1st Series Chronicles of a broke horse trainer "It's a Small World"

brought on blank stares. The motels in Sedalia were booked pretty solid for this event in town but I had been fortunate enough to get a room with 2 double beds about a mile north of the track on Hwy 65. I told them that if they didn't mind sleeping in a bed with an old, hairy legged man in the other bed I would swing by and get a couple of large pizzas and a 12 pack. You would have thought I had offered them steak and lobster from the response I received! We settled in running horses for the weekend and I was able to book the motel room for the month. The second and third weekends went like clockwork with their help. The fourth and last weekend of the race meet proved to be somewhat of a problem. Remember Gordon, the old boy who was left behind at Fairmount? He proceeded to throw a complete "hissy fit" on Thursday when I was about to leave Fairmount. He said he was going to get to Sedalia somehow even if he had to stowaway with the horses. The operation at Sedalia was going smooth and I decided that Gordon could go and help and if need be, I would simply pay Jack for showing up even if I didn't need him. We got to the track a little early and after unloading horses, Gordon was bedding stalls. Jack showed up about his normal time and I saw him striding towards us. When he saw Gordon bedding stalls, which was his job, his gaze left me and headed straight for Gordon. My first thought was a possible altercation over the job but Jack didn't appear to be angry so I had no clue. Jack walked into the stall, bent over to look at Gordon's name tag, stuck out his hand and said "How are you doing Dad"! They had not seen each other in 9 years. Gordon had told me about a son he left in Florida when he and his wife had divorced. He had always taken pride in the fact that the teenager seemed to have a knack with a horse and could ride about anything. There had been absolutely no communication since Gordon came north.