From Powell County to the Derby Winner's Circle: Herbie Reed's Horse Racing Heritage

Ever wondered how a small-town passion for horses turns into a legendary Kentucky Derby win? Join us for an intriguing conversation with Herbert "Herbie" Reed, father of Eric Reed, the trainer of Rich Strike, the stunning 148th Kentucky Derby champion. Herbie shares heartwarming and humorous tales from the Reed family history, painting a vivid picture of Eric's early equine enthusiasm and his precocious talent with thoroughbreds. As Herbie reflects on his own adventurous upbringing and the journey from Powell County to the bustling horse-racing culture of Lexington, his stories of resilience and passion provide a colorful backdrop to Eric's success.

Our exploration doesn't stop at the Reeds' inspiring narrative. We journey through Kentucky's rich tapestry of horse racing culture, guided by stories from a seasoned trainer who has dedicated four decades to the racetrack. He sheds light on the evolution of the industry, the camaraderie among horse grooms, and the familial bonds that make this community so unique. From tales of tobacco barns transformed into horse stables to the thrill of race day, we capture the essence of what makes horse racing in Kentucky an enduring cultural phenomenon.

In this episode, we also celebrate the love and life lessons intertwined with horse racing. From a six-decade-long marriage filled with humor and wisdom to the importance of picking horses by instinct rather than statistics, we share personal anecdotes that resonate with the joys and challenges of the racing world. As we uncover the simpler, resilient lifestyle of Eastern Kentucky and pay tribute to the Kentucky horse racing culture, our stories invite listeners to appreciate the deeper connection between life and the vibrant horse racing tradition.

Transcript

Herbie Reed's Horse Racing Journey

Speaker 1 0:12

Welcome to Harness Up with Haste Draft Horses and Mules , where we talk all things related to these magnificent animals , from their history and uses to training and care . We cover it all . Join us as we chat with experts and enthusiasts in the field , share stories and tips and explore the world of draft horses and mules . Whether you're a seasoned owner or just curious about these gentle giants , this podcast is for you . So harness up and join Haste Draft Horses and Mules for some lively discussions about these God-given creatures .

Speaker 2 0:56

Good afternoon folks . Stephen Haste here Harness Up Podcast with Haste , draft Horses and Mules . We're here in Lexington , kentucky , today , beautiful city , and I got the pleasure to sit here with a fellow I've been waiting to talk to for a long time , mr Herbert Reed . My pleasure , good to meet you , buddy . Y'all may have watched the podcast back last summer I did with Eric Reed , rich Strike , kentucky Derby . This is his father . Goes by Herbie , I think . Yep .

Speaker 3 1:23

So goes by , herbie , I think , yeah , so I'm famous . I'm the father of 148th Kentucky Derby winner . That's right , you are the sire . You're the sire . And there , you know , there's a lot of trainers that's winning the Derby , that is . But sire of a trainer , that's a different .

Speaker 2 1:37

You are the sire of a trainer .

Speaker 3 1:39

I tell him he ruined my life because just about everywhere we go now we we go out to eat somebody's picked up my ticket and they get ready to leave . I said what ? Who did it ? I walk over and he said you're Eric's dad . I said , yeah , man , I got his pleasure . I said , hell , I got to put glasses on now so nobody recognizes me when I go out because I don't feel normal , I can't spend my money . Was I don't feel normal , I can't spend my money ? Was it like that right after the Derby ? Pretty bad . Oh yeah , I've met people in the grocery store . Come up , you're Eric's dad . Yeah , I knew it . You look like him and all that . We stand there and talk forever .

Speaker 2 2:16

Kind of proud to say you're Eric's dad , though , yeah . I am now Proud of it now . Now , before we ain't going to talk about that , did you get Eric into ?

Speaker 3 2:27

horse racing . You think yeah , when was ?

Speaker 1 2:29

your race . I didn't want him to get into it .

Speaker 3 2:31

But he wanted into it and he loved it . From the time he was , I'd say , six years old on , he went to track with me all the time , every day that he could go and , like I told him at Churchill , by the time he was seven , eight years old he could put a spider web on a spider bandage on a horse and most people don't even know what that is anymore . It's a hard bandage to put on and he'd sit under them old horses and stuff and I never thought about it then , but now I think about it . It was dangerous . It's a wonder he hadn't got hurt . You know thoroughbreds are high strung . He's in there sitting under a horse that's seven , eight years old . Looks like I'm trying to get rid of him or something . You know he loved it . But yeah , he never got hurt , thank God , because you know he could have got kicked or a horse could have jumped on him or something at being that age .

Speaker 3 3:23

But he loved horses right from the start . He went to high school , graduated with high honors and he could have went to any college he wanted to go . But he said I don't need to go to college , I know what I want to be ? I'm going to be a horse trainer . I'm going to train horses . Where was you born and raised ? I was born in Powell County , stanton , on the old Dirksen farm , eastern Kentucky .

Speaker 3 3:47

Then you moved to Lexington when I was 10 , maybe going on 11 . I hitchhiked from Powell County for sales . Of course everybody hitchhiked back then .

Speaker 2 3:59

At 10 years old , you did .

Speaker 3 4:01

Yeah , I wasn't quite 11 . And I had an aunt that lived in Milner there for sales and this old guy in a cattle truck picked me up and he was taking cows out on 33 for somebody and he was a big heavyset guy and I knew I was scared to death . When we got for sales I said he's going to take me to because he kept asking me questions . Now your family know you're coming . I said he's gonna take me to cause he kept asking me questions . Now your family know what you're coming . They know who . I said , oh yeah , my aunt knows I'm coming . She didn't know I was coming . I told him . I said she knows I'm coming , I'm gonna be there . And I said he said , well , how far is it from sales ? I said about a mile . Well , it's about four and a half miles from for sales to Milton . But we got there and you pull up . When you go to get on 33 for sales you pull right up the stoplight and there's a courthouse there . You take a left . Next street is Rose Hill Street and that's where he let me off . But when he pulled up to the courthouse I just knew he was going to take me in and say , hey , I think this kid's running away from home or something . But he didn't . He told me . He said , look , this is against my better judgment . Why did you want to go to Versailles ? My aunt was there , okay , and I was leaving Because people I was staying with there .

Speaker 3 5:11

I was staying with some people in Powell County and I'd heard them talking the day before like , well , you know , he needs somebody . They need to come and get him . He needs to be under somebody's care or something . He's going to get hurt , he's going to get killed . He's on his own , nobody guiding him and all this stuff . I heard them saying it . And we can't afford to keep another kid . We've got all we can do . So when I heard that , I knew it was time to leave . You got out , so I got out of there and I did that several times . I stayed with a lot of aunts and uncles there for sales . I wouldn't stay home . My dad remarried and my stepmother she hated me for some reason and I didn't like her either , but I'd say the reason is my mother probably had me spoiled , rotten because , because Well , well , well .

Speaker 2 6:11

Yeah , excuse me a minute . So how did you get into the horse scene ?

Speaker 3 6:21

Well , I got to Frisell's and I stayed with four or five people different there for sale , but my aunt was the best one I ever stayed with Hazel and she had three kids and I heard her father . My uncle worked for John Connolly , the singers , daddy Okay , and he got run through a silage cutter and they buried him in a plastic bag . He was pulling , you know , it got hung up and he was pulling it out and it jerked him through .

Speaker 3 6:52

Then I stayed with three or four other people there for sales coming up . But I was staying with these people and Ray Passmore he was a little rider at them , small tracks and stuff a jockey and he said won't you go to the track with me tomorrow ? It was on a Sunday morning and I said , well , yeah , I'll go out with you . And I went out there with him . I was 14 years old . So I went out there with him and I watched him . He got on seven , eight head of horses and we was coming home and I said did they pay you to do that ? And and we was coming home and I said did they pay you to do that ? And he said , well , if they didn't , I wouldn't be doing it . And I got to thinking , man , this guy just made $16 , and I'm making $18 a week , working seven days a week . I said , well , I can do that . He said , yeah , you could , but you've got to be 16 to get on horses . They won't hire you . But he said you know , go to a farm , start out with horses and learn about them . So I went to work for Scott Miller , mac Miller's brother , there for sales and I was doing mares and foals and I knew right off the bat .

Speaker 3 7:56

When I first started fooling them foals , I was in love . You was hooked . I loved horses but I wanted to get on horses . I wanted to ride horses because I was thinking about that . Two bucks a head . I said man , that's big money Versus 18 a week , yeah . So I go across the street and Doug Davis had a farm called High Hope Farm and Dick Spiller was his assistant , he run the show for him and a little black guy about five foot seven or six and I asked him . I said y'all need any help breaking urines . And this was right about September , first or second week of September , and I was getting ready to turn 15 or 16 . I can't really remember if it was 15 or 16 . I think it was 15 in October . My birthday is October 4th .

Speaker 3 8:51

So he said you ever been on any horses ? I said yeah , yeah , bro , never been on a horse in my life . He said well , show up here Monday morning , come here Monday morning at 7 o'clock and he said we'll give you a shot . I showed at 7 o'clock and he said we'll give you a shot . I showed up at 7 o'clock , went in there and stalled . He called me in . He was looking at me . No , I had old shoes on soul falling off . Didn't have a hammock , none of that stuff . Didn't have to then , but you know most of them did .

Speaker 3 9:19

But he put the bridle on the horse and I was on the other side . He , he put the bridle on the horse and I was on the other side . He laid the saddle up and I'm standing there and he said what are you doing ? And I said well , he said come around here a minute , I come around . He said number one , you ain't 16 . I said yeah , I am . He said no , you ain't Quit that damn line , you ain't 16 . And he said number two you ain't never been on a horse . You don't even know what side to get on a horse . I said yeah . He said I told you quit that line .

Speaker 3 9:46

And he told reporters at Keeneland that one time they interviewed him before he passed away and he said now , look , I know you're having a hard time . He said I'm going to give you a chance . But he said you know I've got a wife , three or four kids , and you ain't going gonna cost me my job . He said now , I'm gonna show you what to do and if you can do it , fine . If you can't , you got to go . And I said that's fair enough . And he told me you know , we laid across from a while , turn around . And he let me get on him and he said now when you turn him left , just kind of nod him a little bit to right , don't kick him hard , don't pull on his mouth , because they've never had anything in their mouth and if you pull hard they'll flip backwards on you and if you kick them hard they're going to . You know , jump . He said , just go 50-50 with him , be easy .

Speaker 3 10:33

These was two-year-olds , right ? Yeah , yearlings , yearlings , Yearlings Never been on . So I was lucky again . I had five horses and not a one of them was crazy . Now , how lucky , because back then they didn't handle horses like they do today . Today they're like little dogs . You can walk up and pet them in the field , you know . But I was lucky Boy . I didn't have one that was jumping , kicking . Them other boys had them jumping , kicking , bucking . So we stayed in the stall about , I guess , six or seven days and he said now we're going out in the shed row . They had more room out there , you know . We went out and stayed in the shed row , walked them around , walked them around and figure-aided them and stuff and did that for about , I'd say , about a week . Then we went out in the field and when we went out in the field and come back he told me . He said you're going to be okay . That made you feel good , yeah .

Speaker 2 11:29

He said you got good hands on the horse and you're not scared , you're going to be okay .

Speaker 3 11:33

And that made me feel real good .

Horse Racing Journey & Life Reflections

Speaker 3 11:36

How long did you work for him ? I was with Doug about a year , I guess . And then I went to Kingland . I went to Kingland , I went to Kingland with Doug , got on horses out there , never been on the racetrack . I had to learn the poles . You know , the green and white poles are eighth pole , black and white 16th , and if you're at Kingland you count them backwards , you know when you go back . So it didn't take me long to pick that up . So I just got lucky . And then I got with the right .

Speaker 3 12:07

I was in the kitchen breaking horses for Ernest Woods and Laurel T Stevens and me and Mr Woods and Tommy just headed off and man , we were just like best friends . Mr Woods loved me to death and Tommy did too . And Tommy come in there one morning and he said , look , won't you get your trainer's license ? And he said what we'll do the horses that won't make it to the big ? You know that ain't working . Don't look like they're going to make it to the big track . We just keep around here and run them and sell them , or somebody claim them or something .

Speaker 3 12:41

And I said , man , I can't train no more or something . But he said , yeah , you can . He said you , you . And we sat there and talked for a long time and he talked me into it . So I did , I went and got my trainer's license and I was with Mr Woods for maybe 20 years him and him and Lord Stevens yeah , I credit Lord Stevens with giving me a chance to be a trainer , but you know I never . I was never assistant trainer for anybody and never run a barn for anybody . But I listened to the old trainers and I watched what they did and I picked up on it . It's just common sense and I just happened to be good at it and had a talent for it and I was lucky .

Speaker 2 13:20

What was your favorite memory of back in your training years , with the 20 years , like your favorite race or something , favorite race , favorite race you trained at .

Speaker 3 13:31

Well , I mostly run at the little tracks . You know , I didn't run . I'd run horses at Kingland and I'd win at Kingland .

Speaker 2 13:36

What tracks would ?

Speaker 3 13:36

that be Bule Park , fairmont , ellis , miles Park , had old Miles Park then and you know , had old Miles Park then and you know those little tracks like that . We'd just take horses that wouldn't go anywhere else and run them and hope somebody would claim them . If they didn't claim them , they'd run good enough . We could sell them after the race and if they didn't do that , then he'd end up giving them to somebody , you know for a pleasure horse or something . But I didn't run any real good . I had good horses and I got them ready and shipped them out , some real good horses and uh , but uh to run them . You know it's hard to train on a . I was a little track in the wintertime . Keep a horse fit to run , keep him in shape , so anything . It looked like it had a lot of talent . We'd send up the road somewhere .

Speaker 2 14:26

You still hanging out with Eric giving pointers and things . Now I don't talk to him much about horses ?

Speaker 3 14:31

You don't ? No , he knows too much . I see , makes me feel bad . I feel inferior to him now .

Speaker 2 14:37

Hey , at least you can go over to his barn and still hang out and get the feel of yeah , I tell everybody .

Speaker 3 14:41

I said the boy can't train Lassie to bark , but damn , he won the derby . He did win the derby yeah , he did . He won a whole lot of races he won the derby .

Speaker 3 14:54

I'd say he won more races in about three years than I did in my whole career . He was just good , he loved it . I mean , you know you find something you love to . Oh , yeah , I did . But you know , after I guess I trained for about 40 years and I just got burnt out . You know , seven days a week and I was coming up the old way you had to be the first one to barn , the last one to leave , and you had to check the temperature , all this crazy stuff , and you know , and it just , and the help changed too . You know , back when I first started them grooms you say something about one of them horse , he'd fight you . They had pride in what they did , you know .

Speaker 2 15:30

They got aggressive . Yeah , they did .

Speaker 3 15:32

They loved their horses and that . But the horse business really saved my life . The horse business and Eric Her .

Speaker 2 15:42

Her , your wife .

Speaker 3 15:43

Yeah , I met her , I was 16 . What's her name ? Glenda Glenda she's over there .

Speaker 3 15:49

I was 16 . She got lucky that day I met her . She's been lucky ever since 61 years we've been married . Did you get married in Versailles ? I was 16 . She was 17 . When Eric was born I was just turning 18 . When Eric was born , how many children you got . Two boys . We knew we couldn't afford another one , so I had to bisect him because it was cheaper , that's right . So we didn't have any more . They said that's all we can afford , that's cheaper yeah .

Speaker 3 16:22

And we looked at them , two ugly soxers , and thought we don't want any more really .

Speaker 2 16:28

After you did horse , did you work anywhere else other than horse racing ? No , you just did horse racing your whole life .

Speaker 3 16:32

That's all I ever did in my whole life . Now , when I was young , coming up , I worked in tobacco and hay and straw for people there For sales , Roy Snap I was with him for about seven , eight months and his son's one of Eric's best friends , Frankie Snap .

Kentucky Roots and Racing Reflections

Speaker 2 16:47

So you know what it's like to cut a stalk of tobacco and hang it and strip it . Yes , I do .

Speaker 3 16:50

I've cut it and they put me on the top rail because you know you only put one rail out , the one's on the bottom .

Speaker 2 16:58

I've been on the top rail many a day .

Speaker 3 17:00

Yeah , that's some of the hardest work you'll ever do that tobacco .

Speaker 2 17:05

I tell people all the time you don't know a day's hard work until you cut tobacco and hang it .

Speaker 3 17:10

You got that right .

Speaker 2 17:11

Did Eric ever get to experience that ?

Speaker 3 17:13

No , I didn't want him to get blisters on his hands . I see He'd be using them on hatchets and things .

Speaker 2 17:20

I think some of the prettiest horse barns in the state are old tobacco barns .

Speaker 3 17:25

They are .

Speaker 2 17:25

That they redo .

Speaker 3 17:26

And you know it's a shame . You see them getting rid of them all the time and it's part of our culture .

Speaker 2 17:34

I love how they put blacktop down the center of them . Old tobacco barns yeah , and it's still got that smell in it . Yeah , but it's a horse barn yes , just something about it . It's Kentucky . Yeah , a lot of people don't understand . Nope , it's a feel in this state , in this area . Yeah , but you can't get nowhere else . No , you can't .

Speaker 3 18:00

Race day is a feel , oh my God , A dream come true . I'm telling you . On the way home , I still had a hard time believing it .

Speaker 2 18:06

Did you have a feeling at all that day he was going to win ?

Speaker 3 18:08

I knew it wasn't going to be last . I told everybody . I said I can tell you one thing , because if you looked at his chart I got really high on him when he ran the last race at Turfway . I got really high on him when he ran the last race at Turfway . He should have won that race by four or five lengths , got in trouble three different times and still run third . And I'm thinking this horse is for real . I come home I told Glenn I said he's for real , this horse can run with these horses . So he proved he could run with them and he was always catching them at the end . So that extra eighth of a mile , shame on him .

Speaker 3 18:40

he was on top of him man , it was , uh , I , but I . I was telling her . I said , man , if you just finish in the middle of the pack , you've got a hell of a horse . You're running against the best three-year-olds in the country , in the world . He won . So you , yeah , he run over maybe Unbelievable .

Speaker 1 19:00

What was ?

Speaker 3 19:00

unbelievable is that he got him there . He took him there Most trainers . If I'd have claimed that horse for $30,000 , I'd have run him back for $50,000 and hope he'd win . Get my money back . Then I'd maybe run him back in a non-winners of a race other than or non-winners of two . No way I'd have run him in a great mistake trying to get derby , uh .

Speaker 3 19:22

But eric told me he didn't have that horse two weeks , wasn't it ? He called me . He said I got the best horse ever trained in my life . And I'm thinking , man , you had a philly got beat what a head by rachel alexander . I said how can you say that ? And he said , believe me , that's the best horse ever run , ever had in my life . And I said , well , good luck with that . Sure enough he was right . You didn't believe it . No , no way , and you know it was funny . Going up there I took $300 with me and I didn't tell many people this because I told her . I said I'm gonna bet a hundred across the board and I'm gonna put it in a frame and put it on the wall . And we got up right in bed . A dime , I chickened . We got up there . I didn't bet a dime , I chickened out .

Speaker 2 20:01

You didn't bet on Rich Strike .

Speaker 3 20:02

No , I didn't bet a dime . Well , we was coming home and everybody in the car was loaded . Anybody that didn't know anything about a horse was betting on Rich Strike because of Eric and us , you know , and I didn't bet on him . I didn't bet a penny . I told Eric . I said , look , everybody got money . We worked all our life in the horse business and I ain't got nothing . I didn't bet a dime on him .

Speaker 3 20:28

But you know , you take most horse people you could put a gun to their head and they wouldn't bet on him . Looking at him , you know you'd win one race . But if you looked at his chart you go back and look at his chart he'd come running after them horses every time . The only time he was disappointed was when you took him to Louisiana and they had to stay in the stall for three days . And he's a high , strong horse , he's got to do something every day . And Eric said he tried to tear the paddock up but like never got the saddle on him and he didn't run good that day . But other than that , every race he was coming at them . I mean he'd come running at them .

Speaker 2 21:02

Do you still travel to track some and go ? No , I don't . You stay in Lexington around here .

Speaker 3 21:07

Yeah , I got a bed and breakfast and we had a little wedding venue . We have a daycare there for sales . My wife's been in the daycare business for about what ? 45 years .

Speaker 2 21:18

Still doing it .

Speaker 3 21:23

Yeah , she's us for about what ? 45 years still doing it . Yeah , she still got one there for sale . So you know it keeps us busy and I I do the . I got like maybe nine acre farm and I don't know any horses on it no , no .

Speaker 2 21:30

So if you want to see horses , you just go to eric's barn , yeah yep , that's now .

Speaker 3 21:38

if he'd find me one night red strike for $30,000 , I might get back in it . You might buy it , yeah . But when you can claim a horse worth five-eighths of a mile and $59,000 for $30,000 , you better .

Speaker 2 21:50

He was at the right place at the right time , yeah .

Speaker 3 21:52

Well , you know he took a chance because most people you take a horse that worked like that and they they run him for 30 , there's something whole in him somewhere or something bad , wrong . But they took a chance and got caught the way .

Speaker 2 22:05

I seen it Got good .

Speaker 3 22:06

Yeah .

Speaker 2 22:07

Real good . What's the name of your bed and breakfast there ? Rabbit Creek , and anybody can come stay at it . Huh yeah , that's nice . For a small fee For a small fee . Does she cook them breakfast ?

Speaker 3 22:21

Yeah , we fix them breakfast . I sit in there and shoot the bull with them and talk to them . Can she cook it ? Good , sometimes I take them around , you know , to some of the farms or something , because they like to hear about horses . You know , most of them don't know anything about horses .

Speaker 2 22:35

A little tour . Yeah , bluegrass tour , that's neat . Yeah , that's neat . Keeneland's still going strong . You don't go over and watch any .

Speaker 3 22:46

Well , if he's running something , you know , a big race or something I might go over , you'll go check it out . You know , when I left Keeneland I had some horses two real good friends of mine and I told them . I said I'll keep them when they're gone , I'm out , I ain't never training them more and I left . It was like somebody took two tons off my back . You know , it's seven days a week of my whole life . That's all I ever did . I was married to it . You don't get Christmas , new Year's Thanksgiving , none of that stuff . You know . And I was just , I was burned out .

Speaker 2 23:17

Kind of like my dad and me growing up . We had a dairy farm , oh gosh , Well he was married to it .

Speaker 3 23:21

I milked Now I'd have to ask , I think it was 12 or 13 cows when I was with Roy Snap every morning and every night by hand , and he had two old sets . No , he had two old sets of milkers , Okay , and I'd milk one by hand while they was doing it so I could get done quicker . And they'd eat those old wild onions out there and they'd come out in that milk and they'd get that mass of titus and you'd have to stick that tube up in there I forget what it's called and they'd kick you from here to that door sometimes . It's a wonder I hadn't got killed .

Speaker 2 23:53

We had kickers we put over their hips and tightened them up to keep them where they couldn't kick . Yeah , I didn't have that .

Speaker 3 23:59

We had them at the barn , man it was . I mean , you put it in a can . It was all I could do to drag it to the road . I had to drag it maybe from here to the house to the road and it was all I could do to drag it out there , because you know hell , I wouldn't weigh 120 pounds in 115 .

Speaker 2 24:14

Back a few years ago I was at an Amish house . I got a lot of friends that are Amish . This woman makes cottage cheese , homemade cottage cheese . I love cottage cheese . Well , they brought me some out . I like it too . I got a bite of that stuff and it was that old green onion milk . I about lost it . It turned me against milk . It's funny you say that about that . It turned my stomach . I told that woman .

Speaker 1 24:38

I said your cottage cheese is good man , but God bless that cow that's got them white onions .

Speaker 2 24:43

I couldn't eat it . I could not eat it . I know what you mean . I could not eat it . I got turned against milk pretty much period . Now the smell of raw milk all my life .

Speaker 3 24:52

Oh , that's the way I am . I hardly ever drink it .

Speaker 2 25:00

I'd rather have a bottle of Gatorade or something . Yeah , anything but milk . Give me no milk .

Speaker 3 25:03

The horse business has took you a lot of places , though it sure has . My wife and I . We started out . We didn't have a pot to pee in or a window to throw it out of and I bought an old 52 pink Ford off of Larry Long's brother out on Farmingtown Road give him $50 for it . And the door was wired on the right side . The door was wired together . He couldn't open it and he told me . He told me the truth . He said it looks like junk . But he said I'll tell you right now . He'll take you there and bring you back the motor and everything is good . It's just junky . And I said I ain't worried about that , I just need something to run . And she and I got in .

Speaker 3 25:46

It took off one morning we ran off and got married and went to Jellicoe , tennessee . Jellicoe had a guy with me , trying to think his name Wayne Dunn . He drove us up there and he signed the paper . We got married in a little old building . I don't even know if the guy was a real minister or not , to tell you the truth . But we came back . We didn't tell her father a thing because I was afraid he'd kill me .

Speaker 2 26:15

So you didn't ask him before you died , we didn't say nothing .

Speaker 3 26:19

So she told her mother and her mother said oh my gosh , you've got to tell your daddy . Well , that night she called me . She said If we're going , we've got to go . So I went , got her , picked her up . We got in that old Ford and went to Louisville Now , this is a God's truth . The whole door wired together . I was working Charlie Durbin , when I was with Doug Davis . He was taking money . Every week he'd give me half a check and he'd take the other half and he said I'm going to save it for you .

Speaker 3 26:48

He said you don't need this money , you ain't going to spend it , I'm going to save it for you . Everybody on the farm kept telling me that man he'd say you'll never see that money . So that man , he'd say you'll never see that money . So we got ready to leave . I went down and told him , I told Charlie what I was going to do and he said man , you shouldn't do that , you'll make a bad move . But he said wait a minute . He went back and come back and I think I had like $600 or something .

Speaker 3 27:09

That was a lot of money then , hell , we thought we was rich there about two or three days and I told Glenn . I said , hey , we got to get out , we got to go back home , we can't stay here . I got to work , we got to get money somewhere . So we come back home and we got an apartment , old Yocum Motel . You know where it used to be , on , not just really , it's right across from where you're going to UK , okay , to UK . Okay , it was a big motel there and right across the road was a little house and they had two bedroom apartment up over the the huh , yeah , one bedroom and it was two rooms , right , two rooms .

The Journey Through Love and Racing

Speaker 3 27:52

And , uh , we rented that right across and the guy that underneath us in the main house he worked for the railroad all his life and retired , so we lived there for about what five , six months , yeah , and I remember she'd come get me . We'd sit there and kiss for 20 minutes before we drive off using love oh god , what made you go ?

Speaker 2 28:15

to Jellicoe to get married . You could do that , then you could run to Tennessee , go to Jellicoe to get married . You could do that , then you could run to Tennessee State Line .

Speaker 3 28:20

You could go to Tennessee , cross the straight line and get married . You can't do that . Well , you probably can . Now Was 75 here .

Speaker 2 28:26

Then they changed that then Was I 75 here then .

Speaker 3 28:29

No , I don't believe it was .

Speaker 2 28:30

So you took the old road to Jellicoe yeah and went down there and got married .

Speaker 3 28:34

Yeah . So when we we were , I guess she went back to the house . I came home , she went in . Anyway , she , when she told her father , uh , I was out farm , and he pulled up out there and old Scott Miller was in the barn and he said , uh , I said man , I ain't going out there .

Speaker 3 28:53

He said go on out there . He said you got to go out and talk to this man and tell him , tell him what happened , tell him what you did . He said you've got to go out and talk to this man and tell him what happened , tell him what you did . He said you've got to man up . And I said , oh God . He said don't worry , I'm going to be standing right here . He said if anything gets out of hand , he said I'll come out and talk to you . I said okay , and I went out there and talked to him and he told me .

Speaker 3 29:15

He said well know , I don't appreciate the thing you just did . And he said it's wrong what you all did . And he said I could take it and force you to , but he said I'm not going to do it . He said see where you end up . And within a year's time he was more . My father , her mother and father was more my mother and father than they was hers and her sister . Because he , you know , he seen that I was going to work and I was determined to have something , and so it turned out they were as much my parents as they were hers . And I got lucky there again , because her daddy was smart . He'd take a dime and make a dollar out of it , you know and he taught me how to do percentage and stuff like that . You know , he was just a very smart person well if you run off and got married .

Speaker 2 30:03

It turned out okay . You're still married 61 years . What's the secret from herbert reed to be married ?

Speaker 3 30:10

yes , dear , tell all the people just yes , dear , just yes . If she said this was red , I'd say it does have a red color on it yes , dear yes dear , and it works . It took me about four years to realize that and some bumps on my head , but I finally realized that she's always right . Well , that's good .

Speaker 2 30:29

It turned out .

Speaker 3 30:30

We both worked hard and we , when we was 26 or 27 , we took her first trip to Europe , went to England and Scotland . She had a pen pal in Scotland she'd been writing to since she was about five or six years old . You flew over and we flew over there , she and I , and we'd been in what 80-something countries ? Golly , yeah , for two old people to come up with nothing and I come up on the streets with nothing , and you know , I think we've done pretty good . The Lord's blessed you . Yeah . The horse business blessed us too . Yeah , yeah .

Speaker 2 31:07

That's a true horse business Kentucky story right there .

Speaker 3 31:10

I remember when I sold my first horse . I sold the first horse , I didn't have a clue , and the guy I think we sold him for $25,000 . And that was a lot of money . Then too , that was a nice horse . And next morning he came over and gave me a check for $2,500 . And I said what's this for ? He said that's your percentage for selling that horse . And I'm thinking why in the hell would I run a horse ? Why do you want to run horses when you can make that kind of money selling ? I was into that selling business from then on . That was like when I went out with him for riding and he was getting two bucks a head . I didn't have to be a genius to figure out where the big money was .

Speaker 2 31:47

So you sold a lot of race horses .

Speaker 3 31:49

I sold a lot of nice horses . I sold Jack Slade , he made 700 and something thousand . Troy Seale had him and I had Lieutenant Lark , he made I guess he made like 700,000 racing and stuff . But I sold some good horses . Yeah , bought them and resold them . Well , I didn't buy them , I bought them for clients . Yeah , sold them to clients .

Speaker 2 32:10

Yeah , so you run the commission business , so I got lucky . Yeah , that's good .

Speaker 3 32:16

And I enjoyed the racing too when I was younger . You know it was going , but after a while it gets old , because I'd go up with every horse and I'd walk over to the paddock with every horse , you know , and all that stuff . And that's ridiculous . They ain't going to run . No better if you walk over with them than they are if you don't .

Speaker 2 32:31

From your time in the horse business . You've been in it a long time . Two years , yeah , four years . What's the biggest change ?

Speaker 3 32:44

you've seen in the race industry from when you started until now . Well , the rules and regulations number one , oh yeah . Yeah , they've just about ended it Because you know , when I was in it you had a real cheap horse man .

Stories From the Horse Racing World

Speaker 3 32:55

You had to do what you could do to make him pay his way and get through . So we'd inject them with cortisone or something if they soar , give them butazolin like you take aspirin well , you can't give a horse nothing today .

Speaker 3 33:09

You can't help them and that's a shame too , because it's like they'd rather see you run a horse hurting than run one that's not hurting , you know they test them big time now , don't they ?

Speaker 2 33:20

Yeah , blood , test them .

Speaker 3 33:22

Yeah , I couldn't train a horse today . I just couldn't do it . You know you've got to have a vet come out and watch a horse jog down the road after you've worked him and all that stuff . I mean , come on .

Speaker 2 33:33

Do you really have to do that ?

Speaker 3 33:34

Yeah , you work a horse the next day . They got to watch him walk and jog and make sure he pull up , all right and all that stuff you know right , eric , I mean it's ridiculous , unreal , yeah .

Speaker 3 33:49

But I took a horse and I took a horse to I believe it was Belmont Aqueduct one time and run him . He'd win three in a row . And I took him to Mac Miller because I knew Mac when I was working there . And uh , I worked him at two days before the race and they had a big ride up in the farm , second coming of Hindu and all that stuff . And I took Alan when he was riding him . He was uh , he was from uh , new Zealand and uh got down there and Alan , for some reason they found something on him . They wasn't going to let him ride , but they ended up letting him ride anyway and Mac told me he said there ain't nothing up here that can touch you .

Speaker 3 34:30

And a horse belonged to Paul Honeycutt and I don't know if y'all know Paul Honeycutt , he's a big guy here in Lexington and anyway , he coming out of the turn he switched leads and he broke a coffin bone in his back leg and we didn't do any good . So we come back home and about a week later I was standing down there at the rail and John Ward came over and he said Herb , sorry about what happened up in New York . He said is everything okay ? And I said no . I said they fined me and Alan both . He said what do you mean ? Fined you . I said well , they fined me $200 for impersonating a trainer and Alan Rennie $500 for impersonating a rider . He started laughing .

Speaker 2 35:23

You got a lot of memories from this . Yeah , yeah .

Speaker 3 35:25

And I had a lot of old people work for me . Barney Marshall worked for me for a long time , off and on , and he had the only filly that beat Silver Spoon . And one time Barney was one of the top trainers but he got on that alcohol , bad alcohol . He lost everything he had . You should be in the Horse Racer Hall . One time Barney was one of the top trainers but he got on that alcohol , bad alcohol , lost everything he had .

Speaker 2 35:41

You should be in the Horse Racer Hall of Fame , yeah he was .

Speaker 3 35:46

I don't know about me , but he was , you could be . Well , I started , you know . I stopped back and think where I ended up where I was at . I didn't have , like I said , I was never an assistant trainer for anybody , never run a barn for anybody , but I just used common sense and I watched the old trainers and listened to them talk Like shoot , I'm trying to think he trained Coffee Money . I can't think of his name now , but he told me one day sitting there in the barn and he said Herbie , the main thing about training horses is common sense . And he said you can run around this barn 10 times . Put 10 pounds on your back and run around it . And he said same thing with a horse . You got to bring them up slowly and let them tell you when you're doing too much . Back up . If you ain't doing enough , do a little more . And uh , he was right . Yeah , he was right , but I'd get some horses that they'd bring in . We can't do this . I trained for Don Ball for a long time . I know you all know Don Ball . I've heard the name . I trained for him for a long time .

Speaker 3 36:50

They brought me a horse out there they couldn't do nothing with . I took her out the first day Boy , she was a character . Second day I took her out , brought her back , took her bridle off , tied her up and left the saddle on . I took her to track two times that day . The next day I took her to track three times and after about two weeks when I come back to barn I could drop her brains and go in the stall , come back out and she'd still be standing there . She didn't want to run , jump and kick no more and I was giving her six quarts of feet a day and all the hay she could eat . But once she figured that she wasn't just going to go out there and go around the track two times and go home , she got to thinking look , I got to do this again , I better take it easy . She didn't come back to the gap and start flipping and running and going crazy , you know , and but it . I enjoyed taking horses some horses that they was having problems with . I loved that part of it .

Speaker 3 37:45

Changing their mind you know I'd claim a horse and I'd give him two or three days . Take him to the farm , turn him out for an hour or so , just put him in the trailer in the afternoon and take him out and turn him out in the paddock for two or three hours . Let him get that feeling of freedom back and the next thing you know they're eating up and jumping , kicking and feeling good again I guess the way they fed racehorses over the years has changed a lot , a whole lot .

Speaker 2 38:09

Yeah , what they feed them and yeah , the gins feed a lot of alfalfa back in the day , or not not a whole lot .

Speaker 3 38:15

No , alfalfa is pretty rich in protein . If you give them much , they get the scars on you . But Timothy and alfalfa was my two favorites , Mixed yeah about 70 , 30 .

Speaker 2 38:30

Grain . What grain was y'all feeding back in the day ? Well , we fed oats and I had a mix .

Speaker 3 38:38

I had oats , flaxseed corn barley , I had barley and molasses and something . I had it all mixed , one feed and I bought it for feed . I think you still use it , don't you ?

Speaker 2 38:54

Same feed he still uses it yeah .

Speaker 3 38:58

And you know I'd give it if I had an old gilding that was getting bad . You know , getting to where he didn't have any energy , didn't have any get-up-and-go to him , I'd get that 100% wheat germ oil and I'd start giving him that and about two weeks he'd start feeling like a man again .

Speaker 2 39:18

I've heard people say that .

Speaker 3 39:20

Now you know you could give them the Equipors and Windstraw and stuff too , but the wheat germ oil was a natural and it really helped them . It brought a bunch of them back where they felt like they was stud again . And I learned that from an old guy called Lawrence Eversall . He was an old war , probably one of the smartest horsemen I've ever had in my life , but he was ruled off for every racetrack in the country . Mac Miller got permission for him this is how good he was to come to the track and gallop the horse that he won the derby with . Lawrence would come out . The guards would bring him in . He'd get out , get on the horse , go to the track , gallop him , come back and get off and the guards would take him back to the front gate . But they let .

Speaker 3 40:05

What was that horse Mac Miller won the derby with ? I got it right on the tip of my tongue , but Mac told me the same thing . He said that man talked to a horse . He was a little bitty guy , a gallop-bitty horse . He just had that natural ability to it , Real quiet . George Arnold introduced him to me Rusty Arnold's daddy , we was breaking horses out on a farm and he said now Lawrence is one of the best horsemen I've ever been around in my life .

Speaker 3 40:32

But he said now he don't talk , he won't say nothing to you , don't take it personal . I said , well , if he don't want to talk , that's fine with me . So , uh , we , we was out there and I ain't kidding you . I'd say we worked five , six days together before that man ever said a word to me . I never said nothing to him .

Speaker 3 40:49

Then one one day he come up and we started talking and , man , I loved him to death . We bought horses together . We ran horses . You know , we bought an old horse at Kingland for $1,000 off a guy . He had a mule in the stall with him . Lawrence got on him , took him down the track , galloped him twice around to come back and he said let's buy him . So I went in and Lawrence didn't have any money . He was just getting off one of those bad drunks . So I gave the old boy $1,000 for him . We took him to the farm . We went three in a row with him , lost him at Kingland for five and he trained him on the farm .

Speaker 3 41:32

An old racetrack out on that old grass farm , no racetrack . I was on that old grass farm but man , he could talk to a horse . He was just one of those kind of guys . He went to the Army . He was one of the leading riders . He went to the Army and went to the war . They used him as a mole . I didn't know this . He never told me he was in the military and all that stuff . Well , when he passed away in Cincinnati , the line must have been a mile long and he'd won Purple Heart and all that stuff .

Speaker 2 41:56

Who's training . Like all the youngsters coming up , do a lot of them call you for advice a lot nowadays .

Speaker 3 42:02

I've had some call me , but not anymore . They know I'm not in it and I don't .

Speaker 2 42:06

Where's the future of horse racing going , you think ?

Speaker 3 42:09

I don't know . They've got to change it though .

Speaker 2 42:11

Is there a lot of youngsters coming into it ? Still Trainers , you think ?

Speaker 3 42:16

Well , maybe , but you know a lot of them . I hate to say this . They're kids that the parents are already in the business . They have a big string of horses . So they get out of college , they want to train , they get their license and they got guys working for them that could be leading trainers anywhere in the country . So you know it's how many horses you got . It's a numbers game anymore . You know if you got 150 , 60 head of horses you're going to have four or five can run regardless of what you do .

Speaker 2 42:47

A lot of this old way is going to slip away if some of these youngsters don't get in and learn it from y'all .

Speaker 3 42:52

Yeah , it is the horsemanship that's the bad part about it . I know , yeah , yeah , and Eric was a good horseman

Horse Racing Memories and Stories

Speaker 3 43:02

. He could find a bone on a horse . He had a little splint . I remember one time he was rubbing for me and I gave him a hard time all the time . I shouldn't have done it but I did . But I sent a horse to the track one time and he had a little splint coming and we got back to the barn and I said Eric , you notice anything about that horse ? He said no . I said you just got through rubbing him . You didn't see anything wrong . He said no . I said check that left leg and run your hand down it . And he did . I said you feel that bump ? He said yeah . I said that's a splint . I said why would you send that horse out like that ? And he said , well , I didn't see it . And I said well , that's your job to see it , don't do that again . He never did .

Speaker 2 43:45

Rich Strach won the Derby , but you may take a little credit for it too Well .

Speaker 3 43:48

I never had nothing to do with him . I think I seen him train one or two times and that was it , but I watched him run . When I watched him run at Turfway I knew Eric was right when he first told me that I thought he's full of bull , that horse he can't be that good .

Speaker 2 44:03

What I'm saying , though , is you may have trained the trainer .

Speaker 3 44:06

Well , I think that might be right .

Speaker 2 44:08

That's right , a little bit of credit , you know . Yeah , I've never been to Turf . That's one place I've never been is Turf Way Park Is that right , I want to go somewhere .

Speaker 3 44:16

A lot of fun up there , you know , used to be run at night and stuff . Many trips coming back from there be 11 o'clock at night , snowing , sleeting . Get home 1 o'clock in the morning , get up and be in a barn 5 , 30 the next morning , you know , and but uh they race up around the winter , don't they ? Yeah , in the cold , yeah purses have changed a lot up there .

Speaker 2 44:36

It's big time now they got some good purses have you seen some races in the snow up there in your time ?

Speaker 3 44:41

yeah , I've come back when the bis on the road and I'm driving that old van that we had three horse van and I was going across the and it was kind of like this and there was two cars that had slid down to it and I had a guy with me named Melvin Woodrum and I told Melvin , I said , melvin , I ain't sitting here all night , I'm going to try it . And he said , man , we're going to get stuck . I said , well , I'm going to try it . Sure enough , I crossed that band , started going , just got lucky . Man , I got to the end of the bridge , but it was . It was cold as heck and I was ready to get home a lot of these tracks are going to synthetic , ain't they ?

Speaker 2 45:18

yeah , I don't like synthetic . Ain't Keeneland synthetic now ?

Speaker 1 45:21

no , it was , they changed it . Yeah , yeah .

Speaker 2 45:25

I remember I went to Keeneland one time back 10 years ago and it looked like little tire pieces . Yeah , little chips . Yeah , I don't like it Synthetic .

Speaker 3 45:34

You like the good old red clay , I like that red clay sand , yeah , and you know . Now , though , you can't put toes on a horse . You can't put , you know , grabs or stickers , it's got to be flat shoe . I think that's wrong too , because when a horse pushes out of that gate , they're using those back legs to push out with and they get sore in the rear end that world bone and stuff , I think . But they've changed all the rules . That's their , it's their right to do it , I guess , so they can change them , I guess you either stay with it and live with it , or get out of it one or the the other .

Speaker 2 46:10

What else can you do ? That's it , if you want to .

Speaker 3 46:14

You choose to do it for a living . You better be dedicated , is all I can say . That's right . You better be committed to it . That's right . And he was . He never missed a day . I mean , when I'd get ready to go feed in the afternoon , he'd get out of school . Boy , if she didn't want him to go with me , he'd throw a fit , so I'd take him out .

Speaker 3 46:37

He'd wash the tub , fill up the water buckets and all that stuff , you know . And when I'd run at night , man , he'd go with me . Every night we'd run , get back , he'd have to get up . Next morning she'd have his breakfast and go to school . But uh , he , just he lived it who's your favorite jockey ?

Speaker 2 46:51

you ever had ride for you over the years .

Speaker 3 46:54

Well , one of my favorites I rode Shoemaker on a horse . Okay , at Kingland Finished fourth , I think , but one of my all-time favorites was PJ Cooksey .

Speaker 2 47:03

Okay .

Speaker 3 47:04

She's a little old rider but I loved her to death . She came from up well Mountaineer . It was called Waterford Park then I've heard of that . Yeah , a little old , $1,000 race , $1,500 race to come up there . But she had a lot of heart . She could get more run out of a horse at 316th Pole to the wire for some reason . I just I loved her and I still do . Yeah , she had a lot of respect for her .

Speaker 2 47:29

I'm going to do a podcast with Mr Sonny pretty soon . Who Sonny Leon ?

Speaker 3 47:33

Sonny Leon . Yeah , yeah , I remember . I thought Shane Sellers was going to be here today . He's coming April .

Speaker 2 47:41

When April April and Shane , oh Shane , went for a thousand races , I just never had nothing .

Speaker 3 47:47

I thought he'd fit .

Speaker 2 47:49

I'm actually going up around Bueller and places here . Pretty soon I'm going to go up and do one with Chip Woolley . Did you ever know Chip ? I've heard of him .

Speaker 3 47:55

Mind that bird's trainer . Yep , mind that bird . He's walked over on a cane .

Speaker 2 48:00

I'm going to go up . I got in contact . I'm going to go up to Minnesota and meet him . That was kind of like Eric .

Speaker 3 48:06

Of course , eric had a different horse $30,000 horse but that horse he'd come over there with they didn't give him a chance either . What a race man . What a race . That was a race You'll never forget it .

Speaker 2 48:23

No , you ever go back and watch the Derby anymore , just for fun .

Speaker 3 48:26

Oh yeah , I've watched it a hundred times Just to see it again . You get that same thrill man when they turn for home and you see him moving , and then when that horse come out on him , I just dropped my head , I said it's over and he had to go around him . I looked back up and man , he's going to the front and I said , oh my .

Speaker 2 48:41

God , was you sitting with him when it happened ? Me and him were standing there .

Speaker 3 48:46

He passed out . Well , he didn't pass , he just fell , dropped he dropped . I almost dropped with him , man , I said God , what a thrill .

Speaker 2 48:57

Then you had to rush through all them people getting to the circle .

Speaker 3 48:59

Oh yeah , I turned around because one of the girls rode races for me Her husband's Frankie Brothers . What's her name ? Donna ? Yeah , I turned around and looked at her . We was coming back . I said they was all over us , you know . I said where in the hell were y'all when we was coming over here ? Of course , nobody said a word to us . They didn't come in the stall and say anything to us or nothing . It was like they was embarrassed . We were in the race , you know , and after the race , you know , and after the race , they were all over us . Golly , oh .

Speaker 2 49:33

Lord , that's a story .

Speaker 3 49:34

Yeah , I claimed a horse from her husband and run him and went back . She rode him for me . I run him right back at Churchill and she rode him for me and went with him and I claimed him for I believe it was 12 . And I run him back and I went to the race . I made him a I believe it was 12 . And I run him back and I went to the race other than claiming the Churchill Lounce and he win it and I ended up doing pretty good with him . I guess I made about 95 or 100,000 with him .

Speaker 1 50:02

What's your ?

Speaker 3 50:03

favorite track Anywhere , I guess I'd say Keeneland .

Speaker 2 50:09

Keeneland .

Speaker 3 50:09

Yeah , hometown track , hometown .

Thrills of Horse Racing Culture

Speaker 3 50:12

I remember when Eric was born I was going around that track . I'll never forget it . I was going around the backside and I come into the turn and coming through the stretch , it hit me .

Speaker 2 50:26

And I said my God , I'm a father . It hit you on the racetrack .

Speaker 3 50:30

Oh , boy , and look , look , when I pulled up and started back to the barn if it was raining I'd have drowned I felt like Superman and I said man , I got a family .

Speaker 2 50:40

Good Lord , hell of a feeling .

Speaker 3 50:44

It was . The horse business will give you a lot of memories , but it's history , yeah and you horse business will give you a lot of memories .

Speaker 2 50:50

Yeah , but it's history this area .

Speaker 3 50:52

Yeah , and you know , I don't know how she hung with me because I had that chip on my shoulder . You know , you sure did , and she hung in there with me .

Speaker 2 51:02

A lot of people don't understand what horse racing means to this state and the people out west . Maybe people listening even to this podcast don't understand the feeling and just what horse racing is to us here in Kentucky .

Speaker 3 51:14

Greatest thrill on earth . I don't care what anybody says . Well , some of the wealthiest people on earth have said the greatest thrill they ever had was watching a horse pass the finish line . There's nothing like it . And some of them said why did I play golf all those years ? You know , I've heard them say it on TV . They get in a horse business . There's no thrill . I don't care if you're running for $2,000 or $2 million , the thrill's still the same . When they turn that stretch and head home and you've got a chance to win , you just hold your breath .

Speaker 2 51:44

I was in Louisville at the Hyatt Regency back last April and I went to the bar to get some food at the hotel and I overheard a conversation from some people down at the bar and this guy's name was Michael McMillan and he was going to be in the Oaks with that horse Where's my Rink ? So he was there and , being the guy I am , I had to talk to him . I wasn , I wasn't gonna not , so I snuck around and went over and said I'm steven hayes , shook his hand and I said I heard your story . Um , would you like to do a podcast with me ? He said when and where . I said well , we'll just go up the hotel room and do it . I got him set up up there . Come on up with me , him and his wife come up there and sit down , talk to me to hear . You should go listen to hear his story .

Speaker 2 52:33

This guy never owned a horse , he just loved horse racing . Yeah , he's an owner , not a trainer . He loved it . Yeah , and they bought this horse on a just on a phone call during a football game . A chargers game had to it and she made it to the Oaks , oh my gosh . And his wife and him was having some trouble and she had left him for a while . They told it all on the podcast and she called and said where's my ring ? She lost her wedding ring . She said Michael , where's my ring ? He said that's the horse's name . Where's my ?

Speaker 3 53:08

ring . Where's my ring ?

Speaker 2 53:09

they named the horse that and now they're back together and of course , they ran in the oaks and they got a story . It was a good . It was good too . They didn't win . I think they had some problems , she , I forget what happened , but uh , he races a lot at del mar in california , yeah , yeah and he's still buying horses and racing still .

Speaker 2 53:28

So I guess they're going to start quarter horse racing in Kentucky again , or they may have already over in eastern Kentucky somewhere . Yeah , I heard something about that too . They ran at the Red Mile until they're getting it open . That's one place I love Red Mile .

Speaker 3 53:45

I love it Every time I go back on one . They break stride . Do you go there some ?

Speaker 2 53:51

still yeah .

Speaker 3 53:52

I like going to Red Mile . You know watching Trotter sometimes I love it , I like it too .

Speaker 2 53:56

I love being there about in August , right at dark , the sun setting over Fifth Third Bank , yeah , and just looking at that track and feeling and smelling it , it's just something about it . See , a lot of people don't get that .

Speaker 3 54:11

I get it smelling it . It's just something about it . See , a lot of people don't get that . They just go and they study the horse . They don't see the wonderful things , good things around them . That makes it great .

Speaker 2 54:18

I get what the Bluegrass State in Lexington is about Looking at that sunset and just feeling being here . It's a feeling , yeah , it is . If nobody out there , if anybody listens to this , if you've not been to a horse race , go Go Make the trip to the Derby if you can afford it .

Speaker 3 54:35

And I tell people that leave at our bed and breakfast all the time because they come and go to Keeneland every year and I said don't go out there . You don't have to go out there and bet $100 across the board or $100 on every race . I said , find a horse you like or a rider you think's cute or something , and I said bet $5 across the board on him and if you lose $100 , you've still had a cheap entertainment and a good day and a thrill that you won't get anywhere else in the

Life Lessons and Eastern Kentucky Stories

Speaker 3 55:02

country .

Speaker 2 55:02

You know what my wife loves ? Horse racing that's good , she loves horses . She's just a horse nut . She knows nothing about the statistics of racing or nothing . Racing , that's good , she loves horses . She's just a horse nut . Yeah , she knows nothing about the statistics of race or nothing about it . Me and her go to the Red Mile and I just get a book . We go in there around all them people at the bar and stuff said pick us a TV out . You know we have the best time at the date night at that table . Yeah , and we'd . Neither one really don't know nothing , right ? She just says oh , I like that horse , let's bet on that one . Yeah , and we love betting on remington park in oklahoma .

Speaker 2 55:39

The quarter horses yeah , because they're short races and there's usually only four or five horses . She can flat pick them and we done good , like we spent a hundred bucks and walked out of there for two thousand . Yeah , she does good picking them things . That's the best thing like somebody that . And we done good , like we spent $100 and walked out of there with $2,000 . Yeah , she does good picking them things .

Speaker 3 56:00

That's the best thing , like somebody that don't know what they're doing . Just pick a horse . So if you're going to a horse race , you know you don't have to know what you're doing , no , you don't Just have fun . I've went out there with people and I'd tell them this , this , this , and there'd be two or three in the crowd with me saying I like that rider , he's so cute and I love that horse . He's looking at that pretty beautiful red horse and they'd bet on him . He'd be 20 to one . My horse would be fourth or fifth and they'd win it . And I'd say well , you idiot , you've done it your whole life and all you had to do is look at the rider and make sure he's cute and the horse is pretty well , every time she , she picks , she picks a horse , and I do the bet .

Speaker 2 56:35

When I'm up there at the little screen , I always pick the longest shot . Yeah , put a dollar win play show every time , just for the heck of it . And it's just , it's a , it's just so much fun .

Speaker 3 56:46

Well , you know you said that when , when , uh , after the der , about two weeks after the Derby , I took Glenda up there off of Richmond Road to get her hair done . Okay , and while she was in there , I walked down the street and there was a little bar , a little restaurant there . They sold ice cream and beer . And so I went in and sat down and ordered a beer and this young girl kept looking at me , looking at me , and I noticed her looking at me and she came over the table and she said I've seen you someplace . She said have you ever been on TV ? And I said no , I've never .

Speaker 3 57:22

I said my son won the derby about two weeks ago and she said that's where I saw you . She said her and her husband every year bet ten dollars across the board on the longest shot in the derby and she said this drink's on me and if you want something to eat , it's on me too . Did you get ice cream ? Yeah , I did , but look she , I couldn't believe it . She . She said we , we bet biggest bet we've ever had ever won . And they bet 10 across on Rich because he was the biggest longest shot Was they interviewing you quite a bit after that , trying to .

Speaker 3 57:57

Oh , you mean reporters and stuff . Oh yeah , they came out .

Speaker 2 58:02

All right , we're going to get out of here . I guess everybody's tired and ready to go home and probably eat supper . I'm hungry . Yeah , I could eat too . I always can eat . Yep , eat too . I always can eat . Yep , I like to eat . In closing , you got a lot of wisdom . What's something you'd tell everybody , all the youngsters out there not just something in horses , but just in life .

Speaker 3 58:22

Keep your mouth shut , listen to older people and learn to read people and know when to move and when to stay . That's true . I learned that real quick . I knew when my welcome was running out , I knew when to leave , I knew where to go . And I have an aunt that Glenda met her and she said she was telling her she'd come home one night at 11 o'clock . They was opening the door and they looked over on the swing and she like jumped out of her skin . I was laying there waiting on them to come home at 11 o'clock at night .

Speaker 3 58:56

So you know , you just gotta , he didn't have a home . No , not really . Mother died . But I look back at it and I think I don't know how I did it . Really , to tell you the truth , I mean I walked those hills up there in Powell County . Wonder I hadn't got bit by a rattlesnake or something you know or somebody hadn't . But back then it wasn't that bad . You know , you'd see a kid walking up the street with a .410 going squirrel hunting . Well , if you see one today , they'd lock him up and his parents . Powell County's different now than is , yeah , grown up a whole lot , but getting ready to get bigger .

Speaker 2 59:30

You still claim East Kentucky for your home , don't you ? Yeah ?

Speaker 3 59:34

Yeah , my grandmother lived there and the house is still there that we was in . Her never had electric , but we always had something to eat . It wasn't much but we'd have something to eat .

Speaker 2 59:47

Cornbread and beans that's all you needed to live , yeah had an old cow and had a hog .

Speaker 3 59:52

You know it was . It was rough up there then . But if you didn't know any difference , you didn't know no difference , didn't make any difference , you know I will always respect the folks in eastern kentucky .

Speaker 2 1:00:02

Yeah , the way of life , yeah , that everything over there , I just I love it . Yeah , it was rough back in .

Speaker 3 1:00:08

I remember when , uh , when they started that food thing , you know what was it called Relief , and everybody , they'd give them food and stuff . Man , that was great . And they'd give them them big packs of cheese . Well , they figured out a way to beat it right off the bat . They was trading that cheese for moonshine , you know . Oh yeah , oh yeah .

Speaker 2 1:00:26

These people now trade their food stamps for stuff .

Speaker 3 1:00:29

Yeah , that's right . Same thing when something good comes out , somebody figure out a way to capitalize on it and turn it into a bad thing .

Speaker 2 1:00:38

We got one of them I live down at Liberty , casey County and we got a brand new building . They opened up and on every Tuesday there's a line they give out free food , big line all the way down 127 for people to get food . If people need it it's good if they really need it . Yeah .

Speaker 3 1:00:56

I just went into a dark place .

Speaker 2 1:01:05

But you turned out of it . I did and made history .

Speaker 3 1:01:12

I sure did . I got lucky and I come close a couple times , getting into really , really deep , but somebody was looking after me .

Speaker 2 1:01:25

Yeah , your wife took care of you , probably .

Speaker 3 1:01:29

Before .

Speaker 2 1:01:30

I , it was before I met her .

Speaker 3 1:01:31

But you know , as long as I was with family I was pretty good , but I could tell , you know , they couldn't afford to keep me either . Oh yeah , things were tough and you know they were barely surviving too , but I knew when to go to another family and get in . Yeah , it was in between there where I made a mistake a couple times . Did you graduate high school , ninth grade , see back . Then you went to eighth grade . You could quit .

Speaker 2 1:02:02

Did you go to school in Versailles too ?

Speaker 3 1:02:05

Yeah , I went to I think eighth grade in Versailles . Got out . I just went enough to where they wouldn't come after me . I went to I think an eighth grade in Perseverance yeah , and got out .

Speaker 3 1:02:11

Yeah , I just went enough to where they wouldn't come after me . You know I'd go two or three days a week just so they didn't come , because my main thing all the way coming up is I didn't want to end up in an orphan's home or a reform school . Oh yeah , and I knew that if things went wrong that's where I was going to end up , so that if things went wrong that's where I was going to end up . So you know , some things happened and I mean I wasn't going to tell nobody , because if I did they're going to go to the police and then I'm going to a home . So you know , I kept my mouth shut .

Speaker 2 1:02:41

I bet you on that cattle truck . The whole time your knees was knocking together . What ?

Speaker 3 1:02:44

are you talking about ? I just knew because he kept asking me questions . You know about family , you sure you're family ? And I kept telling him , yeah , and he told me . He said I never will forget it . You're a big fat guy , had a hat on and he said this is against my better judgment , but he said I'm going to let you out .

Speaker 2 1:03:00

Did you ever see him after that ? Never again , never did , no , never got his name or nothing , you know , I wasn't thinking about it .

Speaker 3 1:03:07

I was just trying to get to Milner where my aunt was , and I remember I knocked on the door . She said my God , where did you come from ? How did you get here ? And I said I hitchhiked . And , like I said , she was having a hard time then too , because her husband had been , you know , went through that silage cutter . She took you right in though she took me right in she . She took you right in though she took me right in . She was like a mother to me and that was probably the safest place I ever stayed and she's got . I got see my mother and her sister married and my dad and his brother , two brothers married , two sisters . So we're double first cousins . It's kind of like being brothers and sisters , you know . And one of my cousins had a house right beside a rental property I had there for sales . Zaney and I go over to see her every once in a while and we talk .

Speaker 2 1:04:03

Still go huh .

Speaker 3 1:04:04

Yeah .

Speaker 2 1:04:04

Good , yeah , well , herbert , I appreciate you . Thank you , and I've sure enjoyed this .

Speaker 3 1:04:10

I enjoyed talking to you too , yes .

Speaker 2 1:04:12

I could talk to you all night and tomorrow . Yeah , me too .

Speaker 3 1:04:15

Just listen to this story .

Speaker 2 1:04:17

You should write a book .

Speaker 3 1:04:18

Well , I had a lady from shoot . What was it ? The one who comes to the house Glendon does all that thing about . They come and give you a mental test . Okay , I'm trying to think of who it was , but anyway , she tried to get me to do it . She wrote four books about kids .

Speaker 1 1:04:40

That had come through like I had .

Speaker 3 1:04:42

And she said I'm telling you , you let me write a book and you won't have to want for nothing . She said I'm telling you , and I said no , I'm not interested , don't want to do it . I didn't want to do it and I did this for Eric , because you know it's hard for me to talk about it . Oh yeah .

Speaker 2 1:05:02

I can see that , yeah , but it's memories Shows you how far you've come , absolutely .

Speaker 3 1:05:08

That's the truth . But you know , I blacked it out for I don't know how many years 50 some or something , yeah and I never thought about it again . And then , when this come up , I did . And , like I said , when I did the interview out at Mercury , I was so depressed I shouldn't have been doing it that day . I couldn't talk for crying , you know , and I go through a depression a lot of times , and so it's just . But I've been blessed . Nobody's been blessed any more than me and Glenda . We have both been blessed . That's good . I mean , to come up as hard as we did and do the things we've done and end up where we're at now is a miracle , a complete miracle .

Speaker 2 1:05:57

And that Derby win just set it off , set it all off , all off .

Speaker 3 1:06:00

I don't even have to buy a meal anymore . I go out . Everybody knows me .

Speaker 2 1:06:05

That's good . Yeah , all right . Guys , thank you all for listening to the podcast . We sure appreciate you means the world to us . Um , check out rich strike on youtube . Watch the derby if you hadn't watched it . If you're new to horse racing or new to horses in general , you owe it to yourself to type in rich strike on youtube , or whatever , and watch that horse race thrill of a lifetime . You won't believe it . And watch the interviews of these guys Eric Reid , look up Eric Reid , herbert Reid on YouTube . It's a story . So , thank y'all . Check us out on the website . If you're new here and you don't know about it wwwdrafthorsesandmulesforsalecom . We've got a merchandise page on there now you can get on and buy Harness Up podcast t-shirts . Check that out , a lot of other good stuff on there , and subscribe to the YouTube channel . We sure appreciate all y'all . Thank you . God bless you . We'll see you on the next one .

Captivating Tribute to Draft Horses

Speaker 1 1:07:03

As another captivating episode of Harness Up with Haste , draft Horses and Mules draws to a close , we extend our sincere gratitude to our listeners for joining us on this enlightening journey . We hope today's discussions have deepened your appreciation and understanding of these magnificent creatures . Remember , the adventure continues beyond this podcast . Stay connected with us on social media and share your stories . For more information and to explore further , visit Draftorsesandmulesforsalecom . Thank you for being part of our community . Until next time , keep harnessing your curiosity and passion for these God-given creatures . Farewell for now .