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Between Races 1 By OscarOtis 1 1Human Human Interest Derby Stories Abound Case of the Man Who Lost Count Chit Free Advice Is Showered on Fontaine FontaineCHURCHILL CHURCHILL DOWNS Louisville Ky May 2 As we cited yesterday this eightysecond running of the Kentucky Derby is studded with starters who have mental problems it also is true that the race has brought to ¬ gether the greatest number of human interest stories of any Derby that we can recall in ever so many years maybe even back to the immortal saga of Black Gold Everywhere a working turf writer turns theres a story behind the story and all might be classed as a good base for fiction except theres nothing fanciful about these items but to the contrary a writer has to tone them down to make them plausible High in the category of story book Derby starters we put Count Chic owned by the Seattle pizza chief Dino Lozzi and trained by a past president of the Washing ¬ ton State Horse Breeders Association Lloyd Lawson Count Chics basic background is classier than you might suspect for he was conceived foaled and reared at the Amarillo Ranch of John D Hertz who oversaw all details of growth etc and who is really the man responsible for the development of Count Chic No horse that has been claimed has ever won a Derby and Count Chic could shatter this tradition but the fact re ¬ mains that the colt has conferred success fame and comparative riches upon the life of everyone con ¬ nected with save two people the man from Oregon R W Swenson who purchased him at the Fasig Tipton Pomona sales for 4500 and the man who once trained him and lost him to Dino Lozzi by claim The last morning we were at Tanfqran before flying to Ken ¬ tucky an elderly man in western garb touched our sleeve in the stable area and said Mighty nice stuff youve been writing about Count Chic but he couldnt disguise a tinge of bitterness in his voice Im Dick Crawford the man who lost Count Chic in that claim ¬ ing race to Lawson he added as he noted our surprise for frankly we couldnt place the fellow among either our friends or acquaintances acquaintancesGlad Glad Colt Made the Big Race RaceIm Im just a poor horse trainer he added and used to groom saddle horses for the dudes at Estes Park Colorado before I came on to California We had felt all along that Count Chic might be a pretty fair horse but ran him in that claimer for 6500 merely to qualify for optional races of that value and of course we lost him I love that horse if only because hes the best one I ever had a chance to train But all I can say is that in a way Im happy for the horse that he was claimed for if he had stayed with me Id have had to to take him back to Oregon for the winter and he would have never had a chance to develop in those stakes at Santa Anita Obviously the man was happy for the horse but it was an irony that must have been hard to swallow that he should be the forgotten man if Count Chic should win or even run a good race in such a race as the Kentucky Derby DerbyWhat What Count Chic is doing in Kentucky has had ter ¬ rific repercussions in Seattle home of the owner Dino Lozzi Friends up there tell us that not only has the horse set the town on fire but also that he has accom ¬ plished a major job in public relations for racing in general by getting this far toward his Derby goal Lozzi not too many years ago was driving a cab in Juneau Alaska and after a hitch in the Army joined the Seat ¬ tle fire department He quit that post to take over the Casa Nova Restaurant in the Georgetown District of Seattle The business had been founded by his father And for the first time in history two Seattle papers are sending staff writers almost across the country to cover a horse race the two who arrived yesterday being Mike Donohoe of the Post Intelligencer and Kent Powell of the Times Even Churchill Downs regards this as epochal for after 81 years there is staff press representation for ALL sections of America AmericaErb Erb Gets Advice From the Milkman MilkmanHugh Hugh Fontaine trainer of D H Stable is back in the blue chip department with Needles A true race tracker Fontaine has had his lean years as well ashis good ones That a Floridabred horse should accom ¬ plish such a fast spin of the wheel of fortune is a good story in itself but Fontaines saga is so well known by now that it needs no repeating Perhaps the best uptotheminute story regarding Fontaine is that he has had to be polite to countless people telling him how to train the horse advice that has been voluble because he is bringing Needles up to the Derby without an actual start since the Florida Derby at Gulfstream We overheard Fontaine and jockey Dave Erb talking over this situation our stand is that Fontaine knows the horse and knows exactly what he is doing yester ¬ day morning and Erb came up with the corker They not only tell Hugh how to train the horse but me how to ride him Down in Florida before the big Gulf stream race I was going out the door early to the track and the milkman who arrived just as I was leaving stopped me and told me exactly how I should ride Needles and told me how I was handling the colt wrongly With that I thought to myself a strange world indeed indeedAnother Another whole chapter of feature material could be written about Ben A Jones the colt acquired by blacksmith Pat Hillock for 2000 sold because Hillock a poor man couldnt afford to keep a worthy prospect Elmer Kalensky even so got the horse at a bargain for his two partner patrons H D Maggio the Chicago car dealer and J J Gregory the South Chicago doctor Kalensky has to buy the horse himself then convince his patrons that they should take him and of course while there was a deal of talking at that time by mjw everyone is extremely happy over the deal Even Hil ¬ lock who took a neat profit in capital gain and now would like to see nothing better than Ben A Jones do him proud It takes a real sportsman and philosopher to feel like that under the circumstances but Pat who has shod more Derby winner and Derby starters than any man in history is a real okay man
