Page 111 - September 2018

Churchill Downs Track Photographer
Churchill Downs Track Photographer
Dr. Blach has attended horse sales for many years, signing on as the Ruidoso Sale veterinarian in the mid-80’s.
own, and I’ve loved spending time with them. We always went somewhere — to some lake in Idaho or Nevada, or Hawaii or Disneyland or somewhere.” And, he plans to continue with a bit more fishing and golf.
He also was recently appointed to the New Mexico Racing Commission. “He and another veterinarian we have [on the Commission] get their heads together and get us ‘mere mortals’ lined up about the meds we’ve been working on,” says New Mexico Racing Commission Chairman Ray Willis of Roswell, New Mexico, a friend, client and racehorse partner of Leonard’s.
As part of his Commission duties, Leonard spends a fair amount of time at Ruidoso Downs talking to trainers, jockeys and other workers to get a feel for what’s needed to keep racing strong and honest.
According to Shaun Hubbard, former general manager of Ruidoso Downs, Leonard is the epitome of an honest person. “He seems to me like he always wants to do what’s right regardless of what’s popular or what the political trend is, and I admire that,” Shaun says. “I really think he tries to use his heart and knowledge in making decisions.”
Heart and knowledge. Inner voice. Conscience, inspiration or divine guidance. No matter what you call it, Leonard Blach hears it and heeds it, and appreciates what follows.
“Now I look back at
what we did and I think, How did I do that?”
In 1978, Leonard was approached by a film crew, that was shooting “Casey’s Shadow,” taken from the John McPhee short story “Ruidoso” about a lady from Los Angeles who came to the track wanting to win the All American. “They had a horse that they needed to show signs of lameness and they needed a veterinarian to perform a surgery on camera,” he says. “I spent some time with Walter Matthau [during filming]; he was a funny guy.”
His next “role” was as himself, played by actor
William Devane in the movie “50 to 1,” about perhaps
Leonard’s most publicized accomplishment: partnering
with Mark Allen of Double Eagle Ranch on Mine That
Bird TB, who overcame long shot odds to win the Kentucky Derby in 2009 and followed that by placing second in the Preakness and third in the Belmont Stakes.
“Mark had been a horse trainer; I met him when he trained at Raton and I did a little vet work there,” Leonard says. “He got to looking for a farm and Bubba Cascio’s old place across the street from Buena Suerte Ranch was available. So after he moved there, I did his vet work and often we were partners on a Quarter Horse or a Thoroughbred.”
By that time, Leonard says, the casinos were going strong in New Mexico, and he and Mark decided to buy a Thoroughbred to race on the circuit, from a big $500,000 race at Sunland Park to a $200,000 race at Lone Star Park and then a $300,000 race at Remington Park in addition to a steady supply of $100,000 stakes around New Mexico. “It never entered our minds to enter the Kentucky Derby,” he adds.
But their agent in Kentucky discovered that Mine That Bird, who had run in Canada, and his earnings in the Sunland Park Derby put him on the qualifying list for the Derby.
“I went to Kentucky with Leonard when Mine That Bird won the Derby,” says longtime friend and retired AQHA Hall of Fame jockey Jerry Nicodemus. “He was so excited when the horse won; he was like a 20-year-old guy that was running wide open!”
Blach partnered with Mark Allen of Double Eagle Ranch on Mine That Bird, who overcame longshot odds to win the 2009 Kentucky Derby. The movie “50 to 1” was about this accomplishment.
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