Who was your favorite 'Nutty' horse?

[rufus999]

Since this forum seems to have a relaxed attitude towards the sport, here's a light topic that we all can have a good chuckle about between our more serious (or is that semi-serious) moments.

My favorite all-time 'nut job' horse was and still is "Gate Dancer". Jack van Berg put so many gizmos on that horses head to calm him down, he often resembled a punch and judy show puppet.


rufus

[GaryG]

Pay Tribute....a very good handicap horse for Elmendorm in the late 70s. Crazy as hell.

[DanG]

Since this forum seems to have a relaxed attitude towards the sport, here's a light topic that we all can have a good chuckle about between our more serious (or is that semi-serious) moments.

My favorite all-time 'nut job' horse was and still is "Gate Dancer". Jack van Berg put so many gizmos on that horses head to calm him down, he often resembled a punch and judy show puppet.

rufus
Give or take 25 years ago there was a serious head case running at Monmouth called “Millbank”. He would routinely throw himself down in the starting gate / rear in the walking ring / run off in the morning and cause general mayhem whenever possible.

Those who groomed him or ran against him won’t remember him fondly; but for whatever reason his antics always seemed to help my bets and I’m forever indebted to the old head case. :ThmbUp:
http://metropolitician.blogs.com/scribblings_of_the_metrop/_arquivo_hannibal_lecter-copy.jpg

[oddsmaven]

Actually the horse I'll mention was smart because he knew his name and acted accordingly...In early 1975 when Hialeah was still open, Alan Jerkens saddled a first time starter named "Raise Hell"...sure enough he dumped his jockey in the post parade and could not be captured by the outriders for the longest time I've ever witnessed...he may still be loose running around that closed facility for all I know. :D

[cj]

Since he is my favorite horse, and he was a bit nuts, I have to go with Broad Brush.

[melman]

Let me slip in a harness horse (Craig you may remember this bad boy). He was VERY good on the racetrack and even better in the breeding shed. However he has a "mind of his own" concerning how to race and act before and after races. Once in a major race he "tap danced" out of the gate and was quickly 15 or so back. He made up all but 1/4 of that. This horse had about the fasted less than a quarter mile "brush" I have ever seen in s-bred racing. NO NUKES.

[Norm]

Can't leave 'Jacques Who' off of the list, New York's celebrity "bridesmaid" horse who could reliably run second to any horse !

[Greyfox]

Silky Sullivan.

He'd sit in the bleachers and read a book until the race was almost over.
Then....ho hum....he'd make his move.
He's on video here at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYDDUVwehlw

[rufus999]

Actually the horse I'll mention was smart because he knew his name and acted accordingly...In early 1975 when Hialeah was still open, Alan Jerkens saddled a first time starter named "Raise Hell"...sure enough he dumped his jockey in the post parade and could not be captured by the outriders for the longest time I've ever witnessed...he may still be loose running around that closed facility for all I know. :D


Thanks... you have just given me a great idea for a story.:)

rufus

[john del riccio]

The old man, John HENRY !!!!

[kitts]

Greyfox got it right. Silky Sullivan. I was lucky enough to watch him live and can readily understand why one of the owner's had advice from his personal cardiologist to not watch the horse live!

[gillenr]

Pacing Lawn came to NY from OZ with 2 others in the 60s. He was said to be the better of them.
The first won on thursday nite.
The second won on friday nite.
In the feature saturday, he was heavily bet and roared out of the gate in suicidal fractions & folded.
I don't remember how many more times he did that in NY, but they tried every kind of equipment change - once he ran in so much hardware he jingled when he paced, another time he looked like he had none on at all! But he would not rate.

[Hajck Hillstrom]

...in SoCal. A horse trained by Julio Canani named....

BRUHO

He would savage other horses down the stretch, and may have been the biggest head case I ever saw.

[witchdoctor]

I wish I could remember the name of the horse but there was a quarterhorse at Bandera Downs who had 7 starts with 3 wins and 4 comments of bucked unseated rider in his past performances.

[cnollfan]

Lit du Justice. It would take forever to get him in the gate sometimes.

[cnollfan]

Plus, how could I have forgotten? Solotex, the only horse I ever owned part of. Beautiful chestnut.

He ran at AkSarBen, Fonner and Woodlands in 1993-94. Sitting in the grandstand one day in 1993, my friends and I saw him bolt to the outside in a maiden claiming race, then get straightened out and come back to pass half the field. All he has to do is run straight and he'll be "the next Secretariat," we thought. It took about a month but we arranged to buy him privately for $5000. Our trainer said he had bad teeth which was affecting his ability to respond to the bit, and a couple of other ailments that he worked on. The first time we ran him he won wire to wire at 7-2 in what the announcer called "an amazing form reversal" as he crossed the wire. His odds were low because so many of us bet on him and the pools were small in Ak's final years. He ran some other good races that year -- a win and a close second. Straight and true every time.

The next year he was stabled at Fonner Park in Grand Island, Nebr. There was a tragic fire at Fonner the day before his first start of the year and about 20 horses died. He ran the next day and bolted. My co-owners poo-pooed this idea, but I am convinced that the fire scared him and he reverted to his childhood behavior, in this case, bolting. He ran several other times in 1994, usually bolting. Finally won a race at Woodlands that fall against what must have been very slow horses. We sold him after that and the rumor was that the new owner was going to turn him into a jumper. Good luck with that, we thought -- he won't even turn left.

[Doc]

A few years back there was a horse called Cubanero at Philly Park who would always bolt turning for home, making a beeline for the outer rail. He was claimed a few times but subsequent trainers couldn't break him of the habit.

Back in the early 1990's there was a gray horse called Mountain Ghost, also at Philly, who wasn't so much a nut, but really loved to drink beer. After he won the groom would dump a couple of Budweisers in his feed tub, and he'd slurp it up in nothing flat. Funny old gelding ... often wonder what happened to him.

Doc ;)

[sandpit]

A few come to mind.
1. Level Sands...nice horse, but hated the paddock. I saw him jump backwards and get his to hind legs up over the iron fencing they have around the paddock at Churchill Downs.
2. Camptown Dancer...a huge, beautiful dark, dark bay horse with a striking white blaze, who danced around like Dr. Fager (his maternal great grandsire). He would not let any touch his head or mane except his groom. Bernie Flint trained him and told me one day that he was the only horse he was ever afraid of. The neat thing about him was they never trimmed his mane or forelock, so he always had this wild, unkempt look to him. Nice horse though, set a track record in a stake at Ellis Park.
3. Can't remember the name of this last one, but maybe somebody can help me out. Either Drysdale or Dollase trained him...was a stakes winner on the grass in the early to mid 90s, he had a habit of propping on the far turn in both works and races. I remember Gary Stevens worked him one day at Belmont before the Manhattan, and the horse stopped cold on the turn, sending the jock flying...lucky, nobody was hurt.

[KirisClown]

Boom Towner..

Let Goodtimes Roll...

[betchatoo]

Like others in this thread I'm having trouble remembering the horse's name. It was something like Kasikaki. Ran at Arlington. Top horse but crazy. Would throw his rider every few races.

[sevenall]

3. Can't remember the name of this last one, but maybe somebody can help me out. Either Drysdale or Dollase trained him...was a stakes winner on the grass in the early to mid 90s, he had a habit of propping on the far turn in both works and races. I remember Gary Stevens worked him one day at Belmont before the Manhattan, and the horse stopped cold on the turn, sending the jock flying...lucky, nobody was hurt.

I'm thinking the Drysdale horse was "Labeeb". Another favorite nut of mine (trained by Neil) was "Fusaichi Pegasus"

[Kelso]

I've seen only one head case in my short time at the track. Hermosillo ... the guy who thought about jumping the outer fence as he approached the MTH finish line and dumped Lezcano at the wire. Since then, he generally has his own ideas about loading.

[ManeMediaMogul]

HACAWIND

He would bolt on the turn, straighten out and still win sometimes. Bobby Frankel got a special bit (Called an extension bit) from should be Hall of Fame trainer Buster Millerick that almost made Hacawind hug the rail turning for home, making a ton of difference. Don Pierce used to ride him for Frankel and he won tons of sprints.

[saevena]

The craziest thing I ever saw on a racetrack occurred at Sun Ray Park. The track sits low and is surrounded by rather high, sloping embankments, more like hills. Following a race there, I saw a horse ridden by Q. Bui, I think, take off, climb up the embankment, with Bui aboard, and simply disappear. He may still be running.

[russowen77]

I can't remember the name of a mare. It has Susan in the name if I can recall. It took them two hours every day just to get the routine started. They had a pretty good TV segment on her a couple of years ago.

The old girl would have gotten the needle except she could sure run.

[Doc]

Well, if there are any of you old enough to remember (I'm not one of them!) there was a horse that drowned in Atlantic City's infield lake in the mid-1950's ... jumped the hedge, made a splash, and that was the end.

[clore1030]

Can't leave 'Jacques Who' off of the list, New York's celebrity "bridesmaid" horse who could reliably run second to any horse !

Diane Suzanne was the name of a perennial maiden back in the early 90s. Often favored, took second money many times.

[Pell Mell]

Well, if there are any of you old enough to remember (I'm not one of them!) there was a horse that drowned in Atlantic City's infield lake in the mid-1950's ... jumped the hedge, made a splash, and that was the end.

I remember it but I think it was at Garden State but my memory is not what it used to be. I even seem to recall the horse was chalk with Hartack aboard. I know I was there but I could have my tracks confused.:confused:

[dutchboy]

Lit De Justice. Been a few years but when he wanted to run it seems like he would go from last to first quicker on a consistent basis than any horse I can think of.

The Breeders Cup used to have archive video of all the past breeder cup races. Maybe I will try to find the video of Lit De Justice's race in the Breeder Cup.

[Bubbles]

I remember a horse on the NY circuit called Private Practice. He wasn't a bad one-turn horse, but at Saratoga a few years ago, his owners got the bright idea of entering him in a two-turn route. He was a speed horse, and got to the front fast, and then he forgot how to turn. I think the jockey actually had to pull him up to prevent a collision with the outside rail (near where the suites are now).

Funny thing is, the connections try this AGAIN before the end of the meet, with the EXACT same result. I don't think the horse did much after those two little experiments.

[ezrabrooks]

Lit De Justice. Been a few years but when he wanted to run it seems like he would go from last to first quicker on a consistent basis than any horse I can think of.

The Breeders Cup used to have archive video of all the past breeder cup races. Maybe I will try to find the video of Lit De Justice's race in the Breeder Cup.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJQSIPlosX4&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJQSIPlosX4&feature=related)

[ManeMediaMogul]

I remember Laz Barrera telling me he had to call an owner once.

"I have good news and bad news," he said. "The good news is your filly won. The bad news is she drowned."

Could that be the horse you guys are recalling?

[Doc]

The reason I know a drowning occurred at Atlantic City is because in the early 1990's I briefly worked there, and I remember the lady who was in charge of publicity and media relations told me the story, and pointed out right where the horse dove into the water. Maybe there have been other drownings at different tracks, I just know about AyCee.

Doc

[dutchboy]

Thanks for the link. Sometimes I wish todays racing could be similiar to So Cal in the 90's. May have been more fun betting before they came up with all of the gimmick bets tracks have today.

Might be nice if a track offered only win/place betting to see how the bettors would respond.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJQSIPlosX4&feature=related (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJQSIPlosX4&feature=related)

[jognlope]

The horse that got me interested in racing. Coronado's Quest. A brat until he got in the gate, then all business.

[jognlope]

City the the Sea (not City by Sea) is a terror, worried about what will happen to him actually. He doesn't seem to be racing in the last few weeks.