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, . 4 r The R. H. McDaniel Story 1 Early Days Spent on Dairy Farm Rode First Winner Aug. 21, 1926 Led Into Racing by Ben Gunther Later Became Jockeys Agent I . By Oscar Otis • I This is the second of a series of articles on the late R. H. "Red" McDaniel, Americas leading trainer from 1950 through 1954. In it Oscar Otis, McDaniel s friend and confidant, gives thetrainers background, Jiis conditioning secrets and his philosophy of horse racing. CHAPTER II. In America, money is one of the most used yardsticks by which success is measured, and by this token, Robert Hyatt McDaniel had come a long way since he left his chores on a dairy farm at Enumclaw", Wash., till he leaped from the San Fran-cisco-Oaklanc1 Bay Bridge at the very peak of his career as Americas leading trainer. McDaniel told us about those early days when he explained, "I was tending the*cows on a relatives ranch, and my early life was uneventful. I was born on Sept. 10, 1910, and those chores at the dairy farm were attended to before and after school hours. The neighboring acreage was a hop farm, owned by a chap named Ben Gunther, who also at that time owned a small stable of thoroughbreds which campaigned in the Northwest." As it developed, Gunther used to inspect his hop fields astride a saddle pony, while McDaniel, in herding the cows from one pasture to another, also made good use of a saddle pony. In the course of the friendship, Gunther promised to make a rider out of McDaniel— after the youngster had completed his grade school education. The man was as good as his word. McDaniels early years on the race track were, spent in the time-honored apprenticeship once required on the turf— mucking out stalls caring for horses under the eye of an experienced older man, walking out "hots," as they are known, following morning breezing, cleaning and polishing tack. After three years of such experience, McDaniel was given a chance to prove his saddle ability at the smaller fair meetings. On Aug. 21, 1926, he rode his first winner on a recognized track at old Willows Park, Victoria, British Columbia. Spill at Winnipeg Ends Career as Rider After that, McDaniel knocked around as a rider, mostly in, the Far West and while he had some success, greatrless eluded him. His jockey career came to disaster in a bad spill at Winnipeg, Canada, in the spring of 1929, a spill whicn saw his leg shattered. But with the bounce of youth, he returned to the tracks to ride again, but he never was too keen about it, and when a chance came for him to train at Caliente, Mexico, he jumped at the opportunity. The circumstances were simple. He was riding "first string" atCaliente for George E. Slater of Vancouver, British Columbia. Slaters trainer quit and the Canadian turfman offered McDaniel the job — if he wished to give up the saddle. McDaniel did and one morning he appeared before the track stewards, passed his examinations, and was granted his first license. The stable left Caliente in the spring 1930 to race in British Columbia, and McDaniel, perhaps prophetically, had a winning season with the 13 -horse stable. He established a pattern, then and there, of operating in black ink. Among his horses that summer were Bowcrof t, a hard-hitting Califomia-bred, and Vision II., an English mare, and. of course, his first experience with an imported horse. Vision U. won for him and when he took over the costly Helbush imported string last winter, the training of a foreign horse was not strange to him. Indeed, he told us that some of the lessons he learned from Vision II. were used to good advantage in training Poona n. for a new world record of 1:40% for a mile and a sixteenth at Santa Anita last winter, not to mention victory in the 00,-000-added Santa Anita Handicap. Slater Stable Sold Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, depending upon how you look at it, Slater v/ent broke in the stock market and while the stable was a going concern, it had to be sold. This circumstance put McDaniel "at liberty," and lacking "other training offers, he became a jockey agent. It was unfortunate that any fine sportsman like Slater should become bankrupt, but at the same time it forced McDaniel into another turf phase, one in which he gained invaluable experience. Among the riders he represented as agent were Noel "Spec" Richardson, Jack Pollard, later to become famous as the rider of Seabiscuit, and Rabbit Dabson. Still later in the summer of 1933, "agent-ing" went a bit dull, and he returned to the saddle, winning a few races on the Vancouver tracks, but he realized that he was through as a capable rider and, turning to training again, opened a public stable. Now, a public stable is nothing more nor, less than a trainer setting himself up as available to train for more than one patron — if he can get the patrons. It is understood that a public trainer can accept horses from anyone he wishes, with no objections from his current patrons. Or, if there are objections, the trainer can accede and refuse the" new patron, or, if he feels otherwise, can accept the new horses and suggest his objecting patron find another trainer. Even 10 years ago, there were not too many public trainers, and many of these were what the track folks might term "unfashionable." But McDaniel persevered, from a humble beginning and, at the time of his death, he numbered many influential people among his patrons. But more about that later. To Be Continued.
