Dan *** here's the answer to that picture .

[race track phil]

        You remember well Ritmo had horrible feet and was prone to constant quarter cracks , the funny thing was when he popped a quarter crack prior to his race he never lost . One time he popped one training during the week and we patched it up and then in the warmup for the race he popped another one , Micky had Ron Lyons I believe put a quick patch on and he raced and won with Dave Magee first time and he left Hothead in the dust parked first over !!  LaVerne lied after the race and said he didn't see Mo coming and got caught napping , thats what he told Mike Borys . He was whipping Hothead like a madmen in plenty of time seeing Mo come flying . Prince Sharvid also bit the dust in that race . I told Davey in the winners circle he had 2 quarter cracks !!  I knew he was all heart and he would comeback fine .

       Dan ,     I don't know for sure why he cocked his head in that race maybe it was his feet ?  He did that more than once !!  Micky put a hole in the Murphy later on and he never cocked his head anymore in a race !!   He did love to *** his head in his first warmup like he was looking in the grandstand .

      Dan,  Eclipse was the best that night period and its too bad you guys sold him because he was never the same horse again because you guys had the key and who knows he may have even got better just like Ritmo did the next year . Great memories for both when harness racing was at its peak . I know it would have been hard to turn down 70k for a former 8 k purchase !!  That was big money then , but I bet you wonder sometimes what he would have won if you kept him ?   

                                         RTP

        This was an answer to a picture on *** and not any Dan *** bashing thread !!!!   We have been at peace with *** and its members and all are finally acting like adults . Let all leave it that way !!  I answered the question on BTW because we all know a lot of us read both sites sometimes and I only post here .

                                        RTP

[welchfan]

Love those kinda stories about horses RITMO was a once in a lifetime kinda horse they'll allways fill your heart with that joy And if you've never had that kinda horse you'll never understand the lifetime of memories he's given RTP! On your one post when you mentioned Ms.Bernardi you knew what she felt didn't you RTP?Now I've seen horses with bad feet had a horse once with 3 white feet, trust me he was as far as anything from a RITMO but he had a huge heart too. And he had bad feet always was popping gravels and quarter cracks,Ken Holiday drove won night and in the winners circle. He said I don't know what happend all of a sudden he went to pacing good and win for fun and took a new record, popped a gravel no matter how good you took care of his feet all ways had bad feet! RTP give us some more of them RITMO stories,I met Mickey once at the Illinois equine hell of a nice guy.

[race track phil]

       welchfan,

       I think most of our older posters have heard my stories , but since your new I'll give you one of my favorites .

      The year is 1987 and the Hawthorne Pacing Derby was one of my favorite races and I have a horse in the race , what could be better in life for a guy like me !!  Ritmo was feeling real good and I felt he had a big chance , but things got chaotic before the race he warmed up and threw a shoe and Micky's second trainer Keith Waddell started looking for the shoe all over the track and couldn't find it , so he went to the barn and got an old shoe of Mo's !!  I didn't like him running in an older shoe !!  The Hawthorne shoer a guy named Clyde who could hardly bend over put the old shoe on and I felt this is a reason why he'' lose and I was upset .  10 minutes before the race Keith comes running in and said I found his shoe so I told Clyde take that shoe off and put this shoe on and he balked and said he'll be fine with the old shoe ( cause the guy was lazy )  I got angry and told him put the shoe on !!

     He balked again , but finally said OK but you better take care of me if he wins !  I said SURE !!  knowing I wouldn't because I didn't like his attitude . I would have gladly tipped him if he acted right .

     The rest is Hawthorne history Charge Plate breaks a line at the start and Randy Jacobs jumps on his back like Roy Rogers after Doug Larsen sacrifices his chances with Spensive by pulling alongside Charge Plate and grabbing him for Randy to pull a Roy Rogers !!!  It was crazy , meanwhile Ritmo makes the lead and I figure he's a cinch coming into the stretch when Joss makes a tremendous move and goes by Mo like he was standing still by a length in mid stretch and I'm naturally upset and put my head down !!!   All of sudden my brother says he's coming back and I look and here he comes flying back and wins pretty easy .  I went to dinner and called the Big M from the restaurant to stake him into the Graduate Series it was Valentines Day and although he was all stud thats the best present I ever got under crazy circumstances . I strutted to that winners circle wearing a nice suit where people thought I wore it for the race , but again it was Valentines Day and win or lose I was taking my wife out to celebrate !!

      I felt 10 feet tall getting that trophy !!  I don't smile much , but I was all smiles that day !!   

                                        RTP

     I was on the elevator and who's standing next to me Doug Larsen and I looked at him and said your a hell of a guy to sacrifice your horse to help a fellow driver in distress . He replied I had too !!

     Some people probably think Mo got lucky , but he proved the rest of the year it sure wasn't luck because none of those horses ever did what he did that year .  NO LUCK !!  Just a good old tough horse .

     You can tell I still love RITMO until I die

[Dleestable]

 and Randy Jacobs jumps on his back like Roy Rogers after Doug Larsen sacrifices his chances with Spensive by pulling alongside Charge Plate


I think I have that on video somewhere in my house.  One of my kids bought a horse crash video, mostly has rodeo riders on it.  I was watching it one day and there is Randy Jacobs jumping on a horses back. If I can find it I will see if Larson is in the race.

[welchfan]

Thanks RTP No price could ever be put on those Golden memories!The video is on youtube I've seen it 100X's love to watch all those!Things were so much diffrent in those years the game had class.Now you see people get in the winners circle theres never celebration, and some of these guys today look as if they've escaped from a work camp,I wonder if they have any idea of how the game once had class Thanks RTP 

[Grinder]

Great memories Phil, but what about the lazy blacksmith?  Did he have his hand out after the race? 

[wilderness]

and Randy Jacobs jumps on his back like Roy Rogers after Doug Larsen sacrifices his chances with Spensive by pulling alongside Charge Plate


I think I have that on video somewhere in my house.  One of my kids bought a horse crash video, mostly has rodeo riders on it.  I was watching it one day and there is Randy Jacobs jumping on a horses back. If I can find it I will see if Larson is in the race.

 Donna,
            The first horseman I ever saw do that was Harold Stead in the early 80's at Wolverine.

 He was locked in 2d or 3rd as they come out of the 1st turn and Harold was crawling up the bike. By the three-quarters he had jumped on the horses back and rode him in.

 Simply breath taking.

 Some Canadians told me that Harold taught the same abiliity to Trevor Ritchie, although I've never seen Trevor's riding performances.

[Gb]

here is a link to that race.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQcGtMhoTck