Chapter 2 continued.....

        So after Jill and I graduated high school at Burr and Burton Seminary we moved to Saratoga Harness and into the dorm. We were best friends and roommates and were always respectful of each others privacy and could (and still do) confide in one another. We were 17 or 18 and the world was ours for the taking!! She got a job for Joe Danosky, but, I don't think it lasted long. I went over there with Kennys horses for a while, but, very quickly was hired by John Hafford who was the assistant for Glen Garnsey. We shipped out after a couple weeks for Syracuse, and Mom and Dad thought I should travel as light as possible. Mom sold my van and road bike, and I left Saratoga in the back of a Brookledge truck with just a bicycle, folding bed, and a foot locker. The Syracuse fairgrounds was a fun place to stable, and I saw my first concert there...Air Supply. My cousin says I took her to see Billy Idol at SPAC, but, I don't remember that...so Air Supply was my first concert. We were at Syracuse only a couple weeks and then the stable moved on to Vernon Downs. Vernon, NY had one stop light and 17 bars, and I tried them all on many occasions! The laundromat in town was right next to a bar, so we would start a load and then go for a beer. It's never just "A" beer, but, we flirted with the girl in the laundromat and got her to finish it for us. We'd be staggering back to the dorm at Vernon with perfectly folded laundry, and if we were lucky we wouldn't stumble and have it fall all over the ground. One night John Hafford had to leave Vernon and go race some stakes horses at Saratoga. His girlfriend Karen and the rest of us went out on the town in Vernon and had a great time dancing and shooting pool. Someone must have told him that I was after his girl because he made my life a living hell for the next month! He'd bring my horse back after a training trip and say " why is this horse on a line? You'd better get your mind off the booze and the broads or you'll be on the unemployment line!".  Everyday he tortured me like that, but, I think they needed help too much so he kept me around. It was a great day when I got the word that I was leaving for Detroit with a few horses and would be hooking up with a different assisitant trainer...Peter Ruscuitto. The Brook Ledge truck pulled into DRC at 4:00am on a Sunday morning. I was the only person in the back with a few horses, and the truck was immediately surrounded by a pack of very unfriendly looking dogs! It took a few minutes, but, I befriended them and they allowed me to unload and start setting up. There was a horse in the barn next door that was still sweaty from racing Saturday night, and still had his pacing scalpers on his back feet! He had won the open pace and his trainer/driver got so excited that he forgot to completely undress the poor horse! The guys name was Ron Muntz I think, and he came from the Bea Farber school of thought which was horses want to be dirty, and a bath does them no good. Those horses could sit outside a nice shiny ones and race them right into the ground. That was an eye opener for me! I met some really cool people out there, and learned how to do "Upside down Kamikazis" and how to play "bank the 8" and "last pocket 8 ball". All very good things to know as you go through life! I also met Mr. Garnsey for the first time. He raced a horse and made his standard pull at the 3/8s and brush to the top move. The horse got tired and finished out of the money so when Glen brought him back I just casually said "got a little tired, huh?".  He never uttered a word, just looked right through me with daggers in his eyes, hung up the lines and walked away. I almost had a heart attack right then and there! Lesson number one...speak when spoken to! In the next chapter I'll tell more stories about the very interesting crew and the fall in Lexington. Stay tuned!!