Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Center Doesn't Horse Around With Training Of Thoroughbreds

As the "Fifth Season" rapidly draws upon us with Oaklawn Park preparing to open, a small training center in Prescott is gearing up.

Willow Oak Farms, owned by Steve Wren, but managed by W.R. "Charlie" Morse, gets thoroughbred horses ready to race.

Wren has owned Willow Oak Farms for five years, and has been training race horses for about four years. Prior to being a thoroughbred training facility, those at Willow Oaks worked with Tennessee walking horses.

Willow Oaks has about 20 horses on the premises at all times, with Wren and Morse training primarily for Karen and Hays Biggs, who live in Smithville, Ark. Friday morning, Jan. 2, Wren headed to Hot Springs with several horses, while Morse remained at Willow Oaks to oversee the day-to-day part of the operation.

The day typically begins with the horses being fed at 6 a.m. This is followed by the hands galloping the horses at 7 o'clock, usually stopping around 11 in the morning.

The hands break for lunch, returning afterwards to brush and bandage the horses as needed, rake the shed and make sure the stalls are mucked out for the night.

On the inside of the barn is an electric walker. Normally, training operations have a "hot walker" for the animals in their care. This is used to warm the horses up before they are ran.

Morse said the benefit of the electric walker is the horses have to walk further to complete a circuit than on a hot walker, and the speeds can be varied up to a gallop. The speed is increased, he said, when the weather outside is inclement and the horses given their work outs indoors.

However, when the horses are being galloped and sprinted outside on a track 5/8 of a mile long. This track also has a starting gate, so the horses can get used to being loaded and breaking out.

Morse said they try to keep two gallop boys on staff at all times, along with three grooms. The gallop boys help the grooms once their jobs have been completed, Morse said.

Finding people who can and will work with the horses isn't always easy, he said. Good people are vital to a successful operation. "No matter how good a trainer is," Morse said, "without good help he won't win."

Training at Willow Oaks involves taking yearlings and getting them ready to race. These animals must first be saddle broke, then accept a rider.

In racing today, many thoroughbreds begin their racing careers at the age of two, with their birthdays being considered January 1, regardless of when they were born.

While preparing the horses for their careers on the tracks, they must be used to breaking from a starting gate. Many horses balk at being loaded into this small, confining steel cage, with some never getting used to being loaded into the rear of the structure and having to be backed into it.

Morse said while the horses are being worked on the track, they must pass the gate several times. This gets them used to seeing it and not being frightened. With work and time, they are eventually trained to load into the back of the gate.

Once the horses are ready, they are shipped to various tracks for the season. Primarily, Wren and Morse ship their charges to Oaklawn and Remington parks for their seasons.

According to Wren, Willow Oaks will have a few horses worth watching at Oaklawn. These include Wild West Show and Dixie Road, along with Devore.

The breeding is also impressive, as sires for horses at Willow Oaks include Sunny's Halo, Cahill Road and Gone West, with an Arkansas-bred out of Tricky Six.

"This isn't an 8-5 job," Morse said. "The horses always need to be cared for, and they don't recognize holidays and weekends. We've been lucky so far. There's been no major sickness and none of the horses have broken down.

"We have horses coming up as good as I've ever seen," he added.

But, he said, the sport of kings, as horse racing is called, doesn't have quite the glamor it once had. Part of the problem is there are too many race meets, with owners wanting as many races as possible out of their stables. This, Morse said, means the horses aren't getting as must rest as they once did.

"Used to, you'd run two or three meets and give the horses time off," he said. "Now, they're running all year."

However, while some say the breeding isn't as good as it once was, Morse disagrees. He said today's thoroughbreds are probably better bred than ever because owners and trainers are studying breeding more, while making use of today's science and technology.

But, he said, the tracks the horses run on may not be as good as they once were. Morse compared the training track at Willow Oaks to the surface at Churchill Downs, where the Kentucky Derby is ran on the First Saturday in May.

In discussing "equitrack" a surface making use of a rubberized material blended in with the dirt, Morse said it has a tendency to ball up in a horse's hoof, thereby slowing them down. To avoid this, he said, trainers spray the hooves with PAM, a cooking spray, so the track surface doesn't stick to their feet.

The equitrack, he said, also sticks to a horse's tail during icy and wet conditions. The surface is difficult to keep level, he added, because of the rubber, while a dirt track is much easier to levelize.

Morse believes the "golden age" or horse racing has passed by and racing will never be what it once was. "It will probably fluxuate from now on," he said.

Part of the reason for the fluxuations, he said, is tracks are not doing all they can for the fans, instead looking for ways to increase their own bottom line profits.

Another problem is it's easier for "bug boys" small men who want to become jockeys, to become a jockey. Used to, Morse said, the bug boys had year-long contracts binding them to trainers and owners. In return, the bug boys were taught how to ride. Now, though, with the approval of a steward, a bug boy can get become a licensed jockey no matter how well they ride.

Probably the most heartbreaking situation is people today simply don't have the use for a horse as they did in past years. Before the advent of the all-terrain vehicle and four-wheel drives came along, farmers and ranchers used horses.

This meant their children were raised around the animals and were likely to have them as well when they grew up.

Today, however, it is more economical for a farmer or rancher to spend few thousand dollars on a n ATV which can go almost anywhere a horse can and is cheaper to operate and maintain.

And, Morse said, it's expensive to be involved in horse racing. Along with purchasing a horse, there's also the expense of keeping them up, vet bills, equipment and entry fees, along with transporting a horse from its home stable to the track.

In the case of Willow Oaks, the horses are shipped to Oaklawn in Hot Springs, Keenland a