wilderness
04-26-2008, 02:05 PM
mYst01.jpg
Bill Lambertus
nothing in my data
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mYst02.jpg
Flying Bret and Charlie Clark
Instrument Landing p,10,1:52.4 ($616,543), the second-richest son of Flying Bret, died last year (1999) in a paddock accident. The bay stallion was 18.
from 1974 USTA Handbook:
CLARK, Charlie W. BIRTHPLACE: Lexington, Ky.
Orlando, Fla. BIRTHDATE: 7-26-24
Charlie Clark was born to racing. "As a kid we lived four houses from the main entrance to the Lexington Trotting Track. All my life I've been around horses." He worked mostly with thoroughbreds after finishing high school at Lexington Henry Clay. "I really didn't start fiddling with Standardbreds until about 1960.11 Before that he was the only person in Kentucky to hold training licenses for both thoroughbred and harness racing.
Although Clark has developed many solid stakes winners during the past 10-12 years recognition has come only within the past few seasons. In 1965-66 he trained the trotting fillies Arabesque and Starlight Way, who won Roosevelt's Lady Suffolk in successive years. In 1970-71 he sent out four Grand Circuit winners--Lansdowne, Lovester, Linger Awhile and Flying Bret, who won his first career start in 2:00.4, and went on to lower this mark to 2:00.2.
During the past 24 months Charlie has sent out such 2:00 stakes winners as Tamerlane, who won the $93,242 Yonkers Futurity in the colt's fourth career start; Perky Mindy, Shifting Scene, Desirade and Tarport Bret.
Tamerlane did not race at two because of a series of problems. He made his career debut on May 8th at Lexington's Red Mile, winning in 2:O5.2. He had two more successful efforts including a 2:00.1 Red Mile triumph before winning the Yonkers Futurity on June 16th. The following week Tamerlane finished second in the Gen. George Washington at Brandywine, beating Arnie Almahurst and MacArthur, then captured the Reading Futurity at Laurel. Shipped to Vernon to prepare for the Gold Cup in late July, Tamerlane pulled muscles in his back and hind quarters, and was retired
to stud starting in 174 at Castleton Farm. "There will be other horses in other years, but Tamerlane was certainly the best trotter I've ever trained."
Clark and wife Phyllis have five children, and make their home in Orlando, Fla. near Ben White Raceway and "some real fine fishing holes."
Year Starts 1sts 2nds 3rds UDRS Money won
1960 12 4 2 2 .481 674
1961 90 13 7 12 .232 5,955
1962 105 10 13 8 .189 5,205
1963 79 15 9 9 .291 7,162
1964 59 12 5 9 .301 5,413
1965 3 1 1 .519 480
1966 83 12 12 14 .281 31,550
1967 66 14 12 10 .364 23,819
1968 57 10 11 6 .318 9,709
1969 78 9 12 9 .239 9,787
1970 112 36 12 10 .411 91,120
1971 88 20 7 11 .313 49,826
1972 131 23 20 15 .301 70,334
1973 101 24 12 13 .347 122 433
203 433,467
Classic Races
Yonkers Futurity:Tamerlane-1973
2:00 Miles (6)
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from July 1979 Hoof Beats:
Charlie Clark Looking for the brick wall
TEXT BY MARY JEAN WALL
PHOTOS BY GEORGE SMALLSREED AND ED KEYS
On frozen February days when men huddled next to tackroom stoves for comfort, the word that sped to Lexington barely had time to shed the warmth of palms that whisper secrets in the breezes at Orlando.
Charlie Clark was training a colt whose fast miles could gut all other 2-year-olds. Bet on it. As the word spread, so grew the colt's reputation. By the time Whamo arrived in Lexington in April, he was already legendary, champion pro-tem before his first race.
"Well, any time I wanted to know how fast my colt trained all I had to do was call Lexington the minute I climbed out of the bike," Clark said with an amused grin. The whispered rumors had Whamo pacing in 2:05 by early March. Clark stood no more chance of getting a price in Whamo's first start than gasoline stood to sell for 20 cents a gallon.
But if Whamo blistered fingers holding stopwatches, he also caused the men holding these watches to bristle at the
way he came by his fast miles. "Too fast, too soon," most horsemen shuddered as they shook their heads in amazement over Whamo's precocious training schedule. If speed kills, as the saying goes, Whamo figured to be six feet under by the first week of the Grand Circuit.
Despite the talk, Clark did not let up on Whamo's training. At the same time, the colt thrived on the pace of the curriculum. When it came time to debut in Lexington, Whamo won his first qualifying start in 2:05.1 April 2 5, then won again by 21/2 lengths May 2 in 2:02.3. In his first pari-mutuel start May 10, Whamo became the first 2-year-old in history to pace in 2:00-flat so early in the season. He was the talk of racetracks everywhere. As the Grand Circuit approached, great things were expected.
A medium-sized browncolored horse who possesses considerable barrel and stands up well, Whamo shows a lot of width between his front legs, which eliminates the need to race in boots, Clark bought the colt for $13,500 at Tattersalls for Ira Kristel and his family, who race as Flying Bret, Inc. Whamo, bred by Futurity Hill Farm and out of the mare Mannart Royal Ann, was sold on looks alone.
Clark had raced the colt's sire, Flying Bret. When Furitity Hill's co-owner, Polly Hilliard Fahs, called to say she was selling a colt who looked just like Flying Bret, Clark had to take a look.
"I called Ira Kristel and told him here's a horse that looks more like his daddy than any I've seen," Clark recalled. "I said he walks like him, stands like him, moves easy like him, covers a lot of ground when he moves walking, and looks like he goes clean of himself. I thought he was really quite a nice horse and wasn't going to be expensive because he had a splint, although it wasn't critical looking. "
Splints had been Flying Bret's nemesis. "When I looked Flying Bret over in the sale I personally didn't like him because he had two huge splints in front uptight to his knees," Clark remembered. The splints caused Flying Bret to bear out somewhat, which cost him a few races. Eventually the unsoundness brought on his retirement. But Flying Bret was a horse with a lot of natural ability and easy speed. As soon as Whamo began training, Clark could see that father had passed these traits on to his son.
"Whamo could do simply, easily, what the others struggled to do," Clark said. "The first time I put a harness on him he just paced along free-legged and easy. He could do more right that minute than the rest of my colts could fighting to do it. They were battling to be on the pace, battling to do something right. Whamo was just an easy mover. "
Natural talent is a mark of ability. But talent's depth, called class, cannot be determined until a horse is tested with his own kind. Whamo had not been tested into June. He had always paced alone. But while other horsemen marvelled at his speed, Clark refused to commit himself on the colt's class, saying, "how good he really is we won't know until he's going in two minutes, the rest are going in two minutes, they look one another in the eye and see who's going to give first. That's what class is, when you're up on your toes and you find out who's toughest.
"People make a lot of premature judgments on speed and speed alone," Clark added, "but as far as I'm personally concerned this colt has proved nothing. He's proved he's got speed, that he's sound, that he's got good breeding and he's well mannered. But the one big item he hasn't proved is class."
Charlie Clark is a self-styled, independent and outspoken Kentuckian who was born to racing. He grew up near Lexington's trotting track and has a brother, John, who is deeply involved with thoroughbred racing. Charlie, too, has dealt with both types of horses and before he switched to Standardbreds in the early 1960s, he was the only person in Kentucky to hold training licenses for both harness and thoroughbred horses.
While other horsemen criticize his training methods, the bettors love Charlie Clark because they see in him a deliverance. The fans made Whamo 1-5 in his first start.
"People like to bet on Charlie because they know he'll go as far as he can, try as hard as he can, and never hold back," said one observer. "His colts are ready to race when they come up from Florida because they've had more fast miles than any other 2-year-olds. When Charlie puts a horse on the track, the public knows that horse is ready to go, especially if it's a first-time starter. "
Clark denies that he's hard on a horse. "I personally think I got an awful lot done with a lot of ordinary pedigrees," he said, "and I think if most people were hit with that fact head-on they'd say it's true. There's no secret. If you spend a lot of time on your horse instead of the golf course or the cabarets, you'll get a better mannered horse and in the end he'll learn his lessons better and quicker. "
Clark draws from a horse as much as the animal can give without the lemon being squeezed too dry. "I always train a horse well within himself," he said. Other horsemen see him draining horses before their time. Clark says he is testing, asking questions.
"It's still a game of survival of the fittest," he said. "You can't do them any favors. They've got to be able to stand the grief."
"It's all a question of where you draw the line, of what's early and what isn't early," Clark said. "When is the training period over? Personally, I think after you've had six months in Florida, the training is over. If they're not ready to do something the first of May, your job's not too well done. The first Grand Circuit stake is at Brandywine, which means one thing. If you want to be a contender you'd better be able to pace in two minutes or better the first day of June. If that's so, how much time have you got to waste?
"I get accused of training too fast. But my standard answer is that if I'm going in two minutes now and the others are going in two minutes now, when did they close the gap? Did they close the gap off at a mile in 2:10 to go in two minutes? Somewhere along the line if they had been retarding these horses in around 2:15 or 2:20, they must have taken an awful drop, so I think what happens is that the routine works we hear about are not always true."
Whamo has always paced within himself, Clark says. But as soon as he meets colts just coming to themselves on the Grand Circuit, the question of class will be asked.
"Where's your brick wall?" Clark mused as he opened a pack of cigarettes on a paddock bench one night in Lexington. "Where do you hit your brick wall? Where does the struggle start? The other colts that I trained with Whamo, they found their walls right quick.
"Whamo has been one of the fortunate ones that was well mannered, extremely good gaited and who had high speed, " Clark said. "But you know and I know and we all know that before the year is over these horses will be pacing in :55. That's five seconds away, so I get back to the same thing: where is his brick wall? Is it two minutes, is it :59 or is it :58 ? If it's :58, later on when the rest catch up and develop, Whamo could easily pace a mile in :59 and get distanced. "
By early June the process had begun. One day at Brandywine a filly trained faster than Whamo. Clark began the Grand Circuit season with a handful of colt and he might still end the year with a horse whose legs are strong as iron. But he also went forth holding no illusions as he began the search for Whamo's Brick wall.
Charlie Clark startled the Standardbred world when he guided Flying Bret, above, to a 2:00.4 win in the colt's first pari-mutuel start as a two-year-old on May 15, 1970. This year, Clark reined Whamo, left, a son of Flying Bret, to a win at the Red Mile in 2:00 in his first pari-mutuel start as a two-year-old, making him the earliest two-minute two-year-old in Standardbred history.
Three foals by Lover's Walk performed well for Clark in the early 70's-Lovester (right hand page), Lansdowne (right? and Tamerlane. Shifting Scene (top), was a two-minute two-year-old for Clark in 1972.
Lovester was the first of three foals by Lover's Walk to race successfully for Charlie Clark. The Speedster mare raced well on the Grand Circuit as a three-year-old, with stake wins at Hazel Park, The Meadows, Springfield, Delaware and Lexington. She took her record of 3, 2:01.1 in the Almahurst Farm filly stake at Lexington.
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Tempered Yankee and Vernon Dancer
http://www.mi-harness.com/SBreds/vernon.html
http://www.mi-harness.com/hof/0d0.html#VJDANCER
from 1974 USTA Handbook:
DANCER, Vernon J. BIRTHPLACE: Red Valley, N.J.
New Egypt, N.J. BIRTHDATE: 8-3-23
World champion trotting filly Honeysuckle Rose soared to stardom in 1973 and no one was More thrilled than trainer Vernon Dancer, the astute older brother to Hall of Famer Stanley Dancer. The very likeable Vernon was extra proud of Honeysuckle Rose. The tiny little filly faced Colonial Charm on nine occasions--and won seven. She faced Florinda eight times and the two sophomores split even. In the Hambletonian she drew the second row starting position 15, but still trotted two big heats, finishing 4th and 7th. She wound up her season by beating Meadow Flower and Colonial Charm in Hudson Filly Trot at Yonkers.
Other important 1973 winners in the Vernon Dancer stable included Cory, who banked more then $80,000; Farm Trick, Military Freight, and Candyline. He catch-drove Smog to victory in the Cane Pace, and won the Roosevelt Futurity and International Stallion Stake with Nevele Bret. In recent seasons Vernon has developed such ou tstanding racing talent as trotters Keystone Hilliard and Victory Star and the pacer Tempered Yankee.
Vernon, a successful dairy farmer, acquired his first race horse, Miss Norah, in 1952, made his driving debut at Freehold, and won his first race in 2:12 with Miss Norah. By the way, Miss Norah turned out to be a great investment, as among her foals were sensational Country Don, Uncle Duck and Joan's Boy.
Vernon and wife Carolyn also are proud of their son, Donald, who won his first pari-mutuel start at Freehold in 1973, just after turning 18. Donald has two sisters, Joan Ann and Carolyn Joyce, and a brother Vernon Elliott. The family lives on their Archertown Road farm near New Egypt, where Vernon preps his string of raceway and colt hopefuls each winter.
Year Starts 1sts 2nds 3rds UDRS Mon on
1952 43 7 is 6 3
1953 88 13 14 16 .297 16,317
1954 70 12 7 10 .275 7,986
1955 144 25 34 19 .349 40,037
1956 191 31 25 26 .280 44,005
1957 251 28 39 24 .230 85,694
1958 24S 31 37 38 .262 107,614
1959 397 70 57 40 .290 188,064
1960 537 69 66 73 .242 208,564
1961 465 75 75 64 297 213,373
1962 52S 99 86 so :311 295,887
1963 S47 89 98 90 .317 363,161
1964 57S 102 101 90 .327 487,532
196S 606 88 88 91 .276 454,193
1966 517 87 86 76 .310 415,836
1967 483 114 73 68 .367 561,569
1968 561 109 76 94 .325 531,006
1969 561 89 120 83 .327 787,286
1970 S91 102 92 99 .315 787,056
*1971 395 73 81 54 .344 792,375
1972 421 63 96 70 .333 489,507
1973 502 101 94 53 .340 656 760
1,477 7,539,585
*includes Canadian Wins
Classic Races
Gold Cup:
Keystone Hilliard-'71
Greyhound (2yo Trot):
Super Bowl-'71
Yonkers Futurity:
Victory Star-'70
Castleton (2yo Trot):
Victory Star-'69
Harriman (2yo Trot):Victory Star-'69
Super Bowl-'71
Westbury Futy (2yot):Super Bowl-'71
Int'l Stall.Stk.:(2yot)Super Bowl-'71
Int'l Stall.Stk.:(2yop)Nevele Bret-'73
Roosevelt Fut.(2yop)
Nevele Bret-'73
Cane Pace:Smog-'73
Hudson Filly Trot:Honeysuckle Rose-'73
2:00 Miles (27)
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mYst04.jpg
Savior and Jimmy Arthur
http://www.mi-harness.com/publct/jmmyarthr.html
http://www.mi-harness.com/publct/jmmyarthrph.html
from 1974 USTA Hanbook:
ARTHUR, James W.
BIRTHPLACE:Hollidaysburg,Pa
Thomasville, Ga. BIRTHDATE: 9?16?19
Graduated from high school in 1938, where he won letters in track, boxing and wrestling. He captained boxing and wrestling teams. Got his first taste of harness racing as a 13?year?old summer?time groom for an owner in his home town but he did no driving until 1947.
Served with Army Air Force during World War II, held rank of Master Sgt., and was awarded Bronze Star. Married to the former Frances Leone, and has one son named William M.
Won the first race of his driving career, that with "Lina" at Roosevelt in 1947. A fine all?around horseman in his own right, for many years he preferred being a member of the Del Miller team to campaigning on his own. Opened his own stable in 1965, and in 1968 became head trainer for Allwood Stable. He campaigns the Allwood colts and fillies on the Grand Circuit and winter?trains at Thomasville, Ga.
Largest purse he has won thus far was the $131,000 Hambletonian in 1961 with Harlan Dean. Other career highlights include sweeping 1971's $103,120 Colonial and $63,500 Kentucky Futurity, with his gelding trotter Savoir. This son of Star's Pride also set 3?year?old gelding marks in successive weeks, at Delaware, 0. of 1:59.4 on a half?mile track; 1:58.4f at Liberty Bell for five?eighths mile record; and 1:58.1 over The Red Mile. Savoir also finished second to Speedy Crown in both heats of the Hambo.
Jimmy, one of the most likeable horsemen on the stakes circuit is quiet and conservative and a good golfer. Jimmy missed much of the 1473 season with injuries suffered in an early season accident. Savoir ($119,429), Placate and Bartlett raced well for Jimmy in 1973.
Year Sarts 1sts 2nds 3rds UDRS Money Won
(a) 203 53 28 32 ???? ??????
1952 159 37 24 30 .379 68,502
1953 173 32 30 20 .320 49,671
1954 189 29 26 31 .285 67,606
1955 158 26 23 17 .281 75,653
1956 206 41 25 22 .302 111,554
1957 244 45 47 38 .343 171,561
1958 169 28 23 26 .293 104,318
1959 118 18 24 19 .319 54,625
1960 205 48 30 32 .367 120,256
1961 270 70 54 34 .441 371,393
1962 213 40 38 23 .323 86,330
1963 204 39 30 27 .317 106,614
1964 217 39 36 33 .323 120,811
1965 202 24 45 31 .294 112,427
1966 248 54 36 47 .362 128,721
1967 170 27 26 27 .297 134,082
1968 107 21 23 13 .356 105,252
1969 92 12 15 13 .268 85,279
1970 112 21 25 16 .359 185,218
1971 74 22 20 8 .483 246,230
1972 51 18 8 4 .466 220,102
1973 37 8 7 7 .384 90,655
752 2,816,860
2:00 Miles (32)
Classic Races: Hambletonian: Harlan Dean?'61
Roosevelt Futy: Meadow Grayson?'61
Kentucky Futy: Savoir?'71
American?National: Savoir?'72
Colonial: Savoir ? '71
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mYst05.jpg
Wilfred Chicoyne
Nothing in my data.
http://books.google.com/books?id=7TaVO_6S4f0C&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=%22Wilfred+Chicoyne%22&source=web&ots=OUeCbeIOrR&sig=cmfdmtn64WppZvOPZBhoUX3fqV0&hl=en
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mYst06.jpg
High Ideal and Keith Waples
http://www.mi-harness.com/hof/0wxyz0.html#KWaples
http://www.mi-harness.com/publct/kthwples.html
http://www.standardbredcanada.ca/trot/iss0308/tr0308kwaples.html
from April 1972 Hoof Beats
Consequently all eyes were on Flying Bret in the season's first major two-year-old stake, the Geers at Hazel Park in Detroit. Albatross won one division, beating Stanley Dancer's jolly Roger in 2:06 3/5, but hardly anyone noticed because High Ideal, another Bret Hanover offspring, upset Flying Bret in 2:04 1/5 in the other division.
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