H. G. Bedwell Busy Trainer: Mammoth Compton Stable Keeps Veteran Horseman on the Hop, Daily Racing Form, 1938-12-07

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j H. G. BEDWELL BUSY TRAINER Mammoth Compton Stable Keeps Veteran Horseman on the Hop. Coloradoan Now So Big it Is Difficult To Believe He was Once a Jockey Assisted by His Son. BALTIMORE, Md., Dec. 6 It takes a fast stepping person with plenty of stamina to keep up with Guy Bedwell on a busy morning. He says that he is through work at 9 oclock, but he means actually that hes through with morning workouts. After 9 oclock he devotes several hours to the man-! agement of the A. C. Compton stable, of which he is the trainer, going through the barns looking at each of his valuable charges, making entries and scratches as he plans for future racing. There is a lot on the mind of this veteran horseman, who is recognized as one of the leading trainers of this country. Mr. Bedwell is now so large that it is hard to believe that he was once a jockey and that he rode in races since the turn of the century. He has been identified with racing for so many years that people forget that years ago he was a druggist. His reputation as a fine and successful trainer has spread from Canada to Louisiana and from Maryland to California. Many times since hes been in the business hes had the largest string of horses of any trainer and has more than once had the largest money earning horse for a year. He saddled Sir Barton, the greatest horse hes ever trained, he believes, which was the first horse to win the triple crown of Preakness, Derby and The Belmont, under the whip of Johnny Lof-tus, trainer of Pompoon. BIG FORCE. There are now thirty horses in the string that Bedwell trains. To care for the horses there are ten stable boys and ten riders, including one contract boy, Albert Shelhamer. Theres a stable foreman, of course, and at night, a watchman who is assisted in the care of so many horses by two huge police dogs who are tied to pulleys which keep them in bounds but allow them leeway to run the length of the stables if there is an unusual noise or disturbance to be investigated. In the daytime theres lots of activity around the Bedwell stables Mr. Bedwell and his son, L. G. "Buster" Bedwell wander around the stables not missing anything, seeing everything that goes on, supervising the care of the horses, and dont believe that a string of twenty-six horses doesnt take some care. Mr. Bedwell apparently has a great affection for his horses. He carries pounds of sugar lumps in the big pockets of his overcoat as he goes from stable to stable saying a few words to each horse, inspecting a leg here, a mouth there, and telling tales on all the horses as he goes. This is after hours, of course, because in the training session Mr. Bedwell is all business and has no time for small talk or foolishness that application and seriousness about training is what has taken him up the ladder- to a top irung as a trainer.


Persistent Link: https://drf.uky.edu/catalog/1930s/drf1938120701/drf1938120701_15_10
Local Identifier: drf1938120701_15_10
Library of Congress Record: https://lccn.loc.gov/unk82075800