Page 128 - Jan2022

THE BACKSIDE
CLINTON CRAWFORD
by John Moorehouse
HOME BASE: Sallisaw, Oklahoma YEARS OF EXPERIENCE: 29
ACHIEVEMENTS AND ACCOMPLISHMENTS: Has finished in the top 10 in earnings in each of the past four years. Has finished in the top five in wins in each of the past three years. Won the 2015 All American Futurity and 2016 Ruidoso Derby with AQHA Champion colt Jess Good Candy. Won the 2019 Rainbow Futurity with AQHA Champion Uncle D.
HOBBIES: “My hobby is team roping. ... When I do have spare time, that’s what I like to do. I never had enough time to get good at golfing and I learned how to rope when I was
“It doesn’t matter what you do; in order to be good at it, you’ve got to work at it.”
young. My son, he ropes, too, so a lot of times we go together.”
If you’re ever looking to find Clinton Crawford, you typically can find him one of three places: At a racetrack. In the barn. Or on the road, usually traveling to—you guessed it—a racetrack or a barn.
Such is life for one of the top Quarter Horse trainers going today.
“It is a seven day a week, 24 hours a day job,” Crawford told Speedhorse. “That’s what
it is. But I love it. I knew I was going to be
a racehorse trainer when I was a little kid. I followed my dreams and then I work hard at it.
“It doesn’t matter what you do; in order to be good at it, you’ve got to work at it.” Crawford has done pretty darn good for
the last several years, but it hasn’t always been that way. He first acquired his trainer’s license in 1992 and struggled in the sport for almost two decades before a job offer
to come to Canada in 2009 and run horses for Roger Girard changed everything. One of his trainees, Fast Flung Floyd, ended up making regular visits to the winner’s circle after stakes races at Ajax Downs.
Things reached a new level for Crawford a few years after he returned to the States in 2011 and started working with AQHA Champion Jess Good Candy in 2014.
“He was the kind of horse that a trainer usually gets once in a lifetime. He went
8-for-8, undefeated,” Crawford said, adding, “Uncle D, he was another two-time Champion ... another outstanding horse. He was just a really well-bred horse with a lot of speed, a very smart horse who just did everything right.”
Of all the horses Crawford has raised, trained, and worked with, those are the only two who have pictures hanging on Crawford’s wall at home.
Jess Good Candy helped propel Crawford to his first top-10 finish in total prize money. Crawford has been a fixture in the top 10 since, finishing among the AQHA’s top trainers in wins in each of the past four years as well.
“You know how it is in this business,” Crawford said. “You can only be close to the top for so long before somebody starts taking your spot.”
Crawford intends to ride this run for as long as he can, eventually scaling back to what he describes as “a manageable set of horses” he can continue to run with his wife, Renee Wilson.
It’s as close to retirement talk as this lifelong horseman will go.
“To do what we do, you have to love it. If you don’t love it, you’re not going to be successful at it. You have to love the game.
“I worry everyday about my horses and what’s going on. I can’t help it, but I do. If you don’t have those concerns, to me, you’re not going to stay long in the business.”
pJess Good Candy winning the All American Futurity. 126 SPEEDHORSE January 2022
uClint with Jess Good Candy after winning the All American Futurity.