Over the past four or five years, there have been moments when trainer Steve Specht has found himself contemplating retirement. Those thoughts rarely last long, especially when that year's 2-year-olds come into the barn; wouldn't you just know it, it always seems that at least one of them can run a little bit!
“I'd probably be divorced if I quit; I have to be doing something,” quipped the 73-year-old Northern California mainstay. “But really, I just love the horses, and I love the competition.”
This year's burgeoning star is Grand Slam Smile, winner of the $100,000 Fasig-Tipton Debutante at Santa Anita on June 17. It was just the second career start and the first on dirt for the California-bred daughter of Smiling Tiger.
Sent off as the third choice in the four-filly field, Grand Slam Smile broke well and put pressure on pacesetter Becky's Dream until turning into the stretch when, with 3-5 favorite Crazy Hot coming on her outside, Grand Slam Smile lost touch of the leader.
It proved to be only momentary. Grand Slam Smile quickly re-engaged and surged to the front inside the sixteenth pole to get the win by a half-length, despite jockey Frank Alvarado losing his whip in mid-stretch.
“We were confident going into the race, but I was a little concerned at the head of the lane when (Jeff) Bonde's horse (Crazy Hot) rolled up and she dropped back,” Specht said. “But Frank was able to get back up in there before it was too late.”
Grand Slam Smile will likely target the CTBA Stakes for Cal-breds going 5 ½ furlongs at Del Mar on Aug. 6 for her next start. The filly has always shown talent, Specht said, but coaxing her to show that talent on the track has required a little bit of extra horsemanship.
“She's not one you're gonna muscle around; she has an attitude about her,” he explained. “It's not in a stupid way, just headstrong. You've gotta go lightly with her.”
A second-generation homebred for owners Mr. and Mrs. Larry D. Williams, Grand Slam Smile is out of the Grand Slam mare Royal Grand Slam, a two-time winner on the track for Specht and the Williamses who has also been prolific in the breeding shed: Royal Grand Slam has had seven foals to race and all have been winners. Five of her foals have banked more than $100,000 on the track.
Like all the Williams homebreds, Grand Slam Smile was foaled in California before shipping out to the couple's primary farm near Parma, Idaho, to grow up. She was then sent to Utah to be started under saddle by Lynn Melton.
“It's a beautiful facility they go to in St. George, Utah,” said Specht. “Lynn used to train Quarter Horses down at Los Al, which is where he met the Williamses. He does a really good job getting these horses ready, and when they come to me, they pretty much know what they're supposed to do. So it makes my job a lot easier!”
Nonetheless, the Williamses ranch manager, Dan Kiser, warned Specht this particular filly might not make it to the races at all.
“In the beginning she was real tough,” Specht said. “She was just a little wild. It's been a slow process, but she's come along and getting better as it goes.
“You just have to kind of work with her. I hauled her down to Santa Anita myself, and she does have a few little quirks, like you don't want to put a lip chain on her. But she's getting better and she'll get over that stuff with maturity. She's not stupid, just strong willed.”
It's an attitude Specht has seen time and again with those horses, especially fillies, who develop into the best runners. The veteran trainer of over 1,500 winners was born in Chicago, but spent most of his childhood watching his father train horses at the former Fairmount Park in Southern Illinois.
After a stint in the military, Specht launched his training career in Chicago, lasting for 11 years before an owner offered him an opportunity to try California.
“I liked the weather here better than in Chicago, so I stayed,” Specht summarized.
That was 37 years ago.
The Williamses first began sending Specht their less-expensive homebreds to train in Northern California 22 years ago, starting with one filly at Bay Meadows. He won a couple races with the filly before she was claimed, and gradually they started to send him better stock.
Now, Specht has 10 to 12 horses for the Williamses out of a string that's rarely bigger than 25 head, based at Golden Gate.
“They're really great people to work for,” Specht said. “Dan Kiser is who I pretty much deal with, and it's just been a perfect relationship for me. They let me do what I think is right, so we've been pretty successful.”
Kiser reflected on that relationship in an LA Times article from 2019.
“He's the most honest guy I know,” Kiser told the Times. “And he's a great horseman. Every morning he goes to every stall and checks every horse's legs. Other trainers use assistant trainers but not him. He's very hands on.”
Two of the most successful runners Specht has had with the Williamses are Lady Railrider and Antares World. Like Grand Slam Smile, each had her own strong personality.
“I've found out of all the good fillies I've had, all of them have an attitude,” he said. “I've had quite a few fillies that won stakes, and this one didn't like to backtrack, this one, one day would let you pet her and the next day would try to bite ya!”
Lady Railrider won nine times, including five stakes, for earnings of over $600,000, while Antares World won three stakes and was Grade 1-placed, earning over $430,000.
“This one's got that same talent, and she's got the potential to stretch out and be a useful horse going a distance,” Specht said of Grand Slam Smile. “She's kind of a paddler, the way she moves, but she paddles fast!”
Reflecting on the way this filly travels across the ground, Specht shared his belief that the way the horse racing industry is going does not seem sustainable.
“It's good, to a point, that they're being more active with the vet checks and welfare concerns,” Specht said. “But sometimes, they just take it a little too far. Most horses don't come dancin' out of a stall and move perfect after they have been standing in that stall for 20 hours.
“I feel their legs every day, and they don't all travel the same. They're getting a little too strong as far as the requirements to race. In a 30-second exam, the vet thinks they can tell you more about the horse than the trainer who sees it every day, and no one can give a second opinion about it, it's just final. I don't think that's right.”
By way of example, Specht recalled watching Spectacular Bid train when Buddy Delp brought the champion racehorse to Arlington Park in 1980.
“If you ever watched him train, you wouldn't claim him for $5,000,” Specht said. “I watched him train every morning at Arlington, and when he first turned around, he'd literally kind of hop along all the way to the first turn. Then, when he came around the second time, it was all that boy could do to hold him.
“That's what I'm talking about, that's why they call it a warm up! To expect these horses to come out of their stalls and be perfect is just not realistic.”
While there are certainly a few things Specht would change about the racing industry if he could, the sport has provided him with a lifetime of memories with special horses.
His two favorites, it so happens, are lifetimes apart in terms of talent, though each holds a special place in his heart.
“I had a horse for Mike Willman, McCann's Mojave, and made almost a million dollars with him,” Specht said. “He was a really good horse, and Mike is a good friend of mine, so it was definitely kind of special.”
The other came much earlier in Specht's career.
“There was this little old cheap horse I claimed for $4,000 about 30 years ago, and he wound up being the second-winningest horse in the country that year,” Specht said. “Silver Stan won allowance races, $20,000-$30,000 claimers, and he helped me at a time when I was really needing it. I didn't have a lot of horses and money was tight, but Stan always cashed a check.
“The help always liked to see Stan running; they knew they were gonna get paid! He won 12 races that year (1994), and was the winningest horse in California. He was a racehorse.”
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