that day – and only that traffic day
– Joy Boy failed to bring home a check. The headline in the next morning’s post was sadly accurate: “Death Sentence Seen for Centennial Star.” Joy Boy had suffered sesamoid fractures and late that evening was destroyed. As a mea- sure of the respect and love he had earned from the racing public, Joy Boy was buried the next
day in front of the grandstand on the Denver track, the only horse so honored. His tomb- stone still stands there: “JOY BOY – One of the most gallant and beloved horses to race in Colorado – Frank Burns, Alamosa, Colorado, Owner and Trainer.” Burns cherishes his mem- ory and waits for another like him...but doesn’t expect one soon.
His has been a busy, productive life, and even a quick summary of it is incomplete without reference to his assistant trainer/ helpmate/wife Ollie whom he watched grow up in the San Luis Valley, then had the good sense to marry. When Frank recently decided that maybe he should, after all, just retire, it was Ollie who watched him fret around the Alamosa ranch house – eating, sleeping, watch- ing tv. It was she who finally suggested that,
all things considered, maybe they should get another horse or two. He quickly agreed: “That loafin’s sure a hard job!” So, retirement behind him, he can still be found around New Mexico and Arizona tracks, handling fewer animals, yes, but still looking for – and getting – his share
of first money. It doesn’t surprise those who know him. A New Mexico horseman who’s been around almost as long as Burns volunteers the blunt judgement, “Of all the horsemen I’ve seen these last forty-odd years, he’s simply the best, the sharpest I ever Saw.” He’s a walking link back to New Mexico’s rough, exciting cowboy past, but he’s still looing confidently up toward the top of the stretch.
SUMMER 2018 45
He remembers well the pace of those transition years: “There was many an afternoon when I’d compete in a Roman Riding race on the track, then they’d call me over to the arena to rope a calf, then I’d rush back
to the track to saddle a horse for some race.”
With the passage of time the training became the central focus of his life and with the exception of one interlude has remained so ever since. When the old Governor passed away, however, Burns returned once and for all to the horse and the race track.