Page 115 - June 2018 Speedhorse

4-time Champion Town Policy (Reb’s Policy TB-Camptown Girl, Breeze Bar), shown winning the 1977 Los Alamitos Derby just a few weeks after he was rescued and nursed back to health.
Alamitos lights, for 440 yards. In August in Ruidoso, Town won his All American Derby trial and ran second to Medley Glass in the Derby. He ran second to Prissy Gold Digger when she set a track record at 300 yards in the St. Nicholas Express at Los Alamitos in December. That, is class.
Blane has trained many outstanding individu- als in addition to Town, but I’ll mention only three: Band Of Angels, Azure Three and Miss Thermolark. Blane bought Band Of Angels when she was only a yearling. Bought her for Ivan.
She was the Champion Two-Year-Old Filly of 1970, gave us offspring like Bobby’s Angel and (Champion producer) Band Of Azure, turned into a family pet, and it was a sad time for us when we lost her at the age of ten. As for (2-time Champion) Azure Three, I don’t think any other horse, besides Town, could have outrun him. Blane trained him for the Vessels Maturity. Azure Three won his trial and the Maturity, but got sick a few days later – Colitis X. We stayed with him around the clock for a solid week. He tried hard, but could not pull through. We know what a loss this was for his owner, Chuck Siewart. As for Ron Schliep’s (World Champion) Miss Thermolark, her story was told in headlines when she won the Champion of Champions on December 23, 1978. One more horse . . . Lady Luck, the
quarter mare Blane and I started out with. She was a little bay. She was our mount in rodeos right after we married. I ran barrels and roped with her. Blane rode her when he dogged and roped. We matched her on the side, and she took Halter and Performance wins in the arena. Lady Luck stayed with us until she got old and needed a quiet life. We gave her to Blane’s brother because we knew she’d be safe with him.
Down through the years, I’ve been Blane’s chief hauler, pony rider, stable boy, you name it, plus keeping his books. Today, I’m more
or less retired, except for keeping books and sending out statements. You’d think after all these years of horseracing, I’d be a little tired of it. But we live just a couple of minutes from the track at Los Alamitos. The only time I miss a race is when I’m sick in bed. .
Shirley and Town Policy
SPEEDHORSE, June 2018 113
LOOKING BACK - AN EXCERPT FROM FEBRUARY 1979 ISSUE
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“Down through the years, I’ve been Blane’s chief hauler, pony rider, stable boy,
you name it . . .”