Quote:
Originally Posted by illinoisbred
Things I remember as a kid going to "old" Arlington in the early 60's. I'd run down to the rail just to say hello to the jockeys. Most didn't give me the time of day,but one rider,namely, Walter Blum would always return my hello with..."Hi, nice to see you out here"...and he did this 5,6 times a day as I kept running down to the rail during the post parade. Another guy, Bill Hartack,would never acknowledge my "hellos" and I usually got a cold stare. Funny the things you remember from way back.
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Plenty of times I have seen jockeys/drivers acknowledge friendly greetings, only once did I see them acknowledge a negative one. At Los Alamitos in the mid 80's Driver Gerald Longo had managed to stay boxed in on the rail down the stretch when he had plenty of horse, he got out too late and lost by a neck. Myself and another guy were close to the rail as the drivers were walking back to the barn. As Longo walks by the guy yells, "Longo you are a #!^&@! useless piece of garbage". Longo walks right over to the rail and tells the guy to climb over the fence and say that to his face. The guy turned around and walked off in a state of shock. I saw Longo listed as a driver at a non betting race at a fair in this state a few years back, he was still driving into his 70's.
I have read stories about him getting into fights in the barn area. I don't think he was bluffing talking to that bettor.
