December 3, 2025 • 23 mins
Steve Stewart of Hunterton Farm interviews our own Bob Marks on the Harness Racing Alumni Show.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to this week's Harness Racing Alumni Show. I'm Freddie
Hudson and I'm here today with Trade Martin and Bob Mars.
This week's Harness Racing Alumni Show is brought to you
by the metal Lands Racetrack visit Playmeeatlands dot com and
Hunterton Farm, home of champions at year after year visit
(00:22):
Huntertonfarm dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
The Harness Racing Alumni Show with your host Freddie Hudson
and Trade Martin.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Joining us this week as our guest host from Hunterton
Farms Steve Stewart. Steve is going to interview our own
Bob Marks.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Over to you, Steve, Hi, Hi, guys, Glad to do this.
I feel like it's somewhat of an honor.
Speaker 5 (00:48):
To do my buddy that I Bob Marks, that I've
known for too many years that I want to say,
but for forty to fifty.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Talk with and Steve start with forty. Gotta be more.
I'll start with forty.
Speaker 5 (01:04):
But anyway, so it's an honor to get some background
and insights from a very knowledgeable person in the harness
racing industry all these years. So the first question I
have for Bob is Bob is you'll.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Kind of tell us about how you kind of got
started in the business.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
That was a better.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I used to go to Yonkers with my buddies sitting
next to me, but no, I used to go to
Yonkers and Roosevelt. I was a better And I started
that out in nineteen sixty when I was I would
have been eighteen. Then as soon as I flunk even
though I flunked that of college, which I well should have,
I never paid attention and that was much too immature.
(01:49):
But I actually had a bookmaker there in Trenton, and
I made a couple of bets there. But so when
I got back to Long Island, that would just go
to Roosevelt as often as I could lose a lot
of money, got a lot of money. I mean I
would go there with eight dollars in my pocket, so
maybe if I lost six, that was it.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
But that's what it was.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
And at some point, maybe a couple of years later,
I wound up meeting Wally Rottencamp. He was mister top Trotter.
That was the yellow sheet that was sold the tip
sheet tip sheet that was sold at Yakers and Roosevelt.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
I wound up meeting him.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
And I wound up doing things on his Top Trotter's
weekly letter, where I would go to his office on
a Saturday and just look at a bunch of programs
from all of the other tracks and pick out some
horses that might win it. Sooner or later, it came
down to the fact that he really wanted to do
(02:53):
to switch from Trotter's to Thoroughbreds, and he wanted to
do his own tip sheet at Aqueduct and Belmont called
Top Turf, which was a big seller then, but he
couldn't do both tracks at the same time, so he
hired me to do the Top Trotter, and I did
the Top Trotter with John Fish and Roosevelt for quite
(03:15):
a few years.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
How did you transfer that to.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
More or less the participation Obviously in the you were
at tracks and betting or whatever.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
How did you go from betting to.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
Where you know, and you can talk about, you know,
working for Boardwalk, which is back in the day a
pretty impressive entity to Peretti to how did you trans
how did that happen? How you went Obviously there's a
lot of people that go bet and whatnot, but how
did you get into the actual business.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I was always a breeding bump, and I would always
write articles, and I guess one of them was when
I decided to just pick a bunch of yearlings on
the basis of pedigree who I thought might be good,
and I think I called them prognostications for something like that,
(04:18):
and as it turned out there were two or three
of them they were damn good. So I was invited
to do it again, and sooner or later Dave dolzeal
bub Rail I think that was the name of the publication,
he picked it up, and in edition number five of Prognostications,
(04:41):
I wound up picking not only Niatross but storm Damage.
So all of a sudden people now said, well, maybe
that kid knows a little something.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
I didn't know anything, but I thought I did.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
But that was basically it. And I was always involved,
you know, with the pedigrees, and at some point the
side bonum who was taking over Boardwalk from Tony Pedone,
he told me to join him.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
And from at that point.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
What I did was I would write a newsletter pulled
inside Boardwalk, which was probably a forerunner to Harness Racing
Update today, and basically we would comment on a lot
of the issues. If I can remember in the early
eighties coming out saying we need graded steaks because some
(05:36):
stakes are more important than other ones. Well, fortunately, seventy
five years later the industry has socided that's a good idea.
So now we're doing it. You know, now we're doing it, Steve.
But that's basically what happened. So, you know, when I
went to Boardwalk, you know, basically all I really did
there was Breed Mayris and the you know, and from
(06:01):
some and I wound up meeting other people, including Bill Peretti,
who I would wound up working for later on.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
Tell us a little bit about so it at Parretti.
Obviously that was much a big organization than Boardwalk because Boardwalk.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
Didn't stand stallions. But obviously Parretti is uh was ended up.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Basically he started in My recall was that he started
off owning racehorses and then transferred to his farm and
cream Ridge. Tell us a little bit about that, because
I think you were, you know, you're somewhat modest in
the fact, obviously you've talked about that, but you were
a pretty cog in the wheel for Parretti.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
But talk a bit about that, you know, Basically department.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Basically the farm and Cream Ridge was originally built as
a place.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
To house his farm stallion Walt.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Hanover Okay, my job, my goal when I got there,
because I was I was freelancing then, so he was
an account. Another account was fair Winds Farm right around
the corner.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
And basically, you know, do both and I forget what happened, But.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
It came down to the fact that, well, uh yeah, Bill,
I can't read the Walt hanover right, So I started
diverting all of the mayors. Then we made a move.
We made a move to get no nukes. When he
was moved from Steve Demas's place to hanover Right, we
(07:53):
thought we had him. But Joe Persi, mister Peretti's fifelong
friend and enemy frenemy that's the right word, right, He's
somewhere along the line, didn't give his vote, so no
Nukes wound up where he was. But in the meantime,
I in the boardwalk days with my relationship with mister Vincy,
(08:19):
I mean I love no nukes. We made an actually
Cy and I and made an offer to try to
buy him as a two year old, right, And basically
we loved no nukes and he bread a lot of
boardwalk mayors at the time, and they used to say
to us, why are you breathing to him while you're
trying to placate mister Vincy. And I would look at them.
(08:42):
I said, here's the sheet, you know, here's the sheet.
Look and see how.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Much they sell for as opposed to the other ones.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yes, and Steve, that was basically.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
That was That was basically it. I mean, you know,
No Nukes was a phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Sire, and he's still how much just started to interrupt you.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
But how much, uh, the ability because you've read a
lot of really good horses over the years, whether it's
a boardwalk or the knowledge of of you know, seeing
seeing the talent of No Nukes and obviously he passed
it on.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
How much.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
The knowledge that you gained, how much came from the
race track and your early days.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Well, I could always differentiate a great horse from a
phony horse just because he had a fast record.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Who cared right?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I never cared about that. It's just a matter of okay,
did he earn his his win?
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Right? You know, it's like certain, you.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Know, it's like like, for argument's sakes, I still know
and I don't understand that I had even though at
one point and some gin mill in uh New Jersey,
I sat next to Stanley Dancer for a while and
we were talking and I said to him, I thought
Most Happy Fella was going to be the next Cardigan Bay.
(10:23):
And he looked at me and he said, no, okay,
well maybe he wouldn't, but what a three year old
he was, and what a uh And he wound up
selling him to board into blue Chip, and he thought
he did a great big job of business, getting a
million dollars. But on the same token, most Happy Fella
pretty much like not only did he can you know,
(10:47):
can consider the medal medal, the medal skipper line. He
totally enhanced it, you know, because he had cam Fella
and then he had you know, all of those, which
is still going on through Better's Delight these days. The
Most Happy Fella I thought was a super horse.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
You know. Yeah, he couldn't leave. He you know, he
didn't leave.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Well, But on the same token, if you watch that, damn,
I'm sorry, sir, I'll get that out of their word.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Damn.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
If you watch that Cane pace in nineteen sixty three,
he made three moves and it was his third move
that was the winning move. Wow, that's the way I
always looked at That's the way I always looked at horses.
And as far as phillies were concerned, I never cared
(11:40):
how fast they were. I never cared what they did.
All I ever wanted them to show me was heart.
Show me you have heart, Show me you will try,
because you'll pass that on and I'll see if I'm
good enough to find the next extension by breathing you
to the right sire.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
That's a very good point, because.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
That's something that you never really hear anybody say.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
You know, we pretty much look at statistics.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
But your eyes, your eyes paid dividends, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
What are some of the what are some of the
interesting differentiations.
Speaker 5 (12:21):
Between back in the day, say in the eighties, seventies, eighties, nineties,
that is different.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Than what you see now, And you know, just.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
Your opinions of how things are done now versus then.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Personally, I think the way things are done now, I'm
not going to say they're absurd, but I think they
were a little premature. The simple reason I'm noticing that
Stallion managers seem to want to close books already, and
the Bible, the breeder's book is not even out.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
And as a as a mayor owner, and I don't
know the rector.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I mean, I'm lucky if I own my the drink
I'm having. But as a mayor, you know progenitor, you
know with Anthony Peretti and the team they owned the mayors.
Wait a minute, I don't even have half of the
facts out there yet as to who did run. And
now you want me to submit for breedings and November
(13:22):
is just ended. I mean way back when you didn't
even think about it until left of Christmas, and you
wouldn't even think about it until almost January. Now, as
far as I was concerned, back in those days when
I was at Parretti Farms, I never closed the Stallion book.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
I would keep even I would never announce that the
book was closed, fulling closed. I would never announce it.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
And even though mister Parretti, even though mister Parretti always
said the post there was the reason why I did
that is that I never knew by February or early March,
which of those fantastic phillies that were bought for a
(14:16):
lot of money with super pedigree, that all of a
sudden that are now on the racetrack and limping and.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Need to be bred and need to be bred well.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Or if I announced my books are closed, why they
won't vow me right?
Speaker 5 (14:33):
Because now now the Stallion managers or whatever it's one
badge of honor badge or whatever you want to call it,
or maybe it is trying to slow people down from
calling or whatever is it's almost who can be the
first one to announce that they're clothes, which is a
totally different, uh.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
Thought process than you had.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
I think it's assenine like. For argument's sakes, I think you, Steve.
I think you were involved with this mayor at some point.
But the owner of the mayor, Jerry Silva, I knew
very well because I knew him from the old Long
Beach days when he was my pharmacist. I mean, I've
known Jerry Silva for sixty years.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Or seventy years. But he called me.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
That's exactly who I'm calling about talking about. He calls
me in early may can I get up bread to
rock and roll? I said, yeah, we'll that her. I
just had to move another mayor around, you know what
I'm saying, Yeah, yeah, I just had to move another
(15:42):
mayor around. But I cook her and and that particular foal,
I think you're the one that you know that raised it.
That fole turned out to be simply business. And I
think he I think he's not only I think he
was not only the number of the leading selling pacing
(16:04):
colt of that year, and he wound up winning. He
wound up winning major races and a lot of and
a lot of and a lot of money as he
won the Metro and he won a lot of other things.
Now as a stallion, as a stallion manager, you mean
I'm going to deprive my stallion of a mayor like that.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Because my book theoretically is closed.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
That's absurd in my mind, in my old ancient mind,
that's absurd. No, I am not depriving my stallion of
the mayor that may make or make it right. I'm
not smart enough to know which mayor is going to make.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
No, but the themorth Cathedral dot Com, who was about
a million and a half winning horse back in the day.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
He was a wonderful war It was a wonderful mayor,
a wonderful family. Yes, So that's that's interesting.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
Is there anything in your retirement that you would like
to see different in our business. I know you've written
about it and talked about it and and whatnot.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Is there.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
Something that you would like to as they say, get
off your chest.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Oh yeah, one thing is.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Racetracks stop scheduling your feature races. At the end of
the programs. The losers leave, the losers leave, the winners
will stay forever. You won't have maximum viewability. There was
a situation at the Meadowlands when they were in their heyday,
(17:49):
and I remember they always see it's like Yonkers in Roosevelt.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
They always scheduled the beature.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Race at the fifth race, and it would always go
off at approximately ten ten, ten ten minutes after ten
so it could be broadcast on CBS radio or whatever radio.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
It was right.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Well, the metal Lands started because basically you had people
like mister Sam anzelone and Alan Guttaman, you know, who
were youngest guys, and it's like so they had ten races,
so they simply scheduled death feature race for the sixth okay,
which was.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Fine, and it worked for years, and then all.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Of a sudden, somebody got the idea, no, we're going
to make the feature race the eighth or ninth, and
I remember vividly. I remember vividly We're having Joe Deah
Frank's son Doug, and I said, come with me, and
we went downstairs and I said, look at them.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
It was after the sixth race. They were all leaving.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I said, Doug, tell your father, we're not going to
hold the crowd right schedule of feature race at a
time for maximum viewability.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
That's the whole key.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
When the most people are in the grand stand, that's
when you want them to see your best forses. Who knows,
maybe somebody will get excited.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
What sure makes sense to me and I agree with
you wholeheartedly. You know, watching a lot of the obviously
you're gonna you know, the big feature of things when
you have the Breeders Crown you got eight of them
or whatever. Yes, some of those are going to be
very late. But when you're just okay, feature race, don't
make it at ten thirty or eleven o'clock.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
At night exactly. That's the whole point.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
You know, a Breeder's Crown night is a special night,
or like a Hampletonian day is a special day. But
on the same token, all you've got to do is
be at the meadowlands. Well, not so much now, but
in the old days, after the Hamiltonium was over, you
could see.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Them leaving you. Oh yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
And it's just a matter of no present the best,
the best forces you can at a time for maximum
view ability. Yeah, I mean, it's basically, well the year
if you want them to see the Kansas City Chiefs,
I don't even know if they're any good anymore, you know,
and the and the whoever the hell the next best
(20:35):
team is. Don't show them at eleven o'clock at night,
No show them at seven, you know.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
Yeah, well, you know, the work feature is important. You
feature the best, the best at the like you say,
maximum view ability for everyone.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
The best it's the best at your local track because
if you go to your local track, you know who
they are, right and then occasionally when you get a
good shipper coming in that maybe equal or even better,
the interest compounds.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
You know.
Speaker 6 (21:16):
It's like, uh, I can't even think of his name anymore,
but there was a good horse racing in Ohio and
now he's a stallion doctor j Stallion Management.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
But you know, in the same you know, on the same.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Token myself, Barbie, that was his name, Tarbide, right, you know. Yeah,
I'm sure he got a following because he raced, uh
there's Ohio tracks for three years.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
When he was at his peak.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
He won, he won, you know, the local invitationals when
he wasn't well okay, he was, you know, close enough.
But in the same token here, Now, all of a
sudden the horse would come in from the meadows or
some other track or India in the you know what's
his name, the little rocket Man, who's a perfect example.
(22:13):
He would come in from Indianapolis and we'll oh Indiana. Oh,
now we got carbined against little Rocketman.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
Well, guess what we have interest here?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Right? Shorter race at eleven thirty at night, So the
damn race at a time when everybody could watch them.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
Because it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Guess what even in an old timer like me wants
to see that race, right, don't don't hide it, as
they said, exactly, don't hide us.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Ye. Well, I cannot thank you enough. I think.
Speaker 5 (22:51):
Like you are are a wealth of information and they've
been down the road and back and really join interviewing you.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
That's Steve.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Steve, I want to thank you for joining us this week.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Bob, you were great. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
This week's Harness Racing Alumni Show is brought to you
by the Metalalands Racetrack Visit Playneatlands dot com and Hunterton Farm,
home of champions at year after year, visit Huntertonfarm dot com.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
That's a wrap for this week's show. Thanks for listening,
and please join us again next week
Speaker 4 (23:31):
The Harness Racing Alumni Show
Welcome to this week's Harness Racing Alumni Show. I'm Freddie
Hudson and I'm here today with Trade Martin and Bob Mars.
This week's Harness Racing Alumni Show is brought to you
by the metal Lands Racetrack visit Playmeeatlands dot com and
Hunterton Farm, home of champions at year after year visit
(00:22):
Huntertonfarm dot com.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
The Harness Racing Alumni Show with your host Freddie Hudson
and Trade Martin.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Joining us this week as our guest host from Hunterton
Farms Steve Stewart. Steve is going to interview our own
Bob Marks.
Speaker 4 (00:42):
Over to you, Steve, Hi, Hi, guys, Glad to do this.
I feel like it's somewhat of an honor.
Speaker 5 (00:48):
To do my buddy that I Bob Marks, that I've
known for too many years that I want to say,
but for forty to fifty.
Speaker 4 (00:57):
Talk with and Steve start with forty. Gotta be more.
I'll start with forty.
Speaker 5 (01:04):
But anyway, so it's an honor to get some background
and insights from a very knowledgeable person in the harness
racing industry all these years. So the first question I
have for Bob is Bob is you'll.
Speaker 2 (01:22):
Kind of tell us about how you kind of got
started in the business.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
That was a better.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
I used to go to Yonkers with my buddies sitting
next to me, but no, I used to go to
Yonkers and Roosevelt. I was a better And I started
that out in nineteen sixty when I was I would
have been eighteen. Then as soon as I flunk even
though I flunked that of college, which I well should have,
I never paid attention and that was much too immature.
(01:49):
But I actually had a bookmaker there in Trenton, and
I made a couple of bets there. But so when
I got back to Long Island, that would just go
to Roosevelt as often as I could lose a lot
of money, got a lot of money. I mean I
would go there with eight dollars in my pocket, so
maybe if I lost six, that was it.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
But that's what it was.
Speaker 2 (02:11):
And at some point, maybe a couple of years later,
I wound up meeting Wally Rottencamp. He was mister top Trotter.
That was the yellow sheet that was sold the tip
sheet tip sheet that was sold at Yakers and Roosevelt.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
I wound up meeting him.
Speaker 2 (02:32):
And I wound up doing things on his Top Trotter's
weekly letter, where I would go to his office on
a Saturday and just look at a bunch of programs
from all of the other tracks and pick out some
horses that might win it. Sooner or later, it came
down to the fact that he really wanted to do
(02:53):
to switch from Trotter's to Thoroughbreds, and he wanted to
do his own tip sheet at Aqueduct and Belmont called
Top Turf, which was a big seller then, but he
couldn't do both tracks at the same time, so he
hired me to do the Top Trotter, and I did
the Top Trotter with John Fish and Roosevelt for quite
(03:15):
a few years.
Speaker 4 (03:18):
How did you transfer that to.
Speaker 5 (03:22):
More or less the participation Obviously in the you were
at tracks and betting or whatever.
Speaker 4 (03:28):
How did you go from betting to.
Speaker 5 (03:33):
Where you know, and you can talk about, you know,
working for Boardwalk, which is back in the day a
pretty impressive entity to Peretti to how did you trans
how did that happen? How you went Obviously there's a
lot of people that go bet and whatnot, but how
did you get into the actual business.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
I was always a breeding bump, and I would always
write articles, and I guess one of them was when
I decided to just pick a bunch of yearlings on
the basis of pedigree who I thought might be good,
and I think I called them prognostications for something like that,
(04:18):
and as it turned out there were two or three
of them they were damn good. So I was invited
to do it again, and sooner or later Dave dolzeal
bub Rail I think that was the name of the publication,
he picked it up, and in edition number five of Prognostications,
(04:41):
I wound up picking not only Niatross but storm Damage.
So all of a sudden people now said, well, maybe
that kid knows a little something.
Speaker 4 (04:52):
I didn't know anything, but I thought I did.
Speaker 2 (04:56):
But that was basically it. And I was always involved,
you know, with the pedigrees, and at some point the
side bonum who was taking over Boardwalk from Tony Pedone,
he told me to join him.
Speaker 4 (05:12):
And from at that point.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
What I did was I would write a newsletter pulled
inside Boardwalk, which was probably a forerunner to Harness Racing
Update today, and basically we would comment on a lot
of the issues. If I can remember in the early
eighties coming out saying we need graded steaks because some
(05:36):
stakes are more important than other ones. Well, fortunately, seventy
five years later the industry has socided that's a good idea.
So now we're doing it. You know, now we're doing it, Steve.
But that's basically what happened. So, you know, when I
went to Boardwalk, you know, basically all I really did
there was Breed Mayris and the you know, and from
(06:01):
some and I wound up meeting other people, including Bill Peretti,
who I would wound up working for later on.
Speaker 5 (06:12):
Tell us a little bit about so it at Parretti.
Obviously that was much a big organization than Boardwalk because Boardwalk.
Speaker 4 (06:21):
Didn't stand stallions. But obviously Parretti is uh was ended up.
Speaker 5 (06:26):
Basically he started in My recall was that he started
off owning racehorses and then transferred to his farm and
cream Ridge. Tell us a little bit about that, because
I think you were, you know, you're somewhat modest in
the fact, obviously you've talked about that, but you were
a pretty cog in the wheel for Parretti.
Speaker 4 (06:48):
But talk a bit about that, you know, Basically department.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Basically the farm and Cream Ridge was originally built as
a place.
Speaker 4 (07:00):
To house his farm stallion Walt.
Speaker 2 (07:03):
Hanover Okay, my job, my goal when I got there,
because I was I was freelancing then, so he was
an account. Another account was fair Winds Farm right around
the corner.
Speaker 4 (07:18):
And basically, you know, do both and I forget what happened, But.
Speaker 2 (07:29):
It came down to the fact that, well, uh yeah, Bill,
I can't read the Walt hanover right, So I started
diverting all of the mayors. Then we made a move.
We made a move to get no nukes. When he
was moved from Steve Demas's place to hanover Right, we
(07:53):
thought we had him. But Joe Persi, mister Peretti's fifelong
friend and enemy frenemy that's the right word, right, He's
somewhere along the line, didn't give his vote, so no
Nukes wound up where he was. But in the meantime,
I in the boardwalk days with my relationship with mister Vincy,
(08:19):
I mean I love no nukes. We made an actually
Cy and I and made an offer to try to
buy him as a two year old, right, And basically
we loved no nukes and he bread a lot of
boardwalk mayors at the time, and they used to say
to us, why are you breathing to him while you're
trying to placate mister Vincy. And I would look at them.
(08:42):
I said, here's the sheet, you know, here's the sheet.
Look and see how.
Speaker 4 (08:47):
Much they sell for as opposed to the other ones.
Speaker 2 (08:51):
Yes, and Steve, that was basically.
Speaker 4 (08:58):
That was That was basically it. I mean, you know,
No Nukes was a phenomenal.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Sire, and he's still how much just started to interrupt you.
Speaker 5 (09:12):
But how much, uh, the ability because you've read a
lot of really good horses over the years, whether it's
a boardwalk or the knowledge of of you know, seeing
seeing the talent of No Nukes and obviously he passed
it on.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
How much.
Speaker 5 (09:33):
The knowledge that you gained, how much came from the
race track and your early days.
Speaker 2 (09:42):
Well, I could always differentiate a great horse from a
phony horse just because he had a fast record.
Speaker 4 (09:49):
Who cared right?
Speaker 2 (09:52):
I never cared about that. It's just a matter of okay,
did he earn his his win?
Speaker 4 (09:59):
Right? You know, it's like certain, you.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Know, it's like like, for argument's sakes, I still know
and I don't understand that I had even though at
one point and some gin mill in uh New Jersey,
I sat next to Stanley Dancer for a while and
we were talking and I said to him, I thought
Most Happy Fella was going to be the next Cardigan Bay.
(10:23):
And he looked at me and he said, no, okay,
well maybe he wouldn't, but what a three year old
he was, and what a uh And he wound up
selling him to board into blue Chip, and he thought
he did a great big job of business, getting a
million dollars. But on the same token, most Happy Fella
pretty much like not only did he can you know,
(10:47):
can consider the medal medal, the medal skipper line. He
totally enhanced it, you know, because he had cam Fella
and then he had you know, all of those, which
is still going on through Better's Delight these days. The
Most Happy Fella I thought was a super horse.
Speaker 4 (11:05):
You know. Yeah, he couldn't leave. He you know, he
didn't leave.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
Well, But on the same token, if you watch that, damn,
I'm sorry, sir, I'll get that out of their word.
Speaker 4 (11:17):
Damn.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
If you watch that Cane pace in nineteen sixty three,
he made three moves and it was his third move
that was the winning move. Wow, that's the way I
always looked at That's the way I always looked at horses.
And as far as phillies were concerned, I never cared
(11:40):
how fast they were. I never cared what they did.
All I ever wanted them to show me was heart.
Show me you have heart, Show me you will try,
because you'll pass that on and I'll see if I'm
good enough to find the next extension by breathing you
to the right sire.
Speaker 4 (12:02):
That's a very good point, because.
Speaker 5 (12:03):
That's something that you never really hear anybody say.
Speaker 4 (12:06):
You know, we pretty much look at statistics.
Speaker 5 (12:09):
But your eyes, your eyes paid dividends, that's for sure.
Speaker 2 (12:15):
What are some of the what are some of the
interesting differentiations.
Speaker 5 (12:21):
Between back in the day, say in the eighties, seventies, eighties, nineties,
that is different.
Speaker 4 (12:29):
Than what you see now, And you know, just.
Speaker 5 (12:32):
Your opinions of how things are done now versus then.
Speaker 2 (12:38):
Personally, I think the way things are done now, I'm
not going to say they're absurd, but I think they
were a little premature. The simple reason I'm noticing that
Stallion managers seem to want to close books already, and
the Bible, the breeder's book is not even out.
Speaker 4 (12:56):
And as a as a mayor owner, and I don't
know the rector.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
I mean, I'm lucky if I own my the drink
I'm having. But as a mayor, you know progenitor, you
know with Anthony Peretti and the team they owned the mayors.
Wait a minute, I don't even have half of the
facts out there yet as to who did run. And
now you want me to submit for breedings and November
(13:22):
is just ended. I mean way back when you didn't
even think about it until left of Christmas, and you
wouldn't even think about it until almost January. Now, as
far as I was concerned, back in those days when
I was at Parretti Farms, I never closed the Stallion book.
Speaker 4 (13:43):
I would keep even I would never announce that the
book was closed, fulling closed. I would never announce it.
Speaker 2 (13:55):
And even though mister Parretti, even though mister Parretti always
said the post there was the reason why I did
that is that I never knew by February or early March,
which of those fantastic phillies that were bought for a
(14:16):
lot of money with super pedigree, that all of a
sudden that are now on the racetrack and limping and.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
Need to be bred and need to be bred well.
Speaker 2 (14:27):
Or if I announced my books are closed, why they
won't vow me right?
Speaker 5 (14:33):
Because now now the Stallion managers or whatever it's one
badge of honor badge or whatever you want to call it,
or maybe it is trying to slow people down from
calling or whatever is it's almost who can be the
first one to announce that they're clothes, which is a
totally different, uh.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
Thought process than you had.
Speaker 2 (14:56):
I think it's assenine like. For argument's sakes, I think you, Steve.
I think you were involved with this mayor at some point.
But the owner of the mayor, Jerry Silva, I knew
very well because I knew him from the old Long
Beach days when he was my pharmacist. I mean, I've
known Jerry Silva for sixty years.
Speaker 4 (15:15):
Or seventy years. But he called me.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
That's exactly who I'm calling about talking about. He calls
me in early may can I get up bread to
rock and roll? I said, yeah, we'll that her. I
just had to move another mayor around, you know what
I'm saying, Yeah, yeah, I just had to move another
(15:42):
mayor around. But I cook her and and that particular foal,
I think you're the one that you know that raised it.
That fole turned out to be simply business. And I
think he I think he's not only I think he
was not only the number of the leading selling pacing
(16:04):
colt of that year, and he wound up winning. He
wound up winning major races and a lot of and
a lot of and a lot of money as he
won the Metro and he won a lot of other things.
Now as a stallion, as a stallion manager, you mean
I'm going to deprive my stallion of a mayor like that.
Speaker 4 (16:27):
Because my book theoretically is closed.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
That's absurd in my mind, in my old ancient mind,
that's absurd. No, I am not depriving my stallion of
the mayor that may make or make it right. I'm
not smart enough to know which mayor is going to make.
Speaker 5 (16:48):
No, but the themorth Cathedral dot Com, who was about
a million and a half winning horse back in the day.
Speaker 4 (16:55):
He was a wonderful war It was a wonderful mayor,
a wonderful family. Yes, So that's that's interesting.
Speaker 5 (17:05):
Is there anything in your retirement that you would like
to see different in our business. I know you've written
about it and talked about it and and whatnot.
Speaker 4 (17:15):
Is there.
Speaker 5 (17:17):
Something that you would like to as they say, get
off your chest.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
Oh yeah, one thing is.
Speaker 2 (17:25):
Racetracks stop scheduling your feature races. At the end of
the programs. The losers leave, the losers leave, the winners
will stay forever. You won't have maximum viewability. There was
a situation at the Meadowlands when they were in their heyday,
(17:49):
and I remember they always see it's like Yonkers in Roosevelt.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
They always scheduled the beature.
Speaker 2 (17:57):
Race at the fifth race, and it would always go
off at approximately ten ten, ten ten minutes after ten
so it could be broadcast on CBS radio or whatever radio.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
It was right.
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Well, the metal Lands started because basically you had people
like mister Sam anzelone and Alan Guttaman, you know, who
were youngest guys, and it's like so they had ten races,
so they simply scheduled death feature race for the sixth okay,
which was.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Fine, and it worked for years, and then all.
Speaker 2 (18:35):
Of a sudden, somebody got the idea, no, we're going
to make the feature race the eighth or ninth, and
I remember vividly. I remember vividly We're having Joe Deah
Frank's son Doug, and I said, come with me, and
we went downstairs and I said, look at them.
Speaker 4 (18:55):
It was after the sixth race. They were all leaving.
Speaker 2 (18:59):
I said, Doug, tell your father, we're not going to
hold the crowd right schedule of feature race at a
time for maximum viewability.
Speaker 4 (19:11):
That's the whole key.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
When the most people are in the grand stand, that's
when you want them to see your best forses. Who knows,
maybe somebody will get excited.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
What sure makes sense to me and I agree with
you wholeheartedly. You know, watching a lot of the obviously
you're gonna you know, the big feature of things when
you have the Breeders Crown you got eight of them
or whatever. Yes, some of those are going to be
very late. But when you're just okay, feature race, don't
make it at ten thirty or eleven o'clock.
Speaker 4 (19:45):
At night exactly. That's the whole point.
Speaker 2 (19:48):
You know, a Breeder's Crown night is a special night,
or like a Hampletonian day is a special day. But
on the same token, all you've got to do is
be at the meadowlands. Well, not so much now, but
in the old days, after the Hamiltonium was over, you
could see.
Speaker 4 (20:08):
Them leaving you. Oh yeah, you know.
Speaker 2 (20:12):
And it's just a matter of no present the best,
the best forces you can at a time for maximum
view ability. Yeah, I mean, it's basically, well the year
if you want them to see the Kansas City Chiefs,
I don't even know if they're any good anymore, you know,
and the and the whoever the hell the next best
(20:35):
team is. Don't show them at eleven o'clock at night,
No show them at seven, you know.
Speaker 5 (20:41):
Yeah, well, you know, the work feature is important. You
feature the best, the best at the like you say,
maximum view ability for everyone.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
The best it's the best at your local track because
if you go to your local track, you know who
they are, right and then occasionally when you get a
good shipper coming in that maybe equal or even better,
the interest compounds.
Speaker 4 (21:15):
You know.
Speaker 6 (21:16):
It's like, uh, I can't even think of his name anymore,
but there was a good horse racing in Ohio and
now he's a stallion doctor j Stallion Management.
Speaker 4 (21:31):
But you know, in the same you know, on the same.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Token myself, Barbie, that was his name, Tarbide, right, you know. Yeah,
I'm sure he got a following because he raced, uh
there's Ohio tracks for three years.
Speaker 4 (21:48):
When he was at his peak.
Speaker 2 (21:49):
He won, he won, you know, the local invitationals when
he wasn't well okay, he was, you know, close enough.
But in the same token here, Now, all of a
sudden the horse would come in from the meadows or
some other track or India in the you know what's
his name, the little rocket Man, who's a perfect example.
(22:13):
He would come in from Indianapolis and we'll oh Indiana. Oh,
now we got carbined against little Rocketman.
Speaker 4 (22:20):
Well, guess what we have interest here?
Speaker 2 (22:23):
Right? Shorter race at eleven thirty at night, So the
damn race at a time when everybody could watch them.
Speaker 4 (22:31):
Because it's interesting.
Speaker 2 (22:33):
Guess what even in an old timer like me wants
to see that race, right, don't don't hide it, as
they said, exactly, don't hide us.
Speaker 4 (22:45):
Ye. Well, I cannot thank you enough. I think.
Speaker 5 (22:51):
Like you are are a wealth of information and they've
been down the road and back and really join interviewing you.
Speaker 4 (23:02):
That's Steve.
Speaker 3 (23:03):
Steve, I want to thank you for joining us this week.
Speaker 4 (23:06):
Bob, you were great. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (23:08):
This week's Harness Racing Alumni Show is brought to you
by the Metalalands Racetrack Visit Playneatlands dot com and Hunterton Farm,
home of champions at year after year, visit Huntertonfarm dot com.
Speaker 1 (23:24):
That's a wrap for this week's show. Thanks for listening,
and please join us again next week
Speaker 4 (23:31):
The Harness Racing Alumni Show
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com