We’re sorry to pass on the news that unforgettable one of a kind character, great all around guy, and Thoro-Graph legend Bill Spillane passed away yesterday. He will be sorely missed, in Saratoga and elsewhere.
So sorry to hear that.
Enjoyed our time in Saratoga with Uncle Bill. Always helpful and made sure we always had something to eat. His knowledge of horses was quite good and he was very insightful checking the feet and condition of horses as they walked to the paddock. Always in search of that undervalued horse at long odds.
First Alan and now Bill - sucks
Ahh shit
God bless R.I.P Uncle Bill
My experiences with Uncle Bill were all the same - he was soft spoken...but when he spoke, you\'d better be listening. Most of you \"backsiders\" and \"FOY\" attendess over the last decade always spoke highly of this man. May the Lord embrace him, provide strength to his family & friends, and give him a warm bacon sandwich as he enters the gates. Like Alan, a genuine guy. RIP.
Never met the gentleman, just the kind words read about him. Sucks to lose a friend. Prayers for him and all who grieve his passing.
Very sad news.. He was a gem. Spent countless days at the Barbecue with him and learned a lot. Bill. And Alan. And Julian. We all need to bet some 30-1 shots this weekend in their honor.
A journalism professor once taught me that making connections between the people, the places, the events, and the times around us provide the most meaning to our lives and help us understand the world. Further, we mark our lives by the moments that impacted us the most as they connect to other meaningful events in our lives.
___________________________________
In the summer of 2016, I hit a trifecta box meeting Uncle Bill, richiebee, and TGAB (Alan) in the backyard at Saratoga. While I was not as close to these guys as many others in these parts, I certainly felt they had a profound impact on my life. They are all gone now and I\'m trying to connect the dots today.
Uncle Bill taught me ways to actually be kind to people and to take the chip off my shoulder about being competitive in every single aspect of life. I saw him in the backyard share jokes with young and old, men and women, and all walks of life. He had a knack for connecting with others including the horses at the race track.
My phone indicates the last time I spoke to Bill was Fountain of Youth Weekend. That Saturday he drove towards Gulfstream to meet me and spend time with me. I told him once he arrived to call and I\'d meet him in the parking lot to walk him into where I was at in the paddock. He made it about 100 minutes of the 120 minute drive only to not feel well. He called and said he thought he should turn around. He did and he did make it home. While we didn\'t connect in person, we did speak the following morning as I drove from the STL airport to my place. Sovereignty had won the Fountain of Youth and we discussed Mott, the horse and that he had a real shot in the Derby. I\'ll mark time by connecting Bill\'s passing with the year Sovereignty won the Derby and the Fountain of Youth when Bill didn\'t quite make it all the way to see me.
An earlier call on my phone is dated Thursday, February 13th. He called to tell me that his good pals associated with the Harvey Clarke Estate/Family had Gosger running Saturday. He was in a MSW race only his 2nd start. \"Fairmount, my boy, this horse is good enough to be a Derby horse. He will win on Saturday and we will see where he goes from there!\" He won that Saturday afternoon at Gulfstream as I watched via simulcast. I felt connected to Bill when the horse passed the wire.
My last texts with Bill were dated April 5th and April 12th. I notified him Gosger was entered for the 12th. April 5 reply: \"Thanks much Fairmount. I appreciate that. Hope he runs well.\" April 12 I write moments after the Lexington Stakes at Kee: \"Congrats!! He ran very very well\" His reply: \"Thank you Fairmount coming from that source must\'ve run a real nice race. Thanks again. We will talk.\" My reply: \"He was loaded and looked like there was more in there. Serious Preakness Contender.\"
Those were the last words I shared with Uncle Bill. When I arrive in Baltimore, I\'ll make a walk around the old plant before it is destroyed from its current state reflecting on the history of Ol Hilltop, reflecting on the connections I\'ve made in this game specifically Uncle Bill, and wondering how well Gosger will run and win or lose if it means I\'ve connected dots in the world to provide my life deeper meaning.
In a call earlier in the year, he had told me he would make it to Saratoga this summer, specifically saying that \"Fairmount, my boy, it\'s gonna happen!\" I\'ll certainly make a pass by the place he loved to check the horses\' feet and give it an uneducated attempt of my own just to see if I can remotely understand what he was looking for in those animals. That\'s where I met him-- in that area near the horse path out past the Fourstardave bar. He may not make it this year but I\'ll try to carry the torch and be kind to someone in a way that would make him proud. I\'d anticipate I\'ll buy a $10 win ticket on Sovereignty and give it to someone who probably will need something to cheer for in life.
This one hurts. I didn\'t see it coming and was looking forward to talking to him before or during my Preakness sojourn. If Gosger wins the Preakness, I\'ll mark time once again.
The amount that trifecta box of Uncle Bill, richiebee, and Alan has paid is untold riches. Amounts that would make Amenhotep blush. I\'ll never be able to spend all I won from that big strike in August of 2016.
R.I.P. Bill
______________________
I may write more about Bill in the coming days but wanted to get this out after learning about his passing earlier today.
Richie:
Agree with you .. this one hurts deeply and I didn\'t see it coming as well... Bill was a wealth of knowledge... I really enjoyed the conversations with him at the FOY (specifically the next day over breakfast when he asked me \"who is the sire responsible for the breeding success of Japan. I replied Sunday Silence of course!).. that resulted in a 90 minute conversation regarding breeding, \'turf foot\' (flat obviously like pie plates!,, etc ..
He will be missed ..
John (Trackjohn)
That’s beautiful Richie. God bless Uncle Bill. All of us T-generates from the Toga backyard crew will miss him greatly.
Good Man. Sad Day. Racing Lost a great historian
Well done Richie.
So sorry to hear. He was a great guy, storyteller, and a true racetrack character. Condolences to his family and his Thorograph family.
Bill Spillane - known as “Billy the Sheets†in my circles - was one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I first met him around 1985, the year Spend a Buck won the Derby, just as I was starting to use ThoroGraph. That’s forty years ago! Time really does fly.
Back then, I wasn’t much of a gambler. My interest in horse racing began while making a film about Monmouth Park’s leading trainer, JJ Crupi, for PBS. Monmouth had a unique appeal, so I started taking the train from Penn Station to the Jersey Shore, picking up ThoroGraph booklets from Jerry Brown’s office in lower Manhattan beforehand. At Monmouth, a tip to an usher secured a prime box seat. When I asked about the ThoroGraph representative, that’s how I met Bill. The first thing he said to me was, “Are you a pro?†Haha.
Over the next decade or so, Bill and I became racetrack friends. Our box, and the boxes surrounding ours, became a gathering spot for handicappers, trainers, owners, Monmouth officials, and assorted characters and crazies. If you were anybody at Monmouth, you came by those boxes. Every day was an education.
For several years, when he had a car, Bill offered to drive me to the track. I’d take the train from Manhattan to Newark, meet him there, and he’d drive us the rest of the way. After the races, he’d insist on dropping me off at my Upper East Side apartment in Manhattan, never accepting my offer to save him the traffic and tunnel hassles and let me off in Newark.
Before ThoroGraph, Bill worked as a hot walker for a New Jersey trainer. He wasn’t from a privileged background and didn’t have much money. Then one day, he told me he was expecting a big money settlement. The previous winter, while working at Gulfstream Park, Bill had been in a serious car accident. With support from star trainers Shug McGaughey and Tommy Skiffington, he won his case.
After that, a change came over Bill. In our train rides down to Monmouth, instead of diving into the Daily Racing Form and ThoroGraph sheets as usual to handicap the card, Bill suddenly started reading The Wall Street Journal and Investor’s Business Daily! He fashioned himself some kind of Wall Street player! A big-wheel investor! It reminded me of that Honeymooners episode where Ralph Kramden inherits a parrot named Fortune. “Billy The Sheets†the business mogul!
He asked me for investment advice, and I suggested blue-chip stocks - choices that would be worth millions today. But Bill had other ideas: baseball cards and maybe buying a horse. Sigh. I never found out what he did with his settlement, or if he indeed received the full amount.
Finally, I have many memories of Bill at Monmouth, but one stands out: Haskell Day, the track’s biggest day. The place was packed, top horses were running, and therefore Bill’s ThoroGraph booklets sold out fast. Bill even gave his own copy to a customer. Later, Bill Finley, the New York Post racing writer, came looking for a booklet. With none left, he and his brother looked desperate, like addicts waiting for a fix that’s been denied. Ultimately, Bill Spillane borrowed a copy for them, and we watched as Finley shouted out numbers while his brother frantically scribbled them onto napkins. Two grown men, in jackets and ties, on the floor of our box, on their hands and knees, sweating and anxious over ThoroGraph racing data - it was an astonishing sight to behold. As John Lennon once said: “You shoulda been there!â€
Rest in peace, Bill.
Wonderful story. Is there somewhere someone can watch the PBS doc?
Nice. You and Fairmount have a great way of writing. Thx for sharing.
Thanks John
Enjoyed the read
Thanks so much for sharing. I spoke to FrankD tonight who is enjoying all the folks remembering Uncle Bill in this thread.
______________________________
I was envious of Bill when I first met him b/c at the time he spent most of the meet at Saratoga to spread the Good Numbers. This was at a time when TG\'s were still printed and for sale on track and Bill made sure they made it from the print shop to the track. One time, Jerry told Uncle Bill to make sure he grabbed a Sunday [set of sheets] for back at the house. Jerry was waiting at the house that evening when Bill showed up with a Sundae from McDonald\'s and handed it to Jerry. Jerry was likely saying something to the effect of \"WTF is this?\" Bill said, \"You said you wanted a Sundae?\" LOLOLOL
Over time, he made it clear to me that it wasn\'t as exciting and enjoyable to be there on a Wednesday behind the Mac and Cheese truck occupying a table by himself. It was when \"the boys\" would be there. As the week built up as more and more folks he knew gathered and handicapped, joked, laughed, told each other to shut up as Maggie spoke, and on and on. Guys like FrankD, Bob, his close pal Mathcapper (my sincere condolences), Rock\'s cousin, jimbo, Jerry, Alan, richiebee, wrongly, Sean, NC Tony, and on and on and on. It reminded me of the Into the Wild story in which Chris McCandless went out to the Alaskan Wilderness all alone to be out there, to live it and to find it . . . only to discover as his writings revealed that life is best when SHARED. That\'s why Uncle Bill loved Saratoga so, so much.
A few other fun notes.
He was an exercise rider. The likes of Dick Dutrow and Allen Jerkens knew Bill. I believe he was the exercise rider for 1964 Gotham Stakes winner Mr. Moonlight. He accompanied the horse to Kentucky for the Derby and the horse finished 7th. I asked him to tell me that story a few times.
I\'m told that Kelly Breen knew Bill well and Bill may have taught him a few things about horses.
He once theorized to me that if a trainer could improve a horse\'s stride length by just 1.5 inches that I should imagine how much better the horse could be. I thought this was some whacked out voodoo thinking but I have to give him the creativity was fascinating. It was a window into a mind truly thinking about every aspect of the horse.
A story that I think was circa 2019. As I understood it, one Saratoga summer afternoon Bill left \"the boys\" early not feeling the best and headed home to the Saratoga house he stayed at for the month of August. When Jerry and FrankD and others arrived back at the TG house, UB was nowhere to be found. His car was there but no Bill. Everyone was frantic and was starting to look in the bushes and around the porch to see if he had fallen or something worse . . . That\'s about the time when Bill came Strolling down the sidewalk carrying a bag of groceries to say \"Hey guys, what are you doing?\" HAHAHAHAAHA
I reviewed all my texts with him this past day. I sent him some backyard photos of the guys in 2022 on Labor Day Weekend from the Spaaa. One member was half asleep and Bill wrote jokingly, \"Looks like nap time!\" He then followed that up with \"The only way I won\'t be in Saratoga next year is if found dead.\"
Well Bill, I\'m still comprehending I really won\'t see you again as I thought you had one last Saratoga run left in you, I really, really did.
_____________________
I\'m hopeful Paul can post the two group photos in this string that include Bill that FrankD sent along. (Now Attached) I\'m not tech saavy enough to figure out how to attach them despite several attempts before typing out this post. They are excellent and show Bill in all his glory with \"the boys\" at Saratoga and at Gulfstream 2 years ago when I know I saw him last.
I met Uncle Bill about 10 years ago at Parx. Saw him again at Saratoga the summer after, then a few more times at Parx with Rocky. As good a person as I have ever met.
Enjoy every moment with friends and loved ones. You never know when it\'s the last time you will see them.
Thank you for sharing.
RIP UB.
Good Luck,
Joe B.
I am saddened by this news. Bill was soft spoken - a man of few words. I only met him 3 times (once when he came to visit me at Parx for the PA Derby. I apppreciated that) but we chatted on the phone regularly as he was my/our field supervisor. \"Mark, my boy...\" would often be the first words of our chats. I enjoyed working with him, viewing races together and chatting about his broodmares. I appreciated his advice (look for a 3yo in spring to be making his 2nd forward move) and his confidence in my abilty to teach other trackmen and women our \"new\" data entry system a couple of years ago. I will miss his daily reviews of my work, his last review titled \"excellence\". :)
There is a void now. We have lost a TG legend and he will be sorely missed. It is comforting to read all of the nice things the TG group has said about him here. I offer my heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. RIP Bill.
“I shall pass this way but once; any good, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.â€
Godspeed Richiebee and good folk.
Fairmount1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> A journalism professor once taught me that making
> connections between the people, the places, the
> events, and the times around us provide the most
> meaning to our lives and help us understand the
> world. Further, we mark our lives by the moments
> that impacted us the most as they connect to other
> meaningful events in our lives.
> ___________________________________
>
> In the summer of 2016, I hit a trifecta box
> meeting Uncle Bill, richiebee, and TGAB (Alan) in
> the backyard at Saratoga. While I was not as
> close to these guys as many others in these parts,
> I certainly felt they had a profound impact on my
> life. They are all gone now and I\'m trying to
> connect the dots today.
>
> Uncle Bill taught me ways to actually be kind to
> people and to take the chip off my shoulder about
> being competitive in every single aspect of life.
> I saw him in the backyard share jokes with young
> and old, men and women, and all walks of life. He
> had a knack for connecting with others including
> the horses at the race track.
>
> My phone indicates the last time I spoke to Bill
> was Fountain of Youth Weekend. That Saturday he
> drove towards Gulfstream to meet me and spend time
> with me. I told him once he arrived to call and
> I\'d meet him in the parking lot to walk him into
> where I was at in the paddock. He made it about
> 100 minutes of the 120 minute drive only to not
> feel well. He called and said he thought he
> should turn around. He did and he did make it
> home. While we didn\'t connect in person, we did
> speak the following morning as I drove from the
> STL airport to my place. Sovereignty had won the
> Fountain of Youth and we discussed Mott, the horse
> and that he had a real shot in the Derby. I\'ll
> mark time by connecting Bill\'s passing with the
> year Sovereignty won the Derby and the Fountain of
> Youth when Bill didn\'t quite make it all the way
> to see me.
>
> An earlier call on my phone is dated Thursday,
> February 13th. He called to tell me that his good
> pals associated with the Harvey Clarke
> Estate/Family had Gosger running Saturday. He was
> in a MSW race only his 2nd start. \"Fairmount, my
> boy, this horse is good enough to be a Derby
> horse. He will win on Saturday and we will see
> where he goes from there!\" He won that Saturday
> afternoon at Gulfstream as I watched via
> simulcast. I felt connected to Bill when the
> horse passed the wire.
>
> My last texts with Bill were dated April 5th and
> April 12th. I notified him Gosger was entered for
> the 12th. April 5 reply: \"Thanks much Fairmount.
> I appreciate that. Hope he runs well.\" April 12
> I write moments after the Lexington Stakes at Kee:
> \"Congrats!! He ran very very well\" His reply:
> \"Thank you Fairmount coming from that source
> must\'ve run a real nice race. Thanks again. We
> will talk.\" My reply: \"He was loaded and looked
> like there was more in there. Serious Preakness
> Contender.\"
>
> Those were the last words I shared with Uncle
> Bill. When I arrive in Baltimore, I\'ll make a
> walk around the old plant before it is destroyed
> from its current state reflecting on the history
> of Ol Hilltop, reflecting on the connections I\'ve
> made in this game specifically Uncle Bill, and
> wondering how well Gosger will run and win or lose
> if it means I\'ve connected dots in the world to
> provide my life deeper meaning.
>
> In a call earlier in the year, he had told me he
> would make it to Saratoga this summer,
> specifically saying that \"Fairmount, my boy, it\'s
> gonna happen!\" I\'ll certainly make a pass by the
> place he loved to check the horses\' feet and give
> it an uneducated attempt of my own just to see if
> I can remotely understand what he was looking for
> in those animals. That\'s where I met him-- in
> that area near the horse path out past the
> Fourstardave bar. He may not make it this year
> but I\'ll try to carry the torch and be kind to
> someone in a way that would make him proud. I\'d
> anticipate I\'ll buy a $10 win ticket on
> Sovereignty and give it to someone who probably
> will need something to cheer for in life.
>
> This one hurts. I didn\'t see it coming and was
> looking forward to talking to him before or during
> my Preakness sojourn. If Gosger wins the
> Preakness, I\'ll mark time once again.
>
> The amount that trifecta box of Uncle Bill,
> richiebee, and Alan has paid is untold riches.
> Amounts that would make Amenhotep blush. I\'ll
> never be able to spend all I won from that big
> strike in August of 2016.
>
> R.I.P. Bill
>
> ______________________
>
> I may write more about Bill in the coming days but
> wanted to get this out after learning about his
> passing earlier today.
Haven’t been on the board in a bit, just became aware of Bill’s passing this morning. Condolences to Terry and his family, and to Jerry and the TG team.
Affectionately called \"Uncle\", and beloved by all T-Generates who knew him, Bill and I had a particularly close bond. He was a longtime friend and father figure in my life. He taught me more than anyone I’ve known in the last twenty years. Not just about horses, but more importantly about life. About how to be a selfless, caring, outgoing and empathetic human being.
I think of all the lives he so profoundly touched. I recall the countless times where he would come across complete strangers and within minutes it was as if they were all lifelong friends. That was the way Bill was.
We talked regularly for hours at end about our favorite shared subjects, everything from stocks and politics and cars, to food and our health, to his latest broodmare in foal, a dream he’d finally realized and begun pursuing that in recent years had given him immense pleasure and a renewed zest for life.
Missing him already, the world feels that much emptier without him. There will never be another like him. Not in this world. Not in a billion galaxies.
Blessed to have had you in my life Wild Bill. Rest easy my friend.
Very well stated.
Hope to see you on Saturday if you make it.
Mathcapper, Thanks for your comments sounds like you are channeling Uncle Bill. I can only wish I\'d known him but the comments and stories of his friends honor his memory! Thanks.