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Trainers of Derby Starters LLOYD LAVSON Count Chic ChicLloyd Lloyd Lawson trainer of Count Chic is a comparative stranger to eastern racing circles The 45 yearold Springfield Mis ¬ souri native has a wealth of experience in the sport however extending back to 1927 Lawson began his career on the turf like so many trainers as an exercise boy then rode for a time at bush meetings in Mis ¬ souri and Iowa IowaAt At one time Lawson was affiliated with Wbolford Farm at the same time as Ben I Jones who was then training the horses of Herbert Woolf However Lawson was working with farm manager Leonard Wil ¬ son breaking yearlings In 1945 Lavson got his license and raced horses in Cali ¬ fornia forniaLawson Lawson has handled Dino Lozzis horses ever since the pizza palace proprietor has been in the sport and helped him claim Count Chic for 6500 last September 27 at Bay Meadows Lawson is married the father of two daughters one of whom is married to the California rider Don Yoder Prior to Count Chic Lawson says that Newsbeat a popular West Coast cam ¬ paigner was the best hes ever conditioned TOM J BARRY High King KingTom Tom Barry is a living bit of County Cork where he was born and where he first became associated with thoroughbreds A lifelong friend of the noted Irish trainer Vincent OBrien Barry did considerable amateur riding in his younger days He came to the U S in 1930 operated a pub ¬ lic stable for many seasons along the New England circuit circuitIn In recent years hes been racing pri ¬ marily in New Jersey and Maryland and since 1947 has had horses for High Kings owner the Boston baker Joe Gavegnano Barry is highly conservative in everything he does frequently exasperates Gavegnano by cautioning him not to bid too much at the Keeneland sales Gavegnano went a bit higher than Barry though wise for Errard King yet he was pleased to get the swift son of Errard and developed the colt to the point where he won over 300000 in purses pursesBarry Barry is not a fluent conversationalist particularly with strangers yet he does take an active interest in HBPA affairs in New Jersey and is a member of several of the horsemens organizations key com ¬ mittees Hes a big burley man usually with a broad smile across his face and the friendships he makes are usually of the lifelong vaiiety R T WAGGONER No Regrets RegretsB B T Dick Waggoner saddling No Re ¬ grets his first Derby horse is a Kentuck ian by birth His dad was a Louisville and Nashville Railroad man moved the fam ¬ ily to Louisville when Dick was 10 and Waggoner has a large group of local fans rooting for him as a consequence consequenceWaggoner Waggoner got a job at a riding academy then went to work for a number of stables it Churchill Downs In 1940 he entered service and was assigned to the Army Re mountService After his discharge in 1945 lie became stable foreman for Pete Battle then went off on his own with a public stable He met W E Britt owner of No Regrets on the West Coast went to work for him as foreman then took over the stable eventually VIRGIL W RAINES Countermand CountermandVigil Vigil W Buddy Raines is one of Amer ¬ icas outstanding young traineis Actually this is Buddys 25th year of conditioning horses and hes been with Brandywine Stable now for 20 seasons so its not en ¬ tirely accurate to call him young How ¬ ever looking at the slim agile Raines canter around the race track on a pony clocking Don Ross fine string its equally difficult to believe hes been around that long Raines was born in Illinois was riding horses trained by his father in Oklahoma when he was 10 Eventually he rode both on the flat and over the jumps but re ¬ tired from the latter when he took a bad spill After working in Canada for a while Raines went to Maryland where he landed a job with Commander J K L Ross In time he became associated with trainer Bob Smith and was working for this brilliant horseman when he saddled Cavalcade winner of the 1934 Derby DerbyFollowing Following Smiths retirement Buddy went off on his own took over a few jumpers for Brandywine and later became head trainer Hes conditioned a number of good horses through recent seasons in ¬ cluding Countermands sire Greek Song and his dam Everget EvergetA A pleasant and popular figure in east ¬ ern racing circles Raines is noted for his storytelling ability and his careful con ¬ servative understanding way with a horse horseHARRY HARRY TROTSEK Black Emperor EmperorHarry Harry Trotsek Black Emperors trainer is considered by his colleagues as one of the nations most capable conditioners of thor ¬ oughbred horses His skill and patience at bringing horses back after they have been injured was spotlighted last year when Hasty Houses Platan won the 100000 added Arlington Handicap from such good ones as High Gun and Social Outcast after bowing in two legs the previous season Trotsek trained and developed Oil Capitol for Tom Gray the Tulsa oil man whose in ¬ terest in the horse he later purchased Born near Hawthorne race track on the outskirts of Chicago Trotsek started as a jockey in 1926 got his trainers license in 1931 He is also noted for the fine school for jockeys he ran in Detroit some years ago From this school came such accomplished reinsmen as Ken Church and the Cook brothers Last year Trotsek saddled 65 winners who Continued on Page 47 D Trainers Saddling Derby Starters Continued from Page 36 D Dearned earned a tota of 862844 putting him third on the national list behind Jim Fitz simmons and Willie Molter ODIE CLELLAND Come On Red RedOdie Odie Clelland trainer of Come On Red is a horsemens horseman A veteran of many years experience Odie began his race track career as a rider and was a good one In the late 1920s Odie gave up his riding activities temporarily and took some horsts for a Newport Ky Army officer who also enjoyed golfing He sent his caddy to Odie one day as a potential exercise boy and Odie kept the lad with him for a year teaching him all he knew about riding and race tactics The boy was Eddie Arcaro and he still rides for Odie at every opportunity Clelland went back to riding in the early thirties quit when weight piled up on him and has been a highly successful con ¬ ditioner since He races around New Eng ¬ land and New Orleans but when he gets a good one such as Dark Charger he stakes them liberally throughout the East In ad ¬ dition to Murlogg Farm he also trains for Mrs J M Branham of Gallatin Tennes ¬ see and his flying trips between New Orleans Tennessee and New England make him racings answer to John Foster Dulles FRANK SANDERS King o Swords SwordsKing King o Swords is the first horse Frank Sanders has ever saddled for the Kentucky Derby However Sanders has had a suc ¬ cessful career in the six short years he had been training horses Probably the best racer he had conditioned is Smoke Screen Reverie Knolls good handicap performer of recent seasons Sanders trained Smoke Screen to win the New Orleans Handicap and Bidwill Memorial in 1953 and the Equipoise Mile in 1954 He had an unusual record with the gelding last year in that although Smoke Screen failed to win a race he was second eight times and earned almost 50000 Sanders was a former jockey who competed in the midwest breaking his maiden at Latonia in Sep ¬ tember 1938 VESTER R WRIGHT Invalidate InvalidateYou You mention Vester Wright around a race track and youd probably get so many blank stares but mention Tennessee Wright and almost everyone would know trainer of T Alie Grissoms Derby candi ¬ date Invalidate Tennessee is oddly enough a native of that state and like such conditioners as Virginia Robertson was tagged with his homestate handle handleA A native of Gallatin Tenn Wright was raised around thoroughbreds His dad was foreman of Mrs Laura Branhams Foxland Hall Farm the place where Switch On was foaled After a hitch in the Army Tennessee went to work for Rogers Caldwell and also rode some flat races at the Iroquois Chase meetings Eventually he joined the stable of Perne L Grissom as a groom and when Pernes brother Alie decided to go into racing Wright got the job as trainer trainerIncidentally Incidentally Invalidate is not the first Derby horse that Wrights saddled He also tightened the girth on Money Broker who finished third in 1953 Dark Stars year
