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THE BACKSIDE
CHARLES TREECE
“We’ve got to keep the breeders. That’s the key.”
A Trainer’s View
by John Moorehouse
Home Base:
Los Alamitos, CA
Years of Experience: 37
ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS:
Trainer of over $22.5 million in all-breed earnings. Number 34 All-Time Leading Quarter Horse trainer of four Champions. Has 1,457 Quarter Horse wins at Los Alamitos, the fourth-most all-time. Four-time winner of the Marathon Handicap. Saddled the winner of the inaugural running of the Catalina Derby.
FAVORITE HOBBY: “I like to team rope.”
Charles Treece basically stays busy year- round running his Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds, which doesn’t
leave much time for vacations. Then again, liv- ing in Southern California, it’s basically like living year-round at a vacation destination.
“We’ve always lived right here by Los Alamitos, right by the racetrack,” Treece said. “You’ve got the good weather out here, year- round. Yeah, it can get a little hot or a little cold or a little wet, but nothing like back east. It just stays pretty much the same all
the time.”
For Treece, California is also the ideal
place to run both Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds. His stable includes more of the latter these days, and his 1,038 Thoroughbred wins at Los Alamitos makes him the all-time leader in that category by a wide margin. Still, he noted he’s always had Quarter Horses since he first broke in as a trainer almost 40 years ago, which came after working as a groom and then riding as a jockey.
Before starting his own operation, Treece worked for Shirley Loeb at the Loeb Ranch
in Riverside. He also served as an assistant trainer under John Cooper and Charlie Bloomquist before breaking out on his own as a trainer.
He’s not the only member of the family in the horse world. His wife Debi manages the business side of Treece’s training operation. His grandson Racin Ryan rides mini bulls, while granddaughter Rylea Ryan runs barrel races, vaults and does team roping at junior rodeos and high school rodeos.
“I stay out of teaching them and all that stuff, but we’ve got people who do work with them,” Treece said.
He’s also been thankful that Los Alamitos has kept running even while many other states and tracks shut down during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“It’s been a blessing, that’s for sure,” Treece said. “The saddest thing is, the owners are not allowed to come in and watch their horses run. They can’t come to the barn in the morning or anything, if that’s what we’ve got to do right now to keep it going, that’s what we’ve got to do.”
Q. YOU STARTED AS A JOCKEY. HOW DID YOU BREAK IN THE BUSINESS?
A: “I grew up right here 2 miles from the racetrack. I just got to going over to the track and I met a few people and they gave me a chance. When I turned 16, I went to work for Curt Turner. He was a really good rider. When he start training, I went to work for him, grooming. He taught me how to ride and then we were up at Bay Meadows. He let me ride my first horse up at Bay Meadows. And we won!”
Q: WHEN AND WHY DID YOU MAKE THE TRANSITION TO TRAINING?
A: “I was working for Fred Scane. We just lost Fred here a few months ago. There was a fella
Charles with his granddaughter Rylea Ryan, who is now currently competing in the barrel pen with ex-racehorse DM Legacy.
“I train and we stay at it. We just stay at it. There’s no vacations. We just stay right here.”
68 SPEEDHORSE May 2020