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Local trainers are jockeying for position
By GARY WEST
STAR-TELEGRAM STAFF WRITER
GRAND PRAIRIE -- In 1996, before a race ever was run here, when only the Post Time Pavilion was open, Lone Star Park security ushered Cody Autrey off the property and cautioned the young man against returning.
A year later, for Lone Star's first season of racing, Bret Calhoun had a four-horse stable that wasn't just modest, or even humble; it was virtually invisible. He didn't win a race.
But Autrey returned, and Calhoun didn't remain invisible for long.
With the Lone Star Park season concluding Sunday, they're in the thick of the trainers' race. Calhoun has won 51 races, good for second place in the standings, and Autrey has 49 victories.
They both have a chance to displace Steve Asmussen, who has won Lone Star Park's trainer title seven of the track's past eight meetings. Asmussen has 55 victories, but, because of a medication violation in Louisiana, he's suspended until January.
He's done at 55.
And the door's open.
Calhoun, needing five wins to pass Asmussen, plans to enter 12 horses this week. Autrey, needing seven wins, expects to enter 10 horses.
"I don't think I can catch him, but I'm gonna try like hell," Autrey said.
He has won seven races in a week once this season.
"That would be the biggest accomplishment of my career," Autrey said.
Then, after a thoughtful pause, he added: "That would be the biggest accomplishment of a lot of careers. But, if I end up third, that's not bad, either, finishing third behind those two guys. They both do a great job, and they're both top-10 trainers."
Asmussen, who lives in Arlington, has topped the national trainers' standings the past two years and is second this year, with 241 victories. His longtime assistant, Scott Blasi, has assumed training responsibilities, and Asmussen's win total for the season is complete.
Calhoun finished eighth in the national standings last year with 191 victories, and he's fifth so far this year with 109 wins.
But Calhoun put his odds of winning the Lone Star trainers' title at 10-1. The trainer said that, because none of his horses this week will be an overwhelming favorite with a high probability of winning, he would be surprised to have five victories.
"Under the circumstances, winning the title wouldn't be that important anyway," Calhoun said. "If Steve weren't suspended, winning the title would be of major importance.
"But winning a title like this would put an asterisk next to it."
While Autrey and Calhoun aren't sure, or even optimistic, about their chances of catching Asmussen, they're very certain about the importance of the other trainers' race, which is their own rivalry.
They've been keeping an eye on each other in the standings all season.
Autrey was second early, then Calhoun passed him, then Autrey regained second, and now, Calhoun has retaken the spot.
Back and forth they've gone, like two of their horses battling down the stretch, all the way to the wire, where only a photograph can sort out the finish and discern a winner.
And make no mistake about it, Calhoun said: Each one knows exactly where the other is in the standings at every moment.
Although good friends, they're natural rivals, fighting over the same territory with proprietary vigor. It's one thing to be the local kid who did well, but it's quite another to be the local kid who did best.
Calhoun, 42, was raised eight miles from Lone Star and went to Grand Prairie High School. He never has worked a single day as an assistant for another trainer. He put in his time learning from the bottom up, doing everything himself for the few horses in his care, which, at first, were family-owned.
Now, he has more than 100 horses in training, a stable that campaigns throughout the region and a large division at Arlington Park near Chicago.
And Lone Star is where he came of age as a trainer.
Autrey grew up west of Fort Worth and went to Weatherford High School.
But it would probably be more truthful to say he found much, if not most, of his early education at Trinity Meadows, the little racetrack in Willow Park. Autrey was there, as he put it, the "day Trinity Meadows went pari-mutuel," in 1991, and he was there the day it closed, in 1996.
In the stable area most mornings and the grandstand most afternoons, he knew as a teenager that he wanted to train racehorses. And even then he set out to learn everything he could, although that sometimes meant skipping school to attend training races. But the teacher who once told him, as Autrey recalled it, that he'd "never amount to anything," probably didn't appreciate the value of such an education.
Autrey was 16 when Lone Star security escorted him to the front door of the Post Time Pavilion. Security officers, he said, suspected he had been betting, which, of course, isn't permitted for someone so young.
He hadn't, he explained. Rather he had been sharing his expertise with those who actually were betting, and he shared generously in the hope that they in turn might express their gratitude in some, well, meaningful way. In other words, he was touting.
After working for years for trainer Bubba Cascio, his mentor, and then briefly for Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella in California, Autrey stepped out on his own three years ago. His stable has grown steadily, so that for much of this season he has had between 45 and 50 horses in training and now sits 35th in the national standings.
And Lone Star is where he came of age as a trainer.
Yes, Autrey and Calhoun are in the thick of the Lone Star trainers' race, and that alone means they both already have come far.
ONLINE: lonestarpark.com
IN THE KNOW
Lone Star Park thoroughbred season
Today and Friday, Gates open at 5 p.m., races begin at 6:35 p.m.
Saturday
Fan Appreciation Day, Gates open at 11:30 a.m., races begin at 1:35 p.m.
$50,000 Bob Johnson Memorial Stakes
$65,000 Silver Spur Breeders' Cup Stakes
Sunday
Closing Day, Gates open at 11:30 a.m., races begin at 1:35 p.m.
$65,000 Middleground Breeders' Cup Stakes
General admission: $3
General parking: $2
Down the stretch
Heading into the final four days of Lone Star Park at Grand Prairie's thoroughbred season, two trainers are in a tight battle to overtake Steve Asmussen, who leads the meet in wins but has been suspended:
Name Sts 1st 2nd 3rd Win% Purses
Steve Asmussen 244 55 37 42 23 $1,336,751
Bret Calhoun 224 51 41 29 23 $1,096,219
Cody Autrey 149 49 20 27 33 $624,780
Danny Pish 191 32 28 22 17 $544,050
John G. Locke 206 26 29 21 13 $423,925
LONE STAR TITLES
The leading trainers for the thoroughbred meets at Lone Star Park:
Year Trainer Starts Wins
1997 Dallas Keen 146 41
1998 Dallas Keen 132 36
1998 Jim Gaston 200 36
1999 Steve Asmussen 174 48
2000 Steve Asmussen 267 68
2001 Steve Asmussen 405 90
2002 Steve Asmussen 425 95
2003 Cole Norman 391 98
2004 Steve Asmussen 342 82
2004 Steve Asmussen 125 24
2005 Steve Asmussen 316 63
Notes: The 1998 trainers' race ended in a tie; in 2004, Lone Star had two thoroughbred seasons, adding a fall season culminating with the Breeders' Cup championships.
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