Perseverance pays off in the sport of kings and there may not be a better example of that than trainer George Handy.
Sometimes, half the battle is just showing up and doing the job and trainer George Handy knows a little about this style.
The 92-year-young trainer, who has been conditioning horses since 1946. He is still a dapper dresser and he has been training longer than the age of many conditioners he competes against daily.
Handy served in the Navy in World War 11 on the battleship U.S.S. Kidd and that vessel was in the middle of most of the heavy action in the Pacific. Perseverance pays of in combat situations too.
He got out of the Navy as a young man and started his career training at Narragansett and Lincoln Downs. He has been racing in Florida for over 60 years and he is not just a consummate horseman, but a good guy too.
He has been known to whisper to friends at Monmouth Park that a certain horse of his that was set to race was primed and that success came to fruition more than once at double digits.
He has been a fixture at that New Jersey venue for years and his perseverance pays off by being at the barn as often as possible.
Back in the day, Handy had some nice horses. He won the 1973 Arkansas Derby with Impecunious. That runner also was third to the late great Secretariat in the Bay Shore Stakes.
Always flashy, always a fan of speed, Handy used to drive an orange Mercedes but has moved to a red Mustang. Handy still gets up at 4:30 a.m. and works seven days a week.
Some of his words of wisdom as reported in the Daily Racing Form, Handy: “I holler at the help, and try to win races. But I’d like to be busier. I don’t feel 92, I feel 110.”
Handy does not saddle a lot of horses these days but when he does, bettors have to watch his stock. Last year he sent out 20 runners. Four of them won, four ran second and three ran third proving again that perseverance pays off.
This year Handy has watched 3 of his 14 starters win and four others ran in the money.
He proved he still has an eye for talent when he claimed Kimchi’s Strike in September of last year at Gulfstream Park. Handy gave his runner a chance in a maiden $16,000 claimer and then taught the horse that perseverance pays off by putting the runner in the right spot. He wheeled Kimchi’s Strike in a slightly softer assignment and then watched the runner win as the favorite.
Handy also showed he can be patient with runners. In July of last year, he won with the 8-year-old gelding Storm Warnings. He then put him on the turf in his next race and the horse faltered. Handy rested the horse for two months, brought him back on October 15 at Gulfstream Park West and then had his picture taken after the race. Storm Warnings was winning on a wet surface for the third time in his career. The racer has trained well this month and will be in action at Gulfstream in January.
In his career, Handy has saddled 9393 runners and he greeted 1364 of them back in the winner’s circle.
When looking at the Handy runners, don’t pay much attention to the speed of the workouts. He seldom asks for zip in the mornings but if one of his runners does flash speed, that’s a tip off that the runner is truly talented.
The trainer is excellent with second off the layoff runners and when he stretches a horse out from a sprint to a route, double up.
Since he doesn’t have a ton of high caliber stock any longer, concentrate on his maiden claimers. He can also keep a horse going once a runner gets good.
Lastly, don’t be overly anxious to bet his debuters and remember perseverance pays off for bettors that follow Handy’s horses. After giving a horse the lay of the land and a race preferably over the current surface, those in the second start as a maiden are often extremely live.
If half of the battle is showing up, then Handy has shown that perseverance pays off in the battle of war and on the racetrack.
Perseverance Pays Off in the Sport of Kings
