46zilzal
11-16-2007, 05:22 PM
I had the pleasure, yesterday, of having lunch with Jack Diamond's (past president of the B.C. Jockey Club) long time trainer, Harold "Bunny" (really, I am not making this up) Johnson who trained many a good one including one of Storm Cat's first good ones, Senate Appointee (20 wins in 31 lifetime starts against some of the best around). A strikingly fit 76 year old, he still goes out to Hasting's every morning during the season as he was mentoring a young trainer there over the summer.
He won every major stake in the Pacific Northwest and his brother, Roy Johnson, was inducted into the Canadian Thoroughbred Hall of Fame in 2003.
A very approachable, affable gentlemen who, for many years before his training prominence, was a rider and a jockey's valet for the jockey in my article. His niece and I are working on an article about her late father, Charles Ulrich, who rode many years in Western Canada and bore the 'Runyonesque' title, 'Cheatin' Charlie since he had the knack of making front runners look like they were packing it in, then kept going.
Mr. Ulrich retired to become a steward and then later clerk of scales by the time I was a race fan here, so I never knew of his exploits until this last year when a member of the gate crew first tipped me to that great nickname, 'Cheatin' Charlie, so I had to find out more. His daughter supplied me with many an article about his racing exploits and photos which, we are hoping make their way into the final draft. The life of a rider in the 40-60's was a much different world than the one of today.
He won every major stake in the Pacific Northwest and his brother, Roy Johnson, was inducted into the Canadian Thoroughbred Hall of Fame in 2003.
A very approachable, affable gentlemen who, for many years before his training prominence, was a rider and a jockey's valet for the jockey in my article. His niece and I are working on an article about her late father, Charles Ulrich, who rode many years in Western Canada and bore the 'Runyonesque' title, 'Cheatin' Charlie since he had the knack of making front runners look like they were packing it in, then kept going.
Mr. Ulrich retired to become a steward and then later clerk of scales by the time I was a race fan here, so I never knew of his exploits until this last year when a member of the gate crew first tipped me to that great nickname, 'Cheatin' Charlie, so I had to find out more. His daughter supplied me with many an article about his racing exploits and photos which, we are hoping make their way into the final draft. The life of a rider in the 40-60's was a much different world than the one of today.