February 23 - Street Sense

Over the years I've become good friends with Carl Nafzger, who trained Kentucky Derby winners Unbridled and Street Sense. Prior to taking his skills to training thoroughbreds, Carl was a bull rider. He's in both the Horse Racing Hall of Fame as well as the Cowboy Hall of Fame.

Over the years Carl has dropped some pearls on me. Going back to his days of bucking bulls in the 60s, Carl talks about being on the same circuit as the musicians doing the same shows and fairs. Carl talks about being drinking buddies with a couple of country musicians - Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson. That's back when Willie still had a crew cut.

In our most recent talk, we talked about safety equipment and trainers being required to wear helmets at the track. Carl laughed and said, "You know when I rode bulls, I only had one piece of safety equipment." - - what was it? "I wore a silk shirt. The bulls just slid right off. One time I felt a horn run up my back and if I had on flannel, I might not be here."

I don't know but that might have been the day that Carl decided to train racehorses instead of riding bulls . . . just sayin'.