Al Stall, Jr. slowly removed his steam-covered glasses and took a moment to compose himself before an interview outside the Fair Grounds winner's circle last Saturday. The veteran Thoroughbred trainer had just saddled the winner of the Albert M. Stall Memorial, a stakes race named for his late father.
“It's funny how things come together,” Stall said, his voice brimming with emotion. “We've given the trophy here for the last few years, patting Billy Mott on the back, Joe Sharp. You know, it was great, both friends of mine…”
The poignant moment overwhelmed Stall, and he dropped his eyes for several moments, wiping away a stray tear before he continued.
“Then we were lucky enough to have a filly to be live in this race, and (the turf) came up soft, which is her thing, and everything went our way,” he said. “We'll take it.”
Reflecting on the interview several days later, Stall said he felt grateful for that unguarded moment.
“It makes you feel like you've got a heartbeat, instead of just going through the motions,” Stall explained. “It was definitely special.”
A fitting victory, as #AlStallJr trainee, #Dalika, rolls in the Albert M. Stall Memorial Stakes from @fairgroundsnola. @JoeyDaKRacing chats with jockey @_MIGUELMENA_ and an emotional Stall Jr. following the 5yo mare's win on the lawn. pic.twitter.com/chsxuy8yfY
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) February 13, 2021
Stall grew up attending races alongside his father in New Orleans, and the pair traveled all around the country to watch the horses run. As an owner, Stall Sr. won the 1970 Kentucky Oaks with Lady Vi-E, and he served on the Louisiana State Racing Commission for 28 years, including nine years as chairman.
A member of the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association Hall of Fame and the Fair Grounds Race Course Hall of Fame, Stall Sr. passed away in 2017 at the age of 85.
“He's the person that got not only me, but the rest of my family, as well as Tom Amoss and a few others to go the track, because he was always interested in racing from the time he was in high School in NOLA,” Stall said. “There are win photographs and pictures around the barn from when I was seven years old, and you can almost plot the chronological photos of my life from the late 60's to the present.”
In high school, Stall's love of racing grew as he took a job on the backstretch in the barn of Hall of Fame trainer Jack Van Berg, working under his assistant trainer and future Louisiana Sports Hall of Famer Frankie Brothers. Stall kept up with Brothers through his time at Louisiana State University, earning a degree in geology just like his father.
Though Stall briefly followed his father into the oil industry after graduation, it was at the racetrack that he found his true calling. Stall spent five years as an assistant to Brothers, by then training his own string.
“It was basically a Harvard education,” Stall mused. “At that time we had horses at Louisiana Downs, Fair Grounds, everywhere, and they were all kinds of horses: cheap ones, middle ones, stakes horses, so you saw a lot of everything. (Brothers) was a working machine, so you saw what hard work would produce. If you couldn't learn being around that program, you weren't trying very hard.”
Perhaps the most important lesson he learned from Brothers was patience.
“Just to stay the course,” Stall clarified. “If your horses aren't running that well, if things aren't going that well, don't make wholesale changes; just stick with the program that's got you there. Be a little patient with how things are going.”
By 1991, Stall was ready to go out on his own as a trainer. He started with just one horse at Arlington Park, but built up his stable over the past 30 years and has now won nearly 1,700 races.
That patience he learned from Brothers has more than paid off over the course of Stall's career, leading to highlights like his 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic win with Blame, defeating the great mare Zenyatta.
“He's the best horse I've ever trained,” Stall said. “Blame made it all the way to the mountaintop. That race, we were paying attention to our horse for the most part, so the Zenyatta phenomenon affected us a little more after the race than leading up to. We had our own little pocket of excitement, so we didn't really notice the quiet crowd.”
Trainer Al Stall, Jr. leads Blame into the winner's circle following the 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic
More recently, Stall trainee Tom's d'Etat made headlines at the age of six with a Grade 1 win in the 2019 Clark Handicap, and retired to stud after a solid 2020 campaign with two wins and a third from four starts.
“Tom got us really close, and it's quite fulfilling that those types of horses get to go somewhere nice like WinStar,” Stall said. “You know, he may be retired, but I'm an optimistic type of person. With the type of clients that I have, there's always something good around the corner.”
Trainer Al Stall Jr. with Tom's d'Etat at WinStar Farm.
For example, Stall sent out the talented 3-year-old filly named Carribean Caper to win her debut by eight lengths at the Fair Grounds last Saturday, just a few hours before he saddled Dalika to win the Memorial race.
The daughter of Speightstown will likely appear next in an allowance race at Keeneland, Stall said; he doesn't like to rush his trainees into big races.
“I like to keep horses around as long as I can; it just makes sense to me,” he explained. “I wouldn't feel comfortable gutting one out trying to make a certain goal. I want to give them a chance to be what they can possibly be, whenever that time can be.”
Perhaps some of Stall's most treasured memories, however, are the races he won with cheaper Louisiana-breds owned by his father and grandfather. Following a win in the 1991 Fair Grounds Sales Futurity with the filly Irish Gray, Stall Sr. talked about his son in the winner's circle.
“He's a good horseman, a better one than I am,” Stall Sr. said. “Since they were old enough to walk, we've had them out here, so this is just following through with what he really has always loved. Even though he's got a degree in geology from LSU, and you can't find a lot of oil out here in the infield, but he hit a little pay dirt today.”
The post Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: ‘It Makes You Feel Like You’ve Got A Heartbeat’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
