Page 136 - Speedhorse September 2017

My dad always told me, “Tell the truth, no matter how much it hurts, because if your word is no good, you have nothing.”
RANDY HILL
by John Moorehouse
As far back as Randy Hill can remember, he has been around the world of Quarter Horse racing. To this day, the sport remains one of the focal points of his life.
Hill’s father trained Quarter Horses, running
in New Mexico tracks for about two decades. Hill himself got into the business, officially, at the rela- tively tender age of 14 years old when he obtained his groom’s license at Ruidoso Downs. One of the first items on his wish list when he turned 18 was to secure his trainer’s license. He ran Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds during the 1982 meet at Ruidoso, qualifying Quickest Bug Alive for that year’s All American Derby.
And Hill hasn’t looked back. Now based in Oklahoma, he runs a farm that breeds and trains Quarter Horses with his wife, trainer Stacy Charrette-Hill. Through all competition up through the midpoint of June, Charette-Hill ranked 21st in the 2017 AQHA trainer standings in money earned ($264,712), with her trainees notching a 16-12-15 record in 109 total outs. And branching out into Paint racing, Randy co-owns, with Mickey Johnson, and Stacy trains the 2016 Speedhorse Paint & Appaloosa Hi-Point Champion Ivoriona, who was the 2016 World Champion Paint Running Horse.
Q: Where were you born?
A: Ada, Oklahoma
Q: What are your hobbies outside of horse racing?
A: Watching my three grandkids play ball.
Q: What is your favorite movie, and why?
A: “Casey’s Shadow” with Walter Matthau. This movie was made at Ruidoso Downs and my dad and several of his friends were in the movie. I had the good fortune of being there at Ruidoso when it was being filmed.
Q: Do you have a nickname and, if so, what is it and how did it come about?
A: In 1970 at Mitchell’s Cafe in Ruidoso, my dad introduced me to Bubba Cascio. My shoe size was 11.5 at age 12. Bubba nicknamed me “Foots” because I had such big feet for my age.
As a member of the Oklahoma Quarter Horse Racing Association Board of Directors for a decade, Hill frequents the racetracks. But, that doesn’t mean he has a one-track mind. He has also made a foray into politics, serving a year as the mayor of Konawa, Oklahoma, in the late 1980s, and he has also held a seat on the Konawa school board for six years.
Ready to learn more about this lifelong participant in the sport? He was kind enough to participate in this month’s Lighter Side.
Q: What is the strangest personality quirk you have ever seen in a horse?
A: My wife, Stacy, and I raised a PYC Paint Your Wagon colt and ran him at the track. You could give him a “jolly” ball in his stall and he literally played with the ball. He’d throw it outside the stall and then nicker for the ball until you gave it back to him. He would do this for hours on end. We have some really neat movies of him doing this over and over.
Q: If you were not in the horse racing business, what job would you like to have? A: Lawyer. As a prosecutor or district judge.
Q: What is your favorite thing about living where you live?
A: My wife Stacy owns Charrette-Hill Racing and has trained Quarter Horses for over 28 years. We married
in August of 2006 and were fortunate to buy a ranch in Lexington, Oklahoma. It was a combination breeding facility and training facility. D. Wayne Lukas and Melvin
John Moorehouse
134 SPEEDHORSE, September 2017
THE LIGHTER SIDE