THE END OF A DREAM... Epilogue (Part 59c)

I’m one of those people who can make a decision and stick with it and I did in this situation. I’ll give a quick synopsis about the end of my harness racing career so I can get on with the next segment that, I promise, will have much to do with panties.

The following Monday I finally received formal notification of my suspension. The only thing in it was that I had supposedly taken actions that were ”detrimental to the integrity“ of harness racing without list anything specific. I continued to be at a loss for the exact reason having gone over all my actions from the time I arrived at the city track. Long story short... without my being called to a commission office to testify I was notified about two weeks later that I had been reinstated. It coincided with a newspaper release that Antney, his brother and the owner were exonerated from any wrongdoing. It was a tiny little blurb that showed up buried in the sports section. Even though my name had never been mentioned in the newspapers I still felt that I had been smeared by the press and my reputation was tarnished by the headlines (THE FIX IS ON!) that first day. I was happy to know I was ”free“ but I still wanted to know what it was that I, myself, had done to warrant the suspension. Calls to the commission office were never returned. During a Summer visit to my parents, an attorney friend of my father’s heard about my situation and said that he’d contact them by letter. He did get a reply and in spite of his experience as an attorney, was unable to decipher their answer telling me that it was pure doublespeak. As much as I wanted to go speak with Antney I just wouldn’t go visit the track. It took about a week before he finally returned my calls. In his eyes the sum and substance of my involvement was that I had been listed to drive one of the horses trained by him and was deemed guilty by association. Upon hearing Antney tell me that I knew I’d made the right decision to walk away from the business.

I kept my subscription to the trade magazine for no other reason than to try and keep up with some of my friends and, in Dan’s case, I wanted to know how the horses that had been my responsibility made out during the season. The one thing that really got my attention was when I saw that the horse that had gotten me in trouble with him, ”Goldy“ was, indeed, racing as a pacer and not a trotter. I remember seeing that and giving an unseen ”finger“ to Dan. I also remember saying to myself something along the lines of ”Dan... you’re NOT the smartest f___ing trainer in the world!“ And, speaking of Dan, I also wanted to see what happened to my grandfather’s last horse who Dan had ”claimed” from him. Dan actually continued to race him in claiming races and won a couple before he was claimed away from him. After that I lost track of him as there were just too many racetracks open in the Summer to be able to read all the results.

I also saw that AJ was out of the training/driving business and had accepted an associate judgeship with the track where I had primarily worked for him. Eugene was off on his own and had done very well while racing at the Wilmington, Delaware track. I also discovered that Levi, the nephew of Harry and Vi who had sold me the trailers, was not only driving in races but was also winning. I recognized the name of a couple of Harry’s horses and it took a bit for me to realize that the driver was his nephew. I had never learned his last name. I also saw that Clyde, who had stood up for Elle and I at our wedding, ended up working for Dan. All I could do was smile when I saw his name. I just couldn’t see Clyde and Dan getting along. I was curious as to how the two of them hooked up but I made no effort to find out. Another discovery was that the top yearling that AJ had picked out at the sales in the Fall and had been subsequently taken away from him and to another trainer appeared to be as good as they had expected. In spite of the way AJ had treated me at the end of our working relationship I felt badly that he never had a chance to race her. It actually reinforced my dislike for the business. It, to me, was too cutthroat. I'd been raised to be fair and what had happened to AJ was anything but fair.

In spite of the temptation that reading the magazine could've provided I never wavered and never once returned to the track. It was now a part of my past. I was ready for my next "adventure", whatever it was going to be.

To be continued...