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Hazel Park By Fred Galiani Young Dave Holstein Finds Success Early Detroiter Handles 11 -Horse Andrews Unit Ex-Jockey and Ex-Marine Enjoys His Work HAZEL PARK, Mich., May 30. Dave Holstein is 25 years old, has brown hair with an "Elvis Presley" wave to it. brown eyes and a dark complexion. Hes one of the youngest trainers on the track and this season is starting his second year as a .conditioner. A native of Detroit, Holstein is now handling the 11-horse string of Waldo Andrews, first vice-president of the local course. So, its and all-Michigan operation. Dave has a background for. the sport, starting with his uncle, trainer William Lape, when he was 12 years old. Then as soon as he turned 16, the age at which he was able to get a. jockeys license, Dave began riding horses. Bill Proctor introduced the lad to the races at the old Detroit Fair Grounds in 1947 and he rode for two and a half years with, as Dave puts it, moderate success. "I started off pretty good," remarked Holstein, "and won a lot of races, but then I started to put on weight and it was a constant battle." In 1952 he became a U. S. Marine and for the next two years served with a mortar group in California and Japan. In the Golden State he got a chance to continue his association with the sport at the West Coast tracks, but he was never able to take in any racing in Tokyo. After his discharge in 1954, Holstein came back and resumed exercising horses. In 1955 he was galloping for M. Adel-hart, a local owner, who gave Dave his first chance and turned over seven horses to him. In June of that year, he took out his trainers license. Success hit like an artillery shell on the target. In four months that year he won 19 races. His best performer was Cow Town, who won six races, scrambling out of the claiming ranks to allowance company. Briar Mans Win Leads to Bigger Things The following year, Holstein was horseless and got back into action in one of those haphazard turf transactions. Rusty Marlman had kept refusing, to sell a plater named Briar Man to "Tennessee" Wright, but finally relented one day and let him go to Americas leading trainer for ,500, just 00 more than he was running for in claiming races. The deal took place in Andrews office and Waldo, on the spur of the moment, offered Wright a quick Q0 profit on the transaction. He agreed and Andrews wound up with Briar Man, which he turned over to Holstein. The horse promptly won races. Later that year, Holstein joined the main stable of Andrews as assistant to trainer Pat Milligan. He stayed in that capacity until the spring of this year, then he assumed full control of the Hazel Park prexys stable. The Andrews string of 11 horses is headed by the handicap performer Burnt Child, who has yet to find the winners circle this year, but last season set a new world record for six furlongs over the grass, trouncing no less a horse than Needles. Holstein has started his charges only sparingly this year at Oaklawn, Sportsmans and this young meeting, but hell be ready as the weeks roll along. Still .fairly short at five feet, eight inches, he weighs 140 pounds and gallops his own horses. Dave continues to make Michigan his home and lives with his wife and two children in Balfour, a town near Grosse Point. He likes training horses, arid has had his share of success, which makes the venture all the more enjoyable. But, he admits that it has its ups and downs, and confidentially agrees that its harder than taking Marine training. Both jobs require work and patience and Dave brings to his newest career "Teutonic" endurance. McKnights Passing Very Sad News Wolverine -Notes: The recent sudden passing of Jack McKnight was rued in these parts. McKnight, one of the best trainers ever to throw a saddle over a horse, was a familiar figure at the old Detroit Fair Grounds before he moved to New England and New Jersey. A native of Ireland in the year before World War I., McKnight was a buyer of cavalry mounts for both the British and imperial German armies, which is indication enough of how highly he was regarded as a horseman- before he ever came to this country. At the time of his death, he was the owner of the two-year-old Bolero U.,Na horse which he was confident was to have been the best ever to carry his brown and pink silks. , It was Bolero U. which brought McKnight back into racing after a short retirement and, unfortunately, Jack will not be able to see whether his confidence and judgment of horseflesh was to be vindicated. Not too long ago Florida-bred horses were the subject of much ridicule, but the laughter has subsided recently with the success of such horses as Needles and King Hairan, to mention just a few. Michigan-bred horses are now the new butt of jokes, but, like Floridas, they may one day make some faces a bit red. Brian Wise thinks that he has a filly that may prove to be a fair sort. The chestnut miss, called Mamacomehere, is strictly a Michigan-bred, being by the sire Bubble Gum, from the mare Slammuring, both of whom Wise campaigned. Wise, a fruit farmer by profession, maintains a horse farm at Hartford, Mich., and has been in racing for 18 years. He was formerly associated with Paul Kelley and used to breed horses in Kentucky before moving to the Wolverine State. Both Bubble Gum and Slammuring were local favorites, the former racing until he was 11.
