Page 101 - Speedhorse May 2019

Trained by Welch, Red Pepper Dee, shown after winning at Los Alamitos in 1955, was one of the few horses that beat the great Go Man Go.
“I’ll never forget that moment,” Welch says.
All of which set a good foundation for his present career of training horses.
“Actually, the best training I had was catching wild horses on our ranch,” he said. “I learned a lot about them then. To catch wild horses, you have to think like one. One of our best tricks was to wait at a water hole. This was in the spring. We would wait until the horses filled up. They were a lot easier to catch with a full stomach.”
His father, Joe Welch Sr., raised horses and “Tuffy” Joe got to know them instinc- tively. His first experience with training came in match races. He and some of his buddies would get together and race against each other. That was in the early 1940s.
Ruidoso Downs opened in 1946 and Welch started training horses there in 1949. He raised - and raced - his own horses,
and then began to take on others’ charges. Among those he trained horses for in the early days were Elmer Hepler, Jim Derrick and Dale Robertson. One of his outstanding charges was Roan Man, owned by Derrick. Roan Man (Worryman-Miss Pinkie, Blob TB) won the New Mexico Futurity at Albuquerque in 1958. Later, Roan Man
was sent to California along with Red Pepper Dee, by Vandy out of Suzie by Tommy Clegg. Red Pepper Dee, also
trained by Welch, beat the great Go Man Go at Los Alamitos.
“There were no excuses in that race,” Welch says. “It was a well-run race. Red Pepper Dee won by a nose going the 350 yards in :17.8, which then equaled the world record. It was faster than Go Man Go had ever run up to that time, so it was no fluke.”
Roper is another Quarter Horse of which Welch speaks fondly. Roper won quite a
few races for Welch at Rillito Race Track in Arizona. And then there was Senor Bill, a full brother to the great mare Chicado V.
“He beat all the good ones around 1943, ’44 and ’45,” Welch recalls. “In 1945, Senor Bill beat Miss Banks. Later, Senor Bill was sold for $5,000.”
Welch trained horses for Frank Vessels,
who built and owns Los Alamitos. Among the charges he handled for Vessels were Scoop Bam, Kit Cat Bam and Clabber Bam. All were by War Bam. Kit Cat Bam won the California Futurity at Bay Meadows in 1954.
It was Joe Welch who sold the great mares Do Good and Flossie to Frank Vessels Sr.
Welch recalls those early days.
“Mr. Vessels had given me an order
for some mares to cross on Clabber, which
he had recently purchased. This was in the early 40’s. I had bought Do Good and Flossie from Jim Dublin and took them to Arizona to breed to Chicaro Bill. Wort Bowman
of Nogales bought Do Good from me, but when I started getting the mares together for
One of Welch’s charges was Roan Man, winner of the New Mexico Futurity and Shue Fly Stakes in 1958. Roan Man was the sire of two multiple Champions in 1963 – Dariman and Dari Star.
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LOOKING BACK - AN EXCERPT FROM MARCH 1971 ISSUE
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