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Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK IS IMPORTANT TO ENSURE THE FUTURE OF QUARTER HORSE RACING?
A: “We’ve got to keep the breeders. That’s the key. We have to have the Dr. Allred’s and if we didn’t have him, I don’t know where we would be. He’s saved this whole thing out here. Steve Burns of Burns Ranch has done everything in the world for breeding out here.”
Q: WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE SOMEONE WHO WANTED TO ENTER
THE BUSINESS?
A: “Just like Debi and I, we’ve worked at it seven days a week. We’ve worked at it all our life. She works for the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Association. She’s been there for years. I train and we stay at it. We just stay at it. There’s no vacations. We just stay right here.”
THE BACKSIDE
Charles with wife Debi, who works for the Pacific Coast Quarter Horse Association.
by the name of Bob Melton, he owned horses with Blane Schvaneveldt. I was breaking horses at Fred’s place and Bob kept telling me, ‘You ought to be at the race track training.’ Debi and I talked it over, I got a guy to give us three horses and we started. I’ve had the same people working with me for 30 years. We’ve all stuck together.”
Q: WHAT’S THE SECRET TO KEEPING THAT KIND OF CONTINUITY ON
YOUR TEAM?
A: “They’ve got to be good people to start with. I mean, I treat them the way I’d want to be treated. It was four brothers who actually worked for us. Two of them still do. We’ve just got along. Debi takes care of all the payroll and that perspective; she keeps everything together.”
Q: HOW DO YOU APPROACH TRAINING A QUARTER HORSE VERSUS A THOROUGHBRED?
A: “If you’re going to run over 4 1/2 furlongs, it’s a whole different ballgame. You don’t
have to train them hard; you’ve just got to train them daily. You’re either galloping them or jogging them, you’re doing something daily. Quarter Horses run on muscle. Thoroughbreds run on air. They’ve got to have a lot of air in them.”
Q: WHO’S THE BEST QUARTER HORSE YOU EVER WORKED WITH?
A: “There was a horse called Hard Hitting. We stood him at TNL Farms. Also, Artesia, who produced a lot of runners, including Artesias Specialchic, who ran second in the [Los Alamitos] Million. I also trained Brotherly, who was owned by Dr. Allred. He was kind of short distances and then he turned into a nice 870 horse.”
Charles with Hard Hitting after winning the Governor’s Cup Derby at Los Alamitos.
Charles with Champion Artesias Specialchic after winning the 1998 El Primero Del Ano Derby at Los Alamitos.
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