here - Roscoe Records

JIM
LARENTE
A Horseman’s Horseman
NOVEMBER 2009
CONTENTS • November 2009
To Heaven And Back
Enjoying The Ride
For Anne and Mike Shunock,
the owners of the outstanding
pacing mare To Helen Back, life
on their new farm with their
horses couldn’t be better.
The partners behind the new
Ontario facility, Fintec Stables
Training Centre, are also enjoying success on the track with
two top pacing colts in the
Ontario Sires Stakes program.
Rocking Race Secretary
Whether it’s making music or
putting together race cards at
Hazel Park, Ladd Biro Jr. is dedicated and enthusiastic.
A Horseman’s Horseman
Jim Larente has justifiably earned
the respect of his peers during his
lifetime in the racing game. At
age 78 his blue and gold colours
remain a presence in the sport
and the word quit has no place in
his vocabulary.
Regular Features
The European View
The View Downunder
This month the story behind the
Gran Premio Orsi Mangelli, the
race Explosive Matter’s connections selected over the Breeders
Crown.
Trainer Cran Dalgety is at the
top of his game in New Zealand
with nothing but blue skies
ahead including a possible win
in the upcoming $1 million New
Zealand Cup.
EDITORIAL NOTE
|
CHAMPION'S CLOSET ~ Triumphant Caviar
|
BARTER HOUSE
Rocking R
Secretary
WHETHER IT’S MAKING MUSIC OR PUTTING TOGETHER RACE CARDS
AT HAZEL PARK, LADD BIRO JR. IS DEDICATED AND ENTHUSIASTIC.
By Kimberly Rinker • Photos by Bernard Laframboise
Ladd Biro is all about a happy environment.
Over the years, Biro, an eclectic 51
year-old, has made the upbeat trek from
Buckeye-bred music and sports enthusiast to Motor City racing secretary, serving at tracks throughout the east, south
and Midwest.
The story behind his journey reads
like lyrics from one of his original songs,
and finds him in a contented spot in
Detroit’s Hazel Park race office where he
has served for the past 12 years.
THE EARLY YEARS
Ladd grew up in a tight-knit family
that included his parents Ladd Sr. and
Geraldine, and three siblings, Bruce, 59,
Gary, 46 and Joyce, 55.
“Dad had a real independent streak
in him,” Ladd recalled. “After returning
from WWII he took the GI bill and went
to school in Rochester, New York, to learn
photography. Later, he took photos at
weddings and other celebrations in
Cleveland’s Hungarian area. He also had
a hobby shop for 15 years where we sold
model kits and the like.
“Mom was basically a stay at home
mom and did the PTA kind of stuff. She
loved to cook and we always had a good
breakfast,” he added.
Ladd’s focus wasn’t on harness racing in his early years, but was instead, on
sports and music.
“I always wanted to be an athlete
and depending upon what season we
were in, that’s what I was doing,” he
stated. “My father’s passion was golf,
which he passed on to me. I liked school
and was an A-B student but didn’t dedicate that much time to overall studies.
“Mom insisted that all of us kids
learn piano, and we had to practice,”
Ladd said. “The theory aspects of music
were interesting to me and I first played
trumpet and then saxophone, and as I
did well my interest in music picked up.”
Eventually, sports would take a back
seat to music.
“As time went on, music became my
main focus,” Ladd admitted. “I knew all
the baseball stats and Super Bowl winners, but the athletic thing began to
wane.”
During his Maple Heights High
School years Ladd formed a five-piece
band, and the group “performed wherever we could,” with Ladd playing bass
guitar and keyboards and partnering on
lead vocals.
“Music was all encompassing to me
in those days,” he recalled. “But in 1975,
my brother Bruce became the announcer
at Northfield Park, and that was my
intro into the world of harness racing. I
ended up getting a job at Northfield, initially working in maintenance and
grounds keeping, then in the mutuels
and audio-visual departments.”
Ladd was determined to pursue a
musical degree at Cleveland State College in 1977, when he received a phone
call from Northfield’s general manager
and then racing secretary John Phillips.
“John was part of the Jim Lynch
group of racing secretaries at a time
when you had two groups of racing secretaries in the U.S., the Midwest group
who all came into the sport under Bill
Connors, and the other group that were
the Jim Lynch disciples. John came from
this latter group, as did Joe DeFrank,
John DeAndrea and Billy Perkins. John
Race
ROCKING RACE SECRETARY
Phillips liked to recruit people into the racing industry and took a liking to me.”
THE JOURNEY BEGINS
Working at Northfield Park was
Ladd’s first foray into the world of racing
from the horsemen’s viewpoint and he
started with the basics.
“I was helping out in the racing office
taking entries,” he recalled. “I also worked
as assistant stall man, learning the
mechanics of racing at all levels. John
would sometimes fill in for Herman Brickell in the racing office, and he (John) was
very good at explaining how and why
things were done. I never met anyone
who could draw horses together better. I
learned the correct mechanics and how to
keep everything balanced.
“I didn’t grow up in the business so
learning about horses was a new educational cycle for me,” he stressed. “The
racing office taught me how to deal with
horsemen and how to help them earn a
living. I learned to put forth a good condition sheet from Kenny Marshall and
I’ve kept that same type of sheet in place
because it worked then and it works
now.
“I get very frustrated today when I
see a racing secretary who doesn’t have
the best interests of the horsemen as their
focus. It’s terrible because it’s a reflection
on the job. A good racing secretary is
looking out for the horsemen and there
should be a kind of reciprocity between
the two.”
In 1981 Ladd was hired as Northfield’s assistant racing secretary and also
spent time with his band performing in
Northfield’s High Wheeler’s Lounge after
the races each night. When that track’s
program director Greg DeFrank needed
help, he taught Ladd the ropes of the program department, and the two split those
duties at the “home of the flying turns.”
“Dennis Haskell was the racing secretary then,” Ladd noted. “I really enjoyed
being involved in racing and the untraditional hours didn’t bother me one bit. I
never felt comfortable doing a nine to five
routine. For me, the issue has never been
about time, but about getting the job
done in the best possible fashion.”
Ladd remained in his role in the program department until 1989, before ven-
November 2009 • The Harness Edge
In addition to being a full time race secretary, Ladd Biro is also a singer and
songwriter having released a CD two years ago which features songs he has
composed.
turing to Pompano to again assist his
friend DeFrank who was then working in
Pompano’s racing office.
“Greg is probably my closest friend in
the business because we both came into
harness racing in similar fashions,”
explained Ladd. “He’s one of the clearest
thinkers I know. He’s at Pompano now
and one thing we both agree on is that
often the top management of some of
these tracks doesn’t really have a racing
background and there isn’t a great understanding of the business and of what the
horsemen have to do on a day-to-day
basis.”
Ladd was working at Pompano that
winter he received a call from Rosecroft
racing secretary Billy Perkins.
“He wanted me to come to Rosecroft
to work as his assistant,” Ladd remembered. “That was in the Spring of 1990 and
during those years Pompano Park was like
a revolving door for racing secretaries. I
went there that fall to work as an assistant
for Kent Williams and when he left in
1992, I became the racing secretary and
stayed through 1997.”
During the summer months when
Pompano was dark, Ladd returned to the
Midwest working at Michigan’s Muskegon
ROCKING RACE SECRETARY
Raceway, where he connected with racing
secretary Ken Marshall.
“Ken’s a man of few words, but he’s
one of those secretaries who understood
the horsemen,” Ladd explained. “He was
very keen on integrity and very thorough,
and has the respect of the horsemen.
Delvin Miller once described him as the
‘best race secretary in the country,’ when
he was at The Meadows.”
It was Marshall who hired Ladd to be
Hazel Park’s current racing secretary.
“Ken is a great asset to racing
because he has industry knowledge from
the front to the backside of the track,”
Ladd continued. “He’s Hazel Park’s director of operations and I think a word that
best describes Ken is ‘prepared’. I don’t
think anyone is more prepared when tackling an issue or preparing a staff.”
RACING: THE GOOD,
THE BAD & THE UGLY
Integrity is everything in racing Ladd
believes, from the horsemen to racetrack
management to the fans.
“Integrity is key,” he stressed. “The
condition sheet needs to reflect the
integrity of the office and trust is everything between the horsemen and the
people in the racing office. As long as you
can justify why or what you did and that
you did it with good intent, that’s the
main thing.
“For instance, a lot of times we’ve
worked very hard to get a race filled and
sometimes no matter what the effort, we
can’t fill that race. I think you’ve got to
strike a nice balance between the classes,
whether you’ve got a top stable with
high-end claimers or the small guy with
two or three really cheap horses. And you
have to remember that cheap horses are
still better than no horses.”
Throughout his tenure, Ladd has
never forgotten the fans.
“I try to watch and listen to the fans,”
he said. “I’m a fan, so I’m seeing the same
product and try to be attuned to putting
on racing that fans appreciate. I try to do
my best in regards to what the track is asking me to do and balance that with what
the horsemen are asking me to do which is
to provide them with competitive racing
so they can hopefully get a cheque.
“If you’re a good racing secretary,
November 2009 • The Harness Edge
One of the biggest attractions at Hazel Park is having vehicles and music from
the Woodward Dream Cruise, the world's largest one-day automotive event
which draws 1.5 million people and 40,000 classic cars each year from around
the world to Detroit.
you’ve got these three areas you’re juggling and you try to be fair with everyone.
You want horsemen to feel they are able
to come to you with a problem and that
you’ll be open to discussing it.”
Though improvements have been
made in regard to racing equipment and
track surfaces, it’s the catch driving tactics
and the drivers themselves that have influenced the sport the greatest, Ladd believes.
“Catch drivers hold so much power
today and it didn’t used to be that way,” he
said. “Years ago, trainer-drivers were much
more conscientious about saving their
horses for the following week. The public
is still not as cognizant of the work and
hours put into the business by the horsemen and the number of people involved in
the industry. I think the industry gets hurt
a lot when a driver goes out and wins by
open lengths when he could have won by
just a few, because it paints racing in a bad
light in front of the public. If a horse can
win in 1:57, why push them to win in 1:53?
You would never even dream of seeing
something like that years ago.
“The horse used to be much more a
part of the family and people could identify with the horse in society as a whole. I
think you have less of that in today’s
age,” Ladd continued. “We’ve seen breakthroughs in technology from the USTA,
but I think overall horsemen are a little less
apt to be on top of things as a lot of them
aren’t computer literate, which is only due
to the generation they grew up in.
“People have become so reliant on
instant gratification,” Ladd added. “Everything is fast-paced and keeps getting
faster. When it comes to wagering on
horse racing, it takes time to dissect information and place a bet. And this draws
people away, in part, from our sport. The
impatience of most people is why we’ve
had a tough time selling our product.”
In Detroit, three Las Vegas-style casinos are located only ten minutes from
Hazel Park. Despite this, Ladd says the
bours. I think if the sport of harness racing
could align itself with a national charitable organization, it would help get more
exposure and show that the racetracks are
friendly with all communities.”
In 2009, the Michigan legislature cut
back the number of annual live racing
days from 82 to 66. Hazel raced May (four
nights per week) and from June through
September (three nights per week), with a
6:45 pm (ET) post.
”We really only lost four days and 48
races,” Ladd explained. “Initially we were
racing 12 races per day, four days a week
and then three days, 15 races a day. We
have a big simulcast program, with 20
tracks during the day and 20 in the
evening, 365 days a year.”
goes and every chance he can. He truly is
an unsung hero for harness racing.
“Bobby Williams is a person I hold in
high regard for a number of different reasons. I met him at Muskegon and got to
know him well at Pompano. He had been
a top driver in California and was recognized as such and he also drove Nero when
Joe O’Brien needed a driver. Bobby is a
man of integrity and has been a good person for racing in whatever position he’s
held over the years.”
Ladd said he often finds the judging
aspect of racing rather suspect.
“Some judges hide behind the rule
book,” he said. “Not all, but some simply
aren’t judging. A rule is written and you
can have a judge that makes a call based
“I get very frustrated today when I see a racing secretary who doesn’t have the
best interests of the horsemen as their focus.”
track does well on the weekends during
live racing.
“We have a good food and beverage
program,” he stressed. “A lot of what we
do at Hazel is event-driven and we try to
provide different events to entice people
to come to the track. We’re a racetrack
and our main focus is to get people to
come out and watch the races.”
One promotion the track actively participates in is the Woodward Dream
Cruise, a moving display of cars from all
over the world that ’cruise‘ or slowly drive
up and down Detroit’s famed Woodward
Avenue in the heart of the Motor City.
“We participate in the Woodward
Dream Cruise aggressively,” Ladd stated. “I
get about 50 cars parked on the grounds
and complement that with a 1950s rock
and roll group. People come here in droves
and they love the cars and the music. The
whole idea is to let the Cruise be the entertainment that supports racing.
“We also do a lot of tie-ins with local
charities and give tickets away to the
Tigers, Red Wings, Lions, the Ryder Cup
and to local restaurants,” Ladd noted.
“Hazel Park tries to give a lot back to the
community and the perception of our
track is that we’re very friendly neigh-
One area that’s changed dramatically
is the coverage by local news outlets, Ladd
noted.
“We don’t have beat writers anymore who just cover racing, and it seems
that newspapers are becoming more and
more archaic. Harness racing still has an
older fan base and it is often tough to
appeal to various generations without
the tools we used to have. We still have to
promote to our younger crowd too, and
we do that with a sophisticated web site.”
GREAT PEOPLE, GREAT HORSES,
GREAT MEMORIES
When it comes to people and horses,
Ladd has met some of the tops in the
sport, both human and equine.
“As far as racing secretaries go, Ken
Marshall and John Phillips for sure are at
the top of my list,” Ladd said. “John was a
mentor and friend who promoted the
business and had a very good vision of racing overall.
“At Hazel Park we have Denny Walton, who is both the assistant racing secretary and stallman,” Ladd acknowledged.
“More importantly however, he is Hazel
Park’s race ambassador. He promotes harness racing and Hazel Park every place he
on that. But I think every circumstance is
different and should be treated as such.
I’m not saying the rule book should be discarded as it’s there for a reason, but I think
there are some judges who don’t want to
take responsibility for making a tough call.
“John Knight was a person who had
been in harness racing and who was also a
Hall of Fame PGA golfer. What I remember vividly about John is that when it came
down to signing a sheet concerning a ruling, he wasn’t afraid to take a stance, sign
his sheet, and make a judgment.
“Years ago the judges stand at Northfield Park had one of the best judging
crews ever,” he continued. “Bill Arthur
(Jimmy Arthur’s father) was there. He
knew horses and cared for a lot of them
with his father and Delvin Miller. He never
opted to get involved in that end of the
business and instead became an official.
“He became a very good judge and
he understood the stable and his
strengths were the right and the wrong.
One time at Pompano two drivers got
into a speed duel and got to the half in :54
and he fined both of them. They were
both okay with that because they knew it
was a stupid thing.
“Dave Nolan was also there and his
The Harness Edge • November 2009
ROCKING RACE SECRETARY
strength was the horses,” Ladd said. “He
had trained and driven for a lot of years
and knew what it was like to be on the
racetrack, which was something the other
two judges hadn’t done a lot of. Don has a
good work ethic and does an outstanding
job (he’s at Hazel today) and communicates well with the horsemen. The horsemen can easily identify with Dave, who
also works as Hazel Park’s paddock judge.
“Northfield’s third judge was John
Tietila, who had been a racing secretary.
What he added to the mix was a more business-type viewpoint. So you had a good
balance. He had worked with Pres Jenuine
and Joe DeFrank at Northfield in 1962 and
later at Raceway Park and Ocean Downs.”
Of the horsemen he’s met, Ladd’s
favourite was Stanley Dancer.
“He was such a character and interesting person,” Ladd mused. “He used to
come over to the racing office and I was
just fascinated with all that he talked
about. But, when it was time to go warm
up a horse, he stood up in his colours and
he said ’time to go to work’ and he but-
November 2009 • The Harness Edge
To hear Ladd Biro's latest song, click here.
toned down his collar and his cuffs and
walked out. His presentation was first
class and he was there for business and he
wanted to look professional. He never
had dirty colors or white pants that
weren’t white.
“The very first encounter I had with
him was in 1990 at Rosecroft,” Ladd
laughed. “We were taking entries for a
stake event and this call came in and the
voice said ’this is Stanley Dancer and I have
a horse to enter.‘ So I said ’yeah, right,‘ and
I transferred the call to Billy (Perkins). Later
Billy says to me ‘this is Rosecroft Raceway
and when someone calls and says they’re
Stanley Dancer, they’re Stanley Dancer!’”
Ladd has also witnessed the performances of many top equine athletes over
the decades.
“One of my favourite memories is the
night Nero was beat by Whata Baron at
Northfield in 1975,” Ladd recalled. “Nero
was unbeaten in 28 starts and the parking
lot was jammed with people coming to
see him despite it being a Monday night.
Bobby Williams drove Nero and told me
afterward the horse threw a shoe in the
first turn and that’s why Whata Baron with
Lew Williams driving beat him.
“There were so many people there
that night that I couldn’t get out of the
parking lot and fell asleep in my car. I
woke up at two in the morning and was
finally able to get out.
“When Artsplace went a huge mile in
the Breeders Crown at Pompano in the
early 1990s, that was a performance I
won’t ever forget,” Ladd offered. “There
was a 40 to 50 miles per hour wind and it
wasn’t just a breeze, it was a heavy, heavy
wind and this horse paced in 1:51.1. John
Campbell drove him and everyone there
was just in awe of the mile he went.”
CONCLUSION
From harness racing, Ladd turns to his
other passion as music remains a big part
of his soul.
“Through a strange set of circumstances, I reconnected with a musician
named Dan Schneider, a tremendous performer and staff writer for Nashville, TNbased Acuff-Rose, one of North America’s
largest music publishers (owned by Sony).
I wanted to produce a master quality
tape, not just a demo, of some music I
had written, so Dan and I recorded some
songs together in Cleveland and we produced a CD.”
Released in 2007, Ladd’s CD, entitled
“Isn’t It Romantic,” is a hearty mix of adult
contemporary melodies. Those lyrics and
tones might just be the reason why Ladd
Biro is always looking for the next best
thing.
“I enjoy being a racing secretary, but
I wouldn’t mind buying a racetrack if the
conditions were right,” he admitted. “A
little track like Ocean Downs, where people really enjoy being at the track and
there aren’t the petty issues and contentions that might lead to unpleasant
experiences. If the situation was right, I’d
love to operate a track like that.”
Knowing Ladd, he may just get his
chance. 롫