He was the Minneapolis Tribune columnist when my home track, Canterbury Downs, started in 1985. I read his two books, Betting Thoroughbreds and Horse Racing Primer and followed his daily columns and selections. He really was a ghost mentor for me back in the early stages of my indoctrination into the game.
In 2014, I was in Las Vegas with family during the Kentucky Derby week. I went to his seminar at the Wynn and ended up grabbing dinner with him and reminisced about the timeframe he was in Minnesota that overlapped mine. Over the next few years, he and I collaborated on some things (we did joint seminars at some race books for Derby/BC, I contributed some information for his recent book, Cashing Big on Racing's Biggest Days of which he surprisingly devoted one of the chapters to me, radio etc.).
Many people felt he was abrasive and dislikable. I could understand why people would view him that way as he was very direct. I felt he was just straightforward. I never heard him say anything bad about anybody. He was a good guy but an acquired taste.
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