Page 34 - Speedhorse Canada Spring 2020

Dad and his friend Don wanted to buy a racehorse and they bought
Ben Weiler’s gelding, Cats Gold Bar (Catawambus Bars-Golden Catch, Catch Bar). I would go over to Andy’s and to the track to see the horse.
“We actually got together
years later,” she continues. “Dad passed away in July 1996 and he’d had horses with Baxter all that time. Baxter’s wife passed away
in December the same year. My mom wanted me to help her sell the horses, and I ended up keeping some of them. Andy was training them and pretty soon I was going to the track with him. Instead of being a spectator, I was helping him get the horses to the paddock and one thing led to another. We were married in August 2002.
RACETRACK SUCCESSES
Andy’s dedication sowed the seeds of his success. “They went on vacation just one time in his life,” Billy says. “I think it was around 1964. They took the kids to Disneyland and Mexico, but
on the way they stopped and saw Three Bars and Go Man Go. All he did was horses; that’s all he lived and breathed, and still does. His enjoyment is the horses.”
Although not all the horses Andy trained were futurity horses, Billy says, Andy was dedicated to every one of them. “He could read them. He’d know when one was off or needed a rest.
“One time we turned this old guy out. It was one of Chris’ horses we called Phil,” Billy continues. “He’d been out on pasture for about a month and a half. Baxter was reading the condition book and he said, ‘Here’s a race for Phil!’ I said, ‘Phil?! He’s been out in the pasture!’ He said, ‘Oh, he’ll be all right.’ We called the farrier and gave Phil a bath, nailed a pair of shoes on him and
he won by so far going 350 yards — he’d just needed a little rest.”
One of Andy’s most gratifying years came in 1994 when Check This Reb (Check The Charts-Reb Hot, Ima Easy Reb) came within one horse of qualifying for the All American Futurity. Earlier that year, the gelding won the Portland Meadows Futurity, then crossed the wire first in three
of four races at Grants Pass. He
then claimed the winner’s circle for the Malibu Beach Handicap at Los Alamitos. At Ruidoso, he ran second in the All American trials and second in the first consolation, then hauled back to the Evergreen Futurity-G3
at Sun Downs in Kennewick, Washington, and won that. He won three more races that year as well. “I think he was the winningest horse
in the nation that year,” Andy says. He finished his two-year racing
career with a 26-14-4-2 record and $117,551 in earnings.
Check This Reb’s half-brother, Ima Reb Hot (Beda Cheng-Reb Hot, Ima Easy Reb), had outstanding seasons in 1993 and 1994 as well,
winning the Pot O’Gold Futurity, the Far West Futurity Div. 1, the Evergreen, the Oregon-Bred Juvenile Championship (forerunner to Baxter’s namesake race) and the Far West Futurity Div. 2.
In 1994, Ima Reb Hot took the winner’s circle for the Northwest Championship Challenge-G3 at Portland Meadows and the Northwest Derby Challenge at Les Bois Park. In three years on the track, he built a 25- 17-1-2 record and earned $121,166.
Also on Andy’s list of top horses is Fabulous Form (Rare Form-Venice, Easy Jet), who became an AQHA World Champion. “Andy ran her here at Portland a few times, and she was good enough that we sent her
to Los Alamitos with Kevin Gould,” Chris says. The mare won 12 of
40 starts, including the Mildred N Vessels Memorial Handicap-G1
and the Z Wayne Griffin Director’s Stakes Division 1-G3, tallying $206,334 from 1996 to 1999.
Through all the years, Andy has followed his heart and spoken his mind. “If it hadn’t been for him, Northwest racing wouldn’t have been what it was,” Billy says. “He had people get mad at him, but they respected him and he and others got things done. And kept the racing going.
“Very few people get to spend
their life doing what they love and are successful with it. It’s been his passion and he was able to do it his whole life; that’s a pretty rare thing.”
“All he did was horses; that’s all he lived and breathed, and still does.” - Will “Billy” Vincent
34 SPEEDHORSE CANADA Spring 2020