Page 95 - 12 April 2013

Dr. Francis Glowacki looks after his horses, and those who look after them
You might expect a physician to possess a double dose of caring and concern for other people. For retired anesthesiologist Francis Glowacki, now of Queenstown, Maryland, that high-level caring and concern flow over into the animal world as well.
“My father is an advocate for his horses,” says “Dr. Frank’s” daughter, Anna Morris. “He has a 3-year-old colt now that he held back for a year because of concerns he wasn’t ready to run.
“His horses’ well-being comes first, and he also likes to take care of the people who take care of his horses,” she added.
Roundabout Road to Racing
Glowacki, 82, said he never really set a goal in anything, he just went with the flow—and his entry into Quarter Horse racing attests to that.
His children—Anna, Lee, and twins Eric and John—had ponies throughout their childhood. John attended Lake Erie College’s equine pro- gram shortly after it went co-ed, and Anna, now a real estate appraiser, also rides dressage and still coaches riders at Avel Farm where she and her
by Diane Rice
husband, Mark, and Dr. Glowacki now live. While the kids were still at home and Glowacki’s son Lee was about 16, Glowacki
bought Lee a Quarter Horse mare, My Judy Go (Vigo Boy – Go Judy, by King Chester). Lee’s girlfriend’s father owned the Quarter Horse stallion King Of The Turf (Brilliant Sandy – Coco La Turf, by Coco La Terreur). They bred the two and produced Devonian Flame in 1983. When Lee and his girlfriend broke up leaving Glowacki with the foal, someone suggested he race the gelding. “That’s what got me connected with the race people in Oklahoma,” he said.
He also acquired a Thoroughbred mare when he bought her foal and the sellers asked him to take the mare as well. He raced some of his horses, but it wasn’t until his wife, Jackie, bought him the 1984 mare April Nine (Bugs Alive In 75 – Little Kid Sister, by Mr Depth Charge) as a Christmas gift that his breeding program took on a new direction. “I began
to get more intelligent about the breeding,” Glowacki said.
Because of Anna’s extensive equine back- ground, Glowacki asked her to come along
to evaluate April Nine. “He’d never been too involved with the horses we had on the farm as kids,” Anna said.
They headed for Oklahoma. The filly stood in a round pen as they drove down the lane into April Nine’s farm. “I really liked her athleticism,” Morris said, “and she just had something in the look of her eye that I really liked.”
In the Vessels Maturity, April Nine came in second to million-dollar-winning Florentine— the previous year’s Champion 3-Year-Old Filly. She ended up winning $69,367 with a record of 31-8-5-7 as a multiple stakes placer and Superior Racehorse. “Not bad for my first real racehorse,” Glowacki said.
Let the Breeding Begin
April Nine produced First Down Dash
son Embrujo FG in 1992. In his one-year race career, the colt tallied a 9-3-0-1 record and $23,484 in earnings, winning the Sunland Futurity Consolation. Then, while the colt was up for sale, the Gentry brothers looked him up
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