forego

[Lost Cause]

I\'m the opposite..I laid my first bet down at 7 years old..I\'m pretty sure the horse\'s name was Creme De La Fete or something like that it seemed like that horse was around forever because I remember betting him a lot of times after that..And my entire teen days were spent in OTBs and the NYRA tracks.  Also not too much luck with the ladies until I hit college...At 35 now I feel like a grizzled veteran..

[TGAB]

Hey Richiebee, miff

Lost Cause mentions Creme de la Fete. A gelding, primarily a claimer, this was a one hell of a racehorse.

Career record: 151 Starts, 40 Wins, 27 Places, 16 Shows Career Earnings: $460,350

I remember at one point in his life he won at least 10 straight and I think Migliore was on him for most of those. I forget who trained him. During the streak he was getting claimed it seems every race or so cause all he did was win. Ferriola, Gaspar, Debonis--who else? Maybe Oscar, too. For awhile this guy could do no wrong.

[richiebee]

Alan--

I remember him vaguely, and you\'re probably right, the Gas Man, the Pistol and
Oscar all probably had him at one time or another.

Another trainer who was big in the claiming game at the time and may have had
him at one point was Murray M. Garren...

Seem to recall this gelding was running at about the same time that Dick Dutrow
was transforming Kings Swan from a claimer into one of NY\'s most popular stakes
performers.

[TGAB]

Actually Jerry remembers Creme de la Fete as well. Says if Oscar had him, that may account in part for the winning streak and also probably dampened claiming activity since for a time there nobody could improve upon what Oscar was doing and I\'m sure they all thought the horse would fall apart once he left the stable. Pancho may have had him for a while too but it\'s hard to fathom Garren or Puentes having him, since the horse won and as you know Richie, the Murray and Gil partnership strove for and generally accomplished that 4% echelon.

[richiebee]

Alan:

Without a doubt, the blue Garren colors were only rarely seen in the winners
circle.

Murray was well liked by the racing secretary, though, as many of his runners
started 20 times per year (gasp), and Murray was always good about tossing in a
couple of hopeless horses to fill stakes races. As I recall with 5 or less
entrants NYRA would scrap the exacta and go to the \"instant double\"; Murray
saved that exacta numerous times.

Can\'t mention Gil Puentes and Murray Garren without thinking of their good turf
runner Peat Moss, who won the Kelso Handicap 2 straight years when it was run at
2 miles.

As for Pancho, at about this time he was training for Viola Sommer, who was on
the NYRA Board of Trustees. My recollection is that Pancho, who won training
titles in bunches, realized he couldn\'t compete with the \"Holy Trinity\" -- the
3 wine men -- and tried buying decent young horses at auction and had very
little success.

Will comment once again that the quality of racing was so much better back
then, but that wagering options (the wagering \"menu\") were quite limited, and
the closest thing you had to Living Room Downs was a \"social club\" somewhere in
Brooklyn which was able to pirate the OTB video feed.

[Boscar Obarra]

If memory serves, Garrens horses would warm up harder than most horses work in a race.

 Not sure exactly what that was about, but maybe that was how the 4% was so expertly achieved.

[TGAB]

Yeah every once in a while they did claim a decent horse. Peat Moss was a good one. I bet the racing secretaries loved him. He did fill out many a race. Pancho did tail off after awhile. Partly age and \"wine\" and lack of clients got him.

[Silver Charm]

You guys are toooooo funny. Those were the days weren\'t they.

The bottom feeders like the The Gas Man, OscarN Pistol Pete, R2D2 Sr.

The creme at the Top like Woody, Mack Miller, Frank Whitley, etc.

Real Good two year olds who campaigned and actually won Triple Crown races.

Large owner breeder stables

New York Bred races that were mostly restricted. As in restricted to Finger Lakes.  

No Lasix.

Yah the racing was so much better back then