Heliskier Back on His Game
Horse racing has more than its share of stories that tug at the heartstrings, bring tears to your eyes and leave otherwise stout human beings weak in the knees. It doesn’t take million dollar colts and fillies or regally-bred champions, either. When you’ve invested much of what you have – even in an expensive claimer – […]
Lessons Learned…
The adjectives are endless for sizing up the race meet at Canterbury Park this spring/summer/fall/winter. The biggest question has been how to accurately characterize this strangest of seasons. “I can’t remember a meet with weather this crappy ever, anyplace I’ve been,” said jockey room custodian Jerry Simmons. That covers a bit of ground. Simmons has […]
Forging a Friendship
Cobwebs hang on the memories like tinsel on a tree and details are sometimes fuzzy, but the recollection itself is like an heirloom, fragile and priceless. The year is uncertain, the summer of 1961 or ’62, but the site is unforgettable – the fair meet in Vienna, Ill. Jerry Simmons was 16 or 17. Billy Owen […]
Scott Stevens – The Iron Man
Early March in Phoenix was more like late April some years. A number of desert plants were already close to blooming, but nowhere was life any more vibrant on this particular morning than the stable area at Turf Paradise. A visitor was getting a tour of the barn area from jockey Scott Stevens when the […]
