Page 14 - July 2007 The Game

14 The Game, July 2007 Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
Pasta and Ponies at Nick’s
Nick Felicella outside his restaurant, Nick’s Spaghetti House, in Vancouver.
By Peter Valing
Nick Felicella has a hard time recalling numbers. Asked how many horses he’s owned gives way to a long pause. “A hundred, I think. Maybe more.” Winners? “Hmm, many. But quite a few losers, too.” Trainers employed? “Ten, maybe a dozen. I’m a perfectionist,” he replies, running a big hand through his hair. Money earned? “You’d have to ask my wife. She’s much better at keeping track of these things than I am.” From the kitchen comes the sound of a can opener at work, and I’m tempted to ask the proprietor of Nick’s Spaghetti House how many cans of tomatoes his restaurant has gone through since it opened its doors fifty-three years ago.
Back then, Nick was a young man and recent arrival to Canada from Naples. He found work in a coffee shop, and when the owner wanted to sell it, Nick bought it. He turned the small, street-level shop into Nick’s. There he met his longtime wife, Pauline, and also became introduced to Vancouver’s thoroughbred racing scene. “The restaurant is close to Hastings, so after the races, all the jockeys, trainers and grooms would come down and have dinner and drinks. They were good-time people, spent lots of money, and were always talking horses.” During the precious minutes in which Nick wasn’t stirring cauldrons of
pasta or pulling crates of Valpolicella from the cellar, he’d join these late-night conversations.
Finally the desire to get involved over- came him, and when his wife suggested that they buy a horse, Nick agreed. “We bought a cheap claimer – Fire Ball – and we ran him in ‘79. When he was claimed, we bought Rambling Native.”
With the purchase of Rambling Native, the Felicellas were drawn into the sport for life. “That horse won everything Hastings had to offer, including Horse of the Year,” explains Nick. Not only did the seven-time stakes winner earn his keep on the track, he was a sprinting sandwich board for the restaurant. “Vancouver loved that horse. We had reporters here all the time writing about the horse and the restaurant, and people got curious. Soon we had customers lined up outside. Rambling Native made us a lot of money.”
In those days, thoroughbred racing was a more popular sport in Vancouver. “I’d say that in the early 80s there were at least twice as many people attending the track. Jack Diamond was running the show, and he did a great job.” Nick pauses. “Not that Hastings is being run poorly now. It’s just that there are so many competitors out there for the gambling dollar, with all the new casinos and the internet stuff. Maybe with the slots
coming to Hastings, attendance will improve, and so will the purses. They’re a little on the small side these days.”
“Rosa, what days are you taking off next week?” The waitress looks questioningly at Nick. “Taking off?” Then she resumes
her walk towards the kitchen, laden with loaves of fresh bread. “I’m going to retire one of these days,” sighs Nick. Though his business card reads: “Host & Hostess, Nick & Paulina,” the latter half of the duo has been retired for twenty years. Even Nick, the old warhorse, comes in only during the day, “... to do the payroll and make sure things run smoothly.” He applies the same high standard to his business as he does to his hobby. “I’m the kind of guy who likes the best,” he frankly states.
Retirement, however, doesn’t appear to be in the picture when it comes to racing. Neither for Nick nor Spaghetti Mouse, his current top earner. Recent investments will ensure that the Felicellas will remain among the ranks of the top owners at Hastings in meets to come. At the 2005 CTHS sale, they signed for three out of the top five yearlings. Among them was Chelsey’s Image, who bested a field of ten juvenile fillies to win the 2006 B.C. Cup Debutante. Her picture hangs in a position of honour at Nick’s front door, across a narrow aisle from the cake cooler.
Framed above her is her more accomplished stable mate, the dark bay gelding, Spaghetti Mouse. Three years ago, the Felicellas bought the horse for $18,000 at the CTHS – B.C. yearling sale. The following year, Spaghetti Mouse won the $288,330 British Columbia Derby (Can-III). He was the longest shot on the board that afternoon at 41-to-1. “We knew that we had a special horse before that race, but the victory confirmed it,” says Nick. A series of victories in 2006 (including the Lieutenant Governor’s Grade 3, the B.C. Cup and S.W. Randall Plate) resulted in Spaghetti Mouse being named Horse of the Year (B.C. division).
Trainer Gary Demorest had taken the horse to these heights and died shortly there-
after of complications due to kidney failure. He was only fifty-four years old. At the mention of Demorest, the perfectionist’s eyes soften. “He was the trainer for me. I love that man.”
So far this year Spaghetti Mouse hasn’t made an appearance in the winner’s circle. In his most recent effort, the Johnny Longden Handicap, he chased the winner, Forceful Intention, but finished three and a half lengths behind. “I’m not too worried about his performance this year,” says Nick. “The races have been too short for him. His favorite distance is 1 1/8 miles. That’s when he does his best work.” Indeed, for it is at this distance that he beat 2006 B.C. Horse of the Year (Open division), True Metropolitan.
Nick is called into the kitchen, and our talk is over. “I should write a book about all this,” he says, as we shake hands. I stay behind to finish my tea. Waitresses skirt past me, preparing Nick’s for lunch. I look around the place, at the painted murals depicting the cultural treasures of Italy, and at the racing pictures around them. Between these walls a man has spent the majority of
his life. He likely knows every stain in the carpet, every chip in a mug. And when he opens the door each morning, he is likely reminded of that which has made it all the more valu- able, the horses and the life that sur- rounds them.
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