Trainer Michael Ewing gives instructions to handlers of a thoroughbred horse on the backside at Keeneland Race Course.

 

Trainer excels where Martha Layne Collins Bluegrass Parkway leaves Bourbon Trail and meets Keeneland
 

By Albert C. Jones
America, The Diversity Place

LEXINGTON, Kentucky — Of the Martha Layne Collins Bluegrass Parkway, a station along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, of trainers, handlers, grooms, exercise riders and thoroughbreds on the backside of state-of-the-art Keeneland Race Course in Versailles.

When Heywood Hale Broun was among the elegant voices of Triple Crown narration, of metaphorical images, of flair and the poetic, wonderful syntax with images heard and then seen, galloping thoroughbreds, there would be, over a career, charmed and rhythmic telling of events in newspapers, on NPR and for all those years on Sunday Morning in plaid attire.

Broun and Eric Sevareid, an elite correspondent in World War II, his time, and Jack Whitaker, the editorial we, when commentary came espoused in filaments that formed grand essays. Sevareid’s think-pieces on the CBS Evening News and Whitaker’s perspectives as seer and interpreter of Sunday games of the National Football League imparted erudition nuanced in current events; they are philosophes — each of them.

Whitaker also covered the ponies; Sevareid never did, but he Whitaker and Broun belonged to the same ilk.

Their annotations, oracles of the Three Wisemen, remain irreplaceable and unmatched in lofty eminence. Their prose has long since been silenced. Whitaker, 86, retired from his editorial professorship and nowadays is an infrequent banquet speaker. Sevareid died in July 1992; Broun succumbed to the eternal flames of twilight to wax poetic no more in September 2001.

Their presence never replaced, nowadays, in that void, the gaining jocularity of the 24-7 acronym, this comedic generation of send in the sports clowns and those oleaginous talking heads. They, this present generation, are the ones who abandoned being intellectual for scripted pratfalls in the commerce of sports and talk, where there is only time to say and little time to think.

Kentucky may have had dry counties in some parts of the state. This area of the state, however, has never experienced one of them. Among the places where premium whiskey rivers flow, it is here, in Bardstown, Kentucky, the self-proclaimed Bourbon Capital of the World. Heaven Hill, Kentucky Bourbon Festival and the Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey are acclaimed in an area that was part of the thirteen original colonies.

Bardstown records its founding in 1780.

Along the Bourbon Trail, from a tour guide, it was discovered at the Heaven Hill Distilleries Bourbon Heritage Center that all Bourbon is whiskey but not all whiskey is Bourbon. Ingredients may include corn — at least 51 percent corn — wheat, rye and malted barley; it is a mixture that seems something of cereal.

The same limestone that filters iron out of ground water and contributes to the prominence of bluegrass is the same water that helps give Bourbon here its distinctive taste. When yeast is added, the mixture, called mash bill, ferments. Distilled, the resulting crystal-clear liquid is stored in charred-oak barrels and stored in black, fungus marred warehouses for aging.

Since bourbon is a whiskey identifiable uniquely with the United States, the guide said, there is a list of requirements that must be met for the product to be called bourbon.

Nomenclature of altered states, ironically, is shared with the language of imminence. The Heaven Hill guide said evaporation of spirits, what naturally escapes from wooden casks, is called the “angel’s share.” At the tasting session, the line formed swirling mature, barrel-proof bourbon in a glass is called angel’s legs.

Whether hypothetical, an organic imagination or trained nose of a connoisseur, the guide expressed the company line as prelude for tasting Elijah Craig Single Barrel Bourbon, a high-end product that has been aged 18 years: “A buttery vanilla nose with some winey notes, a hint of caramel, a medium body presents a dry, almost cognac-like palate with eucalyptus notes and some hints, in the backdrop, of deep rich caramel; the finish is crisp, dry, and lasts a lifetime.”

The brand is named for the Rev. Elijah Craig, “the man who discovered the method of making true Kentucky Bourbon when he stored his wares in barrels that were charred in fire.”

Coming up out of the Tennessee Valley, from Nashville, the Interstate leads to the Martha Layne Collins Bluegrass Parkway; it is picked up in Elizabethtown. Martha Layne Collins was the first and only woman governor of the state. Governors in this state are limited to one, four-year term.

That Collins is paired with bluegrass has an intrinsic value. Kentucky bluegrass is the elixir that went into thoroughbreds, paired with bloodlines, produces horses with speed and then stamina with speed. Horse racing and breeding championship horses for generations, in this part of Kentucky, is a way of life. White-railed equestrian fences with training courses prevail here with the singular purpose of yielding a Kentucky Derby winner first with the ultimate hope of capturing the Triple Crown.

Thoroughbreds, agritourism and the business of horses are major pieces in the Gross State Product. Here, in the commerce of thoroughbreds, often seen in auctions at Keeneland, it is not out of the ordinary for a colt never saddled to go for $12 million. Raising championship horses, however, has yet to soar out of the reach of everyday people. Everyday people frequent the backside at Keeneland. Their hopes of a winning are as high as the well-heeled.

For the first time, in September 2010, the World Equestrian Games will be held outside of Europe.

The equestrian games are held every four years, two years prior to the Olympic Games. Eight world championship events, including dressage, driving, endurance, eventing, jumping, para dressage, reining and vaulting, will take place for 16 days down the road from here at Kentucky Horse Park.

This is the heart of Central Kentucky, where the Martha Layne Collins Bluegrass Parkway ends after 71.1 miles at its eastern terminus in Versailles, connecting with U.S. 60 that leads to Lexington. Horse breeding farms, some 500 acres with those white-railed fences, others with black-railed equestrian fences, are in prime bluegrass territory. This is the commerce center of horse breeding.

Some of these horse farms, like Buck Pond, were established as far back as 1783. There is a synergy with Keeneland, a few miles from here, is the world’s largest thoroughbred auction company where sales, they say, “annually exceed a half-billion dollars — two-thirds of the North American market’s gross sales. Keeneland also offers a spring and fall season of racing with “some of the richest purses — and therefore the most competitive racing — of any track on the continent.”

You see, coming to into the park, silhouettes of handlers leading horses through lit stables at four-thirty in the morning. This is what they call the backside. The car is parked and the walk is a short one, perchance, to the stable operated by Hess Racing. Coincidentally, this is the last day of the three-week race meetings in April. The backside features a trainer who has won the Kentucky Derby, other trainers who are hopers against the odds that they, too, will stand in the winner’s circle, having captured the Run for the Roses.

Sevareid, Broun and Whitaker are the channels called upon to claim telling voices as guides. That is to say, to be able to do it, they, Sevareid, Broun and Whitaker, did it to do it so superbly.

Now, there is a variation, merging multicultural people within the culture of horse racing on the backside, wealthy owners, working poor and those educated with college degrees.

“If you don’t know Spanish on the tracks these days you are dead,” said Michael Ewing, a trainer for Hess Racing. “I know some Spanish.”

The father of Michael Ewing was expecting a football scatback son, a son who would grow up to be a defensive back. He would have relished having a tough-nosed pass defender, quick to shutdown running plays, a scatback running to daylight, playing for USC in the Rose Bowl in nearby Pasadena, California. 
 

Girl growing up as Michael had encounters that matched expectations of a father who wanted a boy

Michael’s father had five tries at producing progeny as football player. Four of the five tries are girls, including Michael and a sister named Sidney, which could also be a boy’s name. Instead of a football player, Michael’s father, in her, got a girl who grew up showing horses and a future trainer of thoroughbreds in the mostly male profession of horse racing. Michael Ewing and her husband are also owners. She is the primary trainer for second generation Hess Racing based in Southern California.

Growing up, the name Michael, for a girl, was sometimes odd. In eighth-grade, she was sent an invitation to join the Boy Scouts and sent an induction notice by the U.S. Army at age 18. Then the Vietnam War was being fought.

“They couldn’t have been going by records,” said Ewing, who grew up near Pasadena. She is totally adjusted to her name. “It’s a fun name,” she said. “My mother had thought about naming me Lana. That’s so not me.”

She grew up wanting to ride because a neighbor had a horse. Showing quarter horses and jumpers became part of her life. Later on, she and her husband bred show horses. Then she met owner-trainer Bob Hess Jr. on the track at Santa Anita Park, where the “Big Cap” and Santa Anita Derby have been for years among thoroughbred racing’s prominent races, meaning large stake races. Ties that bind a relationship were immediate between Hess and the Ewings.

Ewing’s husband revealed the day they met Hess, who holds an economics degree from Stanford University, that he had always wanted to own and train thoroughbreds at Santa Anita.

“I never knew that about him,” Ewing said of her husband. “He had regrets that he couldn’t be on the sidelines and be at the racetrack. This revelation was new to me. We sold our show horses. I went to work fulltime at the barn. Bob let me help out. I started at the bottom.”

Hess Jr. was trained to train horses by his father, Bob Hess Sr., mainly where he grew up in northern California. In 2009, his horses won 16 percent of the time at Santa Anita and finished in the money 43 percent of the time. In a recent year Hess thoroughbreds won $1.5 million and have captured more than a few stakes races.

“I have stayed with Bob,” she said. “I didn’t go out on my own because it has worked for me. I love it. My husband, who has always been wonderfully supportive, loves it.”

Ewing was immediately receptive, open and unbothered, by the sudden appearance of a person wanting to interview and take pictures. The sense is there are no strangers on the backside, just an organizational flow of what you do or what is your reason for being here.

She is busy, but adorable in her patience, handling multiple tasks while responding to questions, renewing the morning Cup of Joe ritual. Head trainers are meticulous note-keepers, honed with logistical skills and precise, down-to-the-minute schedulers. An aura of authority is her grace. Around her, you immediately know she is in charge of everything in her charge. She is trainer as chief operations officer.

People who work the backside know jobs are every day with infrequent days off, knowing the horses must be cared for on holidays. “You have to love horses to do this work,” Ewing said.

She ran Hess’ stable at Hollywood Park before coming to the spring and fall season at Keeneland. There are 20 horses in the Hess stable at Keeneland. Things are going well. “Ears to You” won an allowance race last week. “Turbulence,” a gelding, won a $30,000 maiden race for horses that had yet to post a win. It was Turbulence’s fourth start.

“Running in Choose” is a 2-year-old just about ready to work in full gallop.

The stable is a cinderblock building and her office has a couch, computer equipment, hooks for hanging things, storage cabinets, window and quad electrical plug fully being used. People come and go from Ewing’s office. Ewing does the introductions:

Sebastain Pain is an exercise rider from Le Mans, France, where he was a steeple chase jockey. He has also ridden for owners in Dubai. Later, he cautions a novice to be careful in the stalls. Horses will kick with their hind legs.

Rafael Becerra Jr. is visiting from Arcadia, California, where he is in training to be an assistant trainer at Santa Anita. Among his rigorous training regimen are academics, tests, practical tests and a veterinarian test. Rosie Higgins is an owner and exercise rider from Lisbon, Ohio. Rosemary Homeister Jr., second leading jockey winner this season and second all-time female winner, and her agent Tommy Owen, come and go.

Homeister is junior in horse racing only because she and her mother have the exact first, middle and last name. To avoid confusion in the thoroughbred racing circles, she is listed as junior and her mother senior. Accolades for Homeister, in a career that began in 1992, are too numerous to cite here.

“It’s a very male-dominated club,” Homeister said, responding to a question. “Even with having won more than 2,000 races, I have people say I wouldn’t ride a girl. Her 98 wins so far in 2010 in Florida make her seventh overall in that state.”

Earlier, Ewing said about the boys-only club. “It has not changed. You have a lot of chauvinists.”

“Being a jockey is very hard work,” said Homeister, whose current weight is 112 pounds. “I got good guidance from my mother. My mother and father were both jockeys. My mother won one race in her whole career. I started in 1992, weighed 103 pounds, saddle and test. Mother raced in the early 1970s. I started riding when I was six months old. My mom started when she was 17.”

Michael said, “Women grew up loving horses and riding in the show ring. You see all the women there. At the races you see all the guys.”

“It’s the money,” Homeister said.

She was asked, how do you control a horse during a race?

“For me, it’s more finesse than aggression.” Homeister said. “You can feel a horse’s movement.”

Ewing interjected, “There is no jockey in the world that can control a horse that doesn’t want to be controlled.”

“When you are on them, you watch their ear movement.” Homeister said. “You watch the eyes and ears. The way I protect myself is to have a high respect for other jockeys. There are eight to ten jockeys, eight to ten horses in a race. When you yell, you are yelling because you are in trouble and want help. It’s a tough sport and it’s very competitive.

“It’s the biggest rush you could ever experience,” she said. “My passion is thoroughbred horse racing.”

Following Ewing out of the RBH barn, parade-like, Sebastain and Higgins mounted, daylight has broached the rainy morning at Keeneland.

“The early start is because the track has to be clear by 10 a.m. to prep for race day,” she said. “This is the last day at Keeneland. It’s very prestigious track. It’s the best-run track in the country. It’s a big deal to win here.”

The stable area is a wonder of spring greens, white blooms, slender-trunked Chinese elms with small-leaf crowns, Pin oaks, glorified shrubs, also known as Swamp Spanish oak, old-growth maples, tall with teeming canopies, amid those familiar white-railed equestrian fences. The paddock area is flush with sugar maple, American hornbeam, dogwood, linden, white pine, crab apple, Pin oak and that huge sycamore.

There is a steady stream of thoroughbreds being led from the numerous barns to the main track to be worked. Hess horses wear burgundy RBH, circled, on a field of white with parallel burgundy bars. Ewing checks lower legs and feet of each horse before it is sent out to work. At Keeneland, the public, handicappers among them, is allowed to meander without credentials about the barn area and the track.

Exercise riders drive horses to a spot on the outside rail, where they stand for several minutes before beginning work. Jockeys may be due their acclaim, but there is no mistaking thoroughbreds are the athletes who command particular handling. They are impressive animals — all of them here.

“Horses are like children,” Ewing said. “You can’t treat them all the same. “Ears to You” will kick when you try to soft brush her. She is all about business. She doesn’t want to be a pet. Thoroughbreds get the highest quality of care. They are fed early, get vitamins and have clean stalls. They get exercised each day.

“There is improved quality of care,” she said. “Track surfaces have been improved.”

Keeneland put in a Polytrack surface on its five-furlong training track in 2004. At a cost upwards from $12 million, Polytrack was installed on the main track two years later.

“Polytrack is a unique blend of fibers, recycled rubber and silica sand that is covered with a wax coating,” Keeneland boasts on its Web site. “Seven inches of Polytrack rests on 10 inches of porous macadam and stone that contains a vertical drainage system. Water drains through the material rather than horizontally across the surface.”

Becerra, who holds up an umbrella for a photographer to take photos, instructs this is horse psychology, allowing the horse to stand for several minutes once they get on the track.

“It’s a way to teach the horses that they don’t have to start running the moment they get on the track,” he said.

Keeneland, established in 1935, is unique in that it is both a thoroughbred racetrack and an auction company. There is a historical marker on Versailles Boulevard, which runs parallel to the grounds, remembering: “Here on May 14, 1825, General Lafayette was entertained by Major John Keene who had served as his aide-de-camp during the Revolutionary War.”

Nearby, up the highway, there is a road sign for “Man o’ War Boulevard.” No doubt, this is thoroughbred country.

The next time out work is on the training track. Then on another trip out, to get a closer look at the horses, Ewing sits tall, general-like, in the saddle on a 10-year-old she calls “pony.” She is a small woman up there in the saddle.

Like major sectors in the economy, thoroughbred racing is facing challenging times.

“It’s hard to say where it is going,” Ewing said. “It’s constantly changing. Tracks are putting in more slots machines to generate money. It’s very expensive. Racing is constantly changing. We hope these are good changes.”

The next stop is Monmouth Park in New Jersey, where the RBH stable will be first-timers at the track in Oceanport. They are going to where the money is. As stated in a news release: “A dramatic shift in New Jersey racing will emerge in 2010 when Monmouth Park offers $1 million in average daily purses, by far the highest in North America.”

“You race three days a week at Monmouth,” Ewing said. The $1 million in purses are too attractive to bypass. A lot of owners who don’t normally go to Monmouth will go there this year because of the purses. The economy is bad.”

Monmouth’s million dollar meet, got underway on May 22, 2010, showcasing 50 live racing dates running through Labor Day, September 6, 2010.

For Ewing, trainer as chief operations officer, it means logistics and establishing new business relationships with service providers and veterinarians.

“There is no national authority,” she said. “You have to be licensed in each state.”

Michael Ewing has lots of responsibility for the care of 20 thoroughbred horses in the stable of Hess Racing while at Keeneland Race Course.