EAST BOSTON If you're vexed trying to predict a winner at SuffolkDowns, here is a tip. Look for a horse sporting a red saddleclothwith a white maple leaf. That is the emblem under which horsestrained by Ron Dandy race and often win.
Dandy, a Georgetown resident, is regarded as one of the toptrainers in New England and is perennially atop the trainers'standings at Suffolk Downs. The Nova Scotia native has captured thetrack's training title 10 of the last 11 seasons and 12 timesoverall. In nine starts this season at Suffolk, which reopened forracing earlier this month after a winter hiatus, his horses have wonfour times and placed twice, earning a track-leading $43,360.
Stewart Eliott, the jockey who rode Smarty Jones to victory inthis year's Kentucky Derby and will attempt to take the second jewelof horse racing's Triple Crown in Saturday's Preakness Stakes, isamong those who have ridden horses trained by Dandy.
'Ron Dandy trains as good as [Nick] Zito, D. Wayne Lukas, ToddPletcher, Allen Jergens, any of the big-name trainers,' said jockeyJoe Hampshire, who has been piloting horses trained by Dandy since1998. 'The only thing Ron Dandy doesn't have is $1 million horses.'
'I have $1,000 horses,' said the quick-witted Dandy.
Dandy currently has 30 horses housed in Stable No. 5 at SuffolkDowns, but he has had as many as 65 under his care at one time.However, the secret of his success isn't quantity, it is the qualityof care he gives to his equine athletes, which becomes apparent afterwatching Dandy pause in midsentence to fire off directions to hisgrooms for each horse that passes by or catches his eye from itsstall.
'There is no real secret,' said Dandy. 'You just have to payattention [to your horses] and treat them as individuals, which theyare. Every horse is different, just like every human is different.They have different dispositions. A horse will tell you a lot ofthings. It will tell you when it's feeling good, and when it's notyou'll know. Listen to a horse and it will tell you everything.'
The way Dandy speaks of horses you might think the 54-year-oldcomes from a family of horsemen, but that is not the case. 'Theclosest I got to a horse when I was young was when a horse bit mybrother,' said Dandy, as he watched Hampshire take one of his horseson a training ride. The son of a coal miner, Dandy moved with hisfamily to Somerville when he was 12 and got his start in horse racingfive years later, working under the tutelage of Mike LaChapelle.
Ten years after meeting LaChapelle, Dandy won as a trainer for thefirst time. A filly named Sentinal Sally galloped to victory on Oct.5, 1977, at Rhode Island's Narragansett Park. Dandy still carriesaround the program from that first trip to the winner's circle. Sincethen his horses have been victorious more than 2,260 times. He haswon at tracks across New England and in horse racing hotbeds such asFlorida and Maryland.
With Suffolk Downs no longer supporting year-round racing, Dandyheaded to Maryland this winter, racing at Laurel Park and PimlicoRace Course, the site of Saturday's Preakness Stakes. He won 25percent of the races he entered and pulled horses out of claimingraces for fear that other trainers would buy his horses after seeingthem perform. It was a stark turnaround from the reception Dandy andhis horses received when they arrived.
'When we first went down there they said, `These New Englandhorses are going to cheapen our races,'' said Hampshire, who traveledto Maryland with Dandy. 'People don't understand the quality ofhorses we have here. '
Hampshire said the credit for that quality goes to Dandy and otherNew England horsemen who take flawed foals and transform them intosuccessful racehorses. 'It's easy to train horses that have noproblems,' said Hampshire. 'A lot of the California and New Yorkhorses are sounder. . . . These guys train horses with a lot ofproblems and get them running good. These guys, especially Ron, do agood job.'
Dandy is a good enough trainer to move his operations elsewhere,but even with Suffolk's loss of year-round racing and the high costof relocating his horses for six months, he said he has no plans fora permanent move. 'On the Maryland circuit everyone did well. But wecome back here because this is home. Home is Suffolk Downs,' saidDandy.
Home is also Georgetown, where he lives with his wife. They have aspecial mare named Reach for the Sky, which Dandy retired to his homeafter her 30th win. 'She was a filly where whenever I needed money,she'd win. She'd run and she'd win, so at the end of her career shedidn't have to go anywhere but with me,' he said.
Dandy said he doesn't plan to retire any time soon, so racing fansat Suffolk Downs can continue to look for the maple leaf and thehorses trained by the son of a Canadian coal miner.
'It's kind of funny; horses get into your blood,' said Dandy. 'Youhave a good experience and it stays with you.'
