Jennie Rees | Horse Racing Free Tips

Right On the Money

A funny thing happened on Chester Thomas's way to downsizing his large racing stable and equine operation: The Hanson, Ky., entrepreneur became a first-time stallion owner, with five-time Grade III winner and Grade I-placed Mr. Money (Goldencents–Plenty O'Toole, by Tiznow) in his first year at stud at Journeyman Stud in Ocala, Fla.

So while Thomas didn't buy any 2-year-olds as he has the previous two years, he did acquire 15 mares whose pedigrees worked well with Mr. Money. Had he not suddenly found himself in the stallion business, Thomas said no way he'd have gone on such a broodmare spending spree.

“I've been trying to downsize,” Thomas said with a laugh. “The answer's not no. It's hell no! But Mr. Money was such a nice horse, and he still is. Everybody who goes out and sees Mr. Money are like, 'OK, what kind of deal can I get if I bring four mares here?' He's going to have a heck of a nice book, and we were three or four weeks late to the game.

“We're really excited about Mr. Money, and it seems like the folks in Florida are very excited about him. He's getting a lot of new girlfriends.”

The original plan was to race Mr. Money at age five. That changed after a post-work endoscopic exam in late November revealed a breathing obstruction, which Thomas believes explained a poor performance in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile after Mr. Money's snappy victory in Churchill Downs' GIII Ack Ack. Rather than roll the dice that a surgical procedure would return the horse to peak form, the decision ultimately was made to retire him. Mr. Money is one of four stallions at Journeyman, standing for $5,000.

Brent Fernung, who with wife Crystal owns and operates Journeyman, had never met Thomas. After more or less rejecting the horse when Thomas's main trainer, Bret Calhoun, first made an overture, Fernung then looked at Mr. Money's race videos, loved what he saw “and now I've got to crawfish my way out of this mess,” he said. He called Thomas “and he had me talked into it lock, stock and barrel five minutes into the conversation.”

Fernung quickly learned that, given the choice between going small and big, Thomas opts for bigger. Thomas told Fernung he'd breed “10 or 12” mares to Mr. Money. The number for 2021 right now is set for 23. Thomas also funded a substantial advertising campaign.

Chester Thomas | Sarah Andrew

Owner support “is important anywhere, but it's particularly important down here in Florida, where if you look historically stallions have been made by their owners,” Fernung said. “When I heard the enthusiasm that Chester had for this, combined with the quality of the horse, it was a no-brainer for me to want to get involved. Chester has been great. You can't ask any more of an owner than to support his own stallion. It's not cheap to do, but it's a necessity if you really want to make a horse down here.

“I always look for a horse that has something that just makes you turn your head. When I got to watching Money's races, he's winning by five, six, seven in $500,000 races. He's beating these horses for fun. He's got to have enough pedigree to make a stallion, which he does, but they have to rise above just another stakes horse. He certainly did this, the way he won those four races in a row.”

Even with Mr. Money arriving right before New Year's, whereas Fernung would prefer a new stallion be on hand by early November, he said the reception has been excellent. He expects Mr. Money will be bred to between 75 and 100 mares.

He can only hope that Mr. Money mirrors Thomas's ascent in horse racing.

Four years ago, Thomas decided to switch his focus from mainly a claiming operation and inexpensive auction purchases to investing in better-bred and pricier yearlings and 2-year-olds to upgrade his stock with the goal of participating in racing's biggest events. With Josh Stevens his main bloodstock agent, Thomas's Allied Racing soon reaped the results.

Mr. Money provided Thomas with his first Breeders' Cup starter, finishing fourth in the 2018 GI Juvenile at Churchill Downs straight from a maiden victory.

In 2019, By My Standards (Goldencents) became Thomas's first graded stakes winner in the GII TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby. Mr. Money followed with Grade III victories in the Pat Day Mile, Matt Winn, Indiana Derby and West Virginia Derby. He just missed on bagging the coveted Grade I when collared on the wire of the Pennsylvania Derby by Math Wizard (Algorithms), whom Mr. Money had decisively defeated at Indiana Grand and Mountaineer Park.

Today, Allied Racing is one of the top owners in the country, checking in at No. 13 in purse earnings for 2020, including By My Standards winning a trio of Grade II stakes. In addition, Mr. Big News (Giant's Causeway) finished third in the 2020 GI Kentucky Derby, giving Thomas a runner in America's greatest race for the second straight year, following By My Standards' 11th in 2019.

While upgrading his racing stock, Thomas also began a breeding program, concentrating on Louisiana.

Thomas with his new stallion last September | Coady

Thomas, who continues to own 75% of Mr. Money to 25% for Spendthrift Farm, believes had Mr. Money held on in the Pennsylvania Derby, he would be residing at Spendthrift in Lexington today. Fernung agrees and says “it was a long neck from Lexington to Ocala,” making it possible for them to have a stallion in Florida with legitimate Kentucky credentials.

“We're benefiting from the fact that he got snagged at the wire in the Pennsylvania Derby,” he said.

Thomas and his team opted to give Mr. Money the chance to make it big in a regional market rather than getting overlooked in the hyper-competition for mares in Kentucky.

“We want him to be successful,” Thomas said. “There's nothing like conquering and winning.”

Thomas said he will sell some of his mares in foal at regional markets with the hopes of getting Mr. Money progeny into the northeast. Some will foal in Florida and a few could land in Texas, but the bulk of babies will be born in Louisiana, he said. Under those states' current rules, those horses can be made eligible for the Florida Stallion Stakes Series as well as Louisiana-bred stakes.

“Florida is a great place for a stallion,” Thomas said. “They've got a lot of horses there. They've got that stakes series. They have good incentives, stallion rewards. They race year-round down there, so that seemed like a good regional market for us to introduce Mr. Money to. And it's not that far from Louisiana.

“I really like the Louisiana program. Our Louisiana-bred horses are carrying the weight for us now,” he continued, referencing his racing stable.

Thomas is putting the same calculated acceleration into his newfound stallion operation that he utilized for his racing operation. Having missed out on the early-November broodmare auctions, he worked with highly regarded pedigree consultant Alan Porter to secure nicely bred fillies and mares via the claim box. He also bought one mare at auction and another privately.

“I am very competitive,” Thomas said. “I don't like losing. So when I focus on something, I really give it my best… It's a numbers game. So the more mares they get, especially if they're the right bloodline crosses, the better odds you get of getting some good racehorses. When you look at the stallion awards, the breeders' awards, look at the purse money, it makes sense–as much as I like to race horses and as competitive as I am–to support this stallion.

“As an owner, I think some of my most fun years are ahead of me. It's 2021. We'll have foals in '22 and '23. It will be 2024 with the first Mr. Money 2-year-olds. The first Mr. Money that wins, now that will be fun.”

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‘Courage Personified’: Remembering Late Jockey Larry Melancon

Larry Melancon might not have been the top jockey at Churchill Downs during his long career, though he ranks among the winningest riders at the historic Louisville track even a decade after his retirement.

But no Churchill Downs jockey can match the resilience and longevity of Melancon, whose tenure of riding full-time under the Twin Spires for 36 consecutive years is unprecedented. Melancon, whose first official race was in 1971, arrived at Churchill Downs for the 1974 spring session. Up through his retirement on July 4, 2010 at Churchill Downs, the jockey had won at least one race per meet with the exception of the three he did not ride: fall of 1974, spring of 1979 and spring of 1993, when he fractured three ribs at Keeneland.

Melancon died at age 65 Thursday morning with his wife of seven years, Denise Hasher Melancon, at his side in their Louisville home. The former jockey succumbed to complications from the debilitating stroke he suffered four years ago.

“It's a personal loss. Larry was a very close friend and we worked together for a lot of years, going back probably as long as we can both remember,” said Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott. “He was a good man and well-liked throughout the racing community. He was respected by a lot of horsemen, and a lot of good horsemen, like Lynn Whiting. There were a lot of people who liked to have Larry on their team because he had such a good opinion of a horse. Riding, he'd always give you a good effort, and we had a lot of great outcomes.”

Melancon totaled 2,857 victories and more than $60 million in purse earnings through his 38 years riding. When he retired, his 914 wins at Churchill Downs ranked No. 3 all-time, with his 47 stakes victories ranking fourth. Even 11 years later, Melancon still ranks seventh in both categories.

“He was a fixture at Churchill Downs,” said jockey, friend and fellow Cajun product Robby Albarado, who in his first career race in 1990 back in their native Louisiana used one of Melancon's old saddles. “He showed up every day and did his job.”

Melancon was at Churchill Downs before the track's legendary all-time win leader Pat Day arrived. He rode an additional five years after his good friend and long-time rival retired in 2005.

Day ruled the roost at Churchill Downs in the 1980s and 1990s. Melancon rode for many of the same outfits and didn't get a lot of the top assignments in the afternoon unless Day was out of town. But he had a long and successful career making the best of his opportunities at the races. And Day is among the first to acknowledge that Melancon was the better choice to put on a horse in the morning.

“He was one of the best all-around horsemen that I've been around,” Day said. “Very proficient rider, but he understood the condition book. He understood horses. I was a good jockey. I wasn't what I'd call an all-around horseman like he was.

“It used to aggravate him. We'd sit down and start talking, and he'd say, 'Do you know if Lynn is going to run that horse back in the 'non-winners of two?' I'd say, 'Larry, I don't have a clue.' That was my agent's business. Larry knew everything. He'd seen the horse run.”

Mott recalled Melancon working Taylor's Special before the eventual 1984 Louisiana Derby and Blue Grass Stakes winner ever ran. After the work, Melancon simply told the trainer, 'Well, when you run him, just go get your coat and tie on.'”

Retired trainer Don Winfree referred to Melancon as the “real good mechanic” everyone wants to have.

“He could get on a horse, and if you had a little problem, he could help you pinpoint it,” he said. “For years I had a lot of young horses who hadn't started, were coming along. Larry was kind of my test pilot to help me value them before we'd make a start. I used to like to bet on the first-time starters. He'd say, 'Don, this horse can win for $30,000' or 'This horse can win for $50,000.' I told him, 'Larry, I don't want to know what he can win for. I want to know what he can't lose for.' Larry was a dear friend. We used to hunt and fish together, and he was the ultimate professional. Another good one gone.”

Every trainer who rode Melancon seems to have a similar story.

“He was unbelievably good in the morning,” said Al Stall Jr., for whom Melancon worked after he retired from race-riding. “If a horse breezed well, he'd say, 'Get the condition book out.' I didn't need to hear any details such as 'he switched leads' or 'he finished up strong.' When he said 'get the condition book out,' that means everything was ready to go. He was generally right. He rode a nice, patient race and was thoughtful early in a race and had a very strong finish.”

Beyond Melancon's skill with horses, Stall noted how people naturally gravitated to him, recalling a special summer when the former jockey went up with him to Saratoga in 2012.

“We had a really good time,” Stall said, adding of the current president of Claiborne Farm, “Walker Hancock was just a hotwalker, feeling his way up the ranks. Walker would bring all these young guys, his friends, around the barn. They just loved Larry. At night we'd all go to someone's house and Larry would cook Cajun food. Those kids were just in heaven. They thought Larry was like king of the world. Because he was funny — and he could cook.”

Melancon was a quiet leader by example on and off the track, including helping young riders. He and Day united with then-trainer and current WinStar Farm president Elliott Walden and former trainer Bill Million to get Churchill Downs' first full-time chaplain. The quartet subsequently worked to raise the money to build the backstretch chapel.

“He was a brother in the Lord,” Day said. “Larry was instrumental in the chaplaincy as we know it. And a fierce competitor on the racetrack.”

Melancon's mother, the late Winona Champagne, was a trainer. He grew up near Lafayette, La., in Breaux Bridge, the self-proclaimed Crawfish Capital of the World. Long before he was old enough to legally ride at a sanctioned track such as nearby Evangeline Downs, Melancon from the time he was 9 rode match races at the bush tracks around the Acadiana region, the cradle of so many talented American-born jockeys.

Sheila Day, Pat Day's wife, grew up in the area and knew Melancon since she was 6.

“The next step was to get into the 'big-time,' Evangeline Downs,” she said. “And he made Churchill Downs. Young people respected that Larry was able to climb those heights, to get to Churchill Downs. His family was very respected in the area. His legacy is going to live on for a long time.”

Melancon won 43 graded stakes, including Keeneland's Grade 1 Blue Grass on Bachelor Beau for trainer Phil Hauswald in 1986. He captured four Grade 2 stakes, including Churchill Downs' Stephen Foster, on the Niall O'Callaghan-trained Guided Tour. Melancon rode in the Kentucky Derby four times, his best finish being fourth on Amano in 1976.

He won Oaklawn Park's 1997 Rebel Stakes on the Whiting-trained Phantom On Tour, finishing second by a half-length in the Arkansas Derby. While Jerry Bailey was aboard for the horse's sixth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby, Melancon the next year won the New Orleans Handicap on Phantom On Tour with his mother in attendance. Albarado said that win photo, prominently displayed in the Melancons' house, was his friend's favorite victory.

Melancon remained involved with the track after his retirement, galloping horses and helping out Stall and working as jockey Calvin Borel's agent. When he married Denise seven years ago, the couple began traveling and engaging in outdoors pursuits. With no warning symptoms, he suffered a stroke when the couple were in North Carolina to hike part of the Appalachian Trail.

“Larry was a very good rider and even better person who was courage personified in the face of great personal adversity,” said Caton Bredar, the racing broadcaster and a family friend.

Even last August the Melancons found a way to go fishing out on Lake Huron in Michigan, which proved Larry's last trip. Denise Melancon said her husband continued to greatly looked forward to the regular Monday night potluck dinners they'd have over with Dallas Stewart, the trainer getting a ramp for his house to accommodate Larry's wheelchair.

Melancon's health had deteriorated in recent months, with her son, Keelan Allen, and Albarado's son Kaden providing immeasurable assistance in his care with kindness, gentleness and compassion, Denise Melancon said.

“He was at home, went peacefully, for which I'm very grateful,” she said. “Everybody loved him. He never had a cross word and was so giving to people. We still did a lot after the stroke. I said, 'You are not going to be a victim of circumstances.' And we lived life.”

Said Churchill Downs Racetrack President Mike Anderson: “The Churchill Downs family is deeply saddened to learn the news of former jockey Larry Melancon's passing. Larry was amongst the winningest jockeys in Churchill Downs history and was known for his skilled horsemanship. More importantly, Larry was a class-act who was always willing to lend a helping hand. He will be greatly missed. Our condolences go out to his numerous friends and family during this difficult time.”

Melancon was preceded in death by mother Winona Champagne and father Vermillian Melancon. In addition to his wife, Melancon is survived by son Lance Melancon, Louisville; daughter Heather Schapansky, Tyler, Texas; stepson Keelan Allen, Annapolis, Md.; sisters Judy Theriot and Vickie Guchereau; and grandchildren Caleb and Nathan Schapansky and Lawrence Melancon.

Newcomer Funeral Home-East Louisville handled arrangements. Denise Melancon said her husband's ashes will join his mother in Breaux Bridge. No public service is scheduled, per the jockey's request. The family suggests memorial gifts go to The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation, 40 E. 52nd Street, New York, N.Y., 10022, or the Permanently Disabled Jockey Fund, P.O. Box 803, Elmhurst, Ill, 60126.

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Larry Melancon: A Remembrance

LOUISVILLE, Ky.–Larry Melancon might not have been the top jockey at Churchill Downs during his long career, though he ranks among the winningest riders at the historic Louisville track even a decade after his retirement.

Larry Melancon at Churchill downs on his first morning as a jockey agent for Calvin Borel | Courier Journal

Melancon was at Churchill Downs before the track's legendary all-time win leader Pat Day arrived. He rode an additional five years after his good friend and long-time rival retired in 2005.

Retired trainer Don Winfree referred to Melancon as the “real good mechanic” everyone wants to have.

Every trainer who rode Melancon seems to have a similar story.

Beyond Melancon's skill with horses, Stall noted how people naturally gravitated to him, recalling a special summer when the former jockey went up with him to Saratoga in 2012.

Larry and Denise Melancon | courtesy Denise Melancon

Melancon was a quiet leader by example on and off the track, including helping young riders. He and Day united with then-trainer and current WinStar Farm president Elliott Walden and former trainer Bill Million to get Churchill Downs's first full-time chaplain. The quartet subsequently worked to raise the money to build the backstretch chapel.

“He was a brother in the Lord,” Day said. “Larry was instrumental in the chaplaincy as we know it. And a fierce competitor on the racetrack.”

Melancon's mother, the late Winona Champagne, was a trainer. He grew up near Lafayette, La., in Breaux Bridge, the self-proclaimed Crawfish Capital of the World. Long before he was old enough to legally ride at a sanctioned track like nearby Evangeline Downs, Melancon, from the time he was nine, rode match races at the bush tracks around the Acadiana region, the cradle of so many talented American-born jockeys.

Sheila Day, Pat Day's wife, grew up in the area and knew Melancon since she was 6. “The next step was to get into the 'big-time,' Evangeline Downs,” she said. “And he made Churchill Downs. Young people respected that Larry was able to climb those heights, to get to Churchill Downs. His family was very respected in the area. His legacy is going to live on for a long time.”

Melancon won 43 graded stakes, including Keeneland's Grade I Blue Grass on Bachelor Beau for trainer Phil Hauswald in 1986. He captured four Grade II stakes, including Churchill Downs' Stephen Foster, on the Niall O'Callaghan-trained Guided Tour. Melancon rode in the Kentucky Derby four times, his best finish being fourth on Amano in 1976.

“Larry was a very good rider and even better person who was courage personified in the face of great personal adversity,” said racing broadcaster Caton Bredar, a family friend.

Even last August the Melancons found a way to go fishing out on Lake Huron in Michigan, which proved to be Larry's last trip. Denise Melancon said her husband continued to greatly look forward to the regular Monday night potluck dinners they'd have over with Dallas Stewart, the trainer getting a ramp for his house to accommodate Larry's wheelchair.

Denise Melancon said her husband's ashes will join his mother in Breaux Bridge. No public service is scheduled, per the jockey's request. The family suggests memorial gifts go to The Jockey Club Safety Net Foundation, 40 E. 52nd Street, New York, N.Y., 10022, or the Permanently Disabled Jockey Fund, P.O. Box 803, Elmhurst, Ill, 60126.

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Angel Motano: A Life Well-Lived, American Dream Attained

Angel Montano Sr. came to the United States from Mexico City at age 17 on a Greyhound bus with a fourth-grade education, $100 and six sandwiches made by his mama. He knew three words of English —“bacon and eggs” or “coffee and donuts,” depending on who is telling the story. No matter which, that's all the teenage Angel ate on the trip because it was all he could order when the bus made its many stops on the three-day trip.

Montano's dreams of making it as a jockey were dashed after a bad spill in which he suffered a broken arm and leg and once healthy found himself too heavy to ride. He would, however, become the embodiment of the American dream.

Montano was one of the very few people working on Kentucky's backstretches in the 1950s and 60s whose native language was Spanish. He went on to become one of the Commonwealth's winningest trainers in the 1970s, leading to his nickname The King. More important is his legacy, in partnership with his wife of 58 years, Pat, as the patriarch of one of the most accomplished sports families ever in Louisville. Forget the sports, just one of the great families, period.

The King was the dean of Kentucky trainers in a career dating 60 years when he died on his 80th birthday Oct. 1 at a Louisville hospital. His death came two years and a day after his wife's passing.

Montano started training in the early 1960s. With record-keeping at the time requiring a certain amount of purse earnings or wins, his official statistics begin in 1966, totaling 1,413 victories and $15,627,481 in purses. His stable won at least four races every year during that span, including 10 in 2020 and a high of 94 in 1976.

Montano captured three straight Churchill Downs' spring-meet titles from 1976-78, led the Ellis Park standings four times (1974, 1976, 1987 and 1990), took the Turfway Park holiday-meet crown in 1990 and 2000 and claimed five titles at the long-closed Miles Park in Louisville's West End. With 378 victories, Montano ranks No. 10 all-time at Churchill Downs.

“What he has done, I don't think will ever be repeated,” said veterinarian Dr. Rick Fischer, himself the dean of Kentucky's racetrack private practitioners and who knew Angel back to when both were teens working at Miles Park. “Because he started with absolutely nothing. The horses he had at first, you could buy them for $500. As far as being able to take care of horse and fix their ills and lamenesses, he was the greatest. And he knew how to read the condition book. He could tell when a horse was doing well, when a horse wasn't doing well. He knew every horse if they left one oat in the tub. There's just not going to be anymore (like him). There's too much with this cell phone stuff now, always in contact with the owners and going this and that. A guy can't train 20 horses anymore, that was about the limit. Now, you've got guys who train 400 or 200 horses.”

Angel and Pat Montano's seven surviving children — Angel Jr., Joe, Tony, Gloria, Juan, Miguel and Maria, with son Manuel passing in early childhood — excelled not only in sports but in the classroom, a dual heritage carried on by 22 Montano grandchildren. It remains to be seen if that excellence will pass on to yet another generation, but then, the oldest of Angel's five great-grandchildren is only 5.

Angel Jr., Juan and Miguel all won state football championships at Louisville's St. Xavier High School, with Gloria playing for Mercy Academy's 1982 girls basketball team that lost the state championship by four points to powerhouse Marshall County. Both Juan and Miguel played football with distinction at the University of Louisville, with Miguel setting multiple receiving records and being selected an Academic All-American.

The Montano grandchildren have produced state high-school championships in girls basketball, football, soccer, golf, field hockey, cross country and track. Granddaughter Makenzie Montano was starting setter for Lindsey Wilson College's 2017 undefeated NAIA national volleyball champions and honored as national player of the year.

“It's amazing what he did, raising all those kids, turning out like they did,” said trainer Greg Foley, whose Churchill Downs' barn was next to Montano's for almost 35 years. “Really is. They had a good mama, too. They put them all through St. X and Mercy. All great kids. Angel said, 'You have to have a pretty good broodmare, but you need a great stallion.' We'd say, 'You need to raise your stud fee up.' I'd just look at him and laugh. There will never be another Angel.

“It was incredible, everyone of them. The girls could play, the boys. All great high-school athletes, several of them college athletes. All good students, good kids. I mean, every family, you got that many, there's got to be one screw up. But there wasn't.”

Angel Jr. says their mom was the disciplinarian, jokingly describing her as “somewhere between Schwarzkopf and Dick Cheney. She loved you, tough-loved you. But she only told you once.

“We thought that was the way you did it,” he said. “We didn't know you shouldn't try hard in school, shouldn't try hard in basically everything you did. Mom worked to a fault; Dad always worked other jobs. We never had whole lots of money but he always made ends meet by doing odd jobs. He used to sell Christmas trees out of Haymarket. We never were hungry and never knew we were poor.”

Montano never had a horse in the Kentucky Derby. But he was good friends with Hall of Fame trainer Laz Barrera, and you'll see him in Derby winner's circle photo of Triple Crown winner Affirmed.

“If you ever asked him if he'd won the Kentucky Derby, he'd say 'Yeah, I won it eight times,” Angel Jr. said. “That was in reference to us kids. He was happy with that. He was proud of us, almost embarrassingly so.”

While Montano's racing stable was a force in Kentucky racing for parts of six decades, most of it was in the claiming ranks. His most notable weekend came in 1995 when he won the $75,000 Churchill Downs Turf Sprint with Long Suit on the Kentucky Oaks undercard and then the $100,000 Grade 3 Churchill Downs Handicap with 20-1 shot Goldseeker Bud on the Derby undercard, defeating 1994 Derby winner Go for Gin.
Montano also won the $100,000 Ellis Park Debutante in 1992 with 26-1 shot Jen's Fashion and took four stakes in 1990 with Spiced Coffee among the trainer's 13 career stakes victories.

“Thirty years ago, he was an icon around Kentucky,” Fischer said. “He was leading trainer in the state for I don't know how many years. He had a huge stable for then. Big was 20, 25 horses, and he had like 40. I remember all his kids walking hots.”

The Montano family's barbecues by the barn were legendary, especially Derby Day. Angel loved holding court with his fellow horsemen, joking around and telling stories. He was simply one of the most affable and popular trainers around.

A vintage story about Montano is how he met his wife, whose family owned a market near Miles Park. As Angel told friends, he was busted and went to a nearby bingo hall to try to run up what little money he had. There he met the former Pat Wigginton. Whether young Angel made any money or not, as Romans says now, “He hit the jackpot that night.”

Only Tony made racing a full-time job after college, working as Fischer's assistant for almost 20 years before moving into another profession off the track. But all the kids inherited their dad's passion for the sport.
Today all of Angel and Pat's children, their spouses and many of their friends are involved in racing as owners through several partnership groups. That kept Montano stocked with horses late in his career in an era where it's increasingly difficult for small outfits to compete with the mega stables. (The eight horses in the barn are now trained by Montano's longtime assistant Juan Cano.)

Angel Sr. not only brought his kids into the business, he brought in Pat and many of her nine sisters. That includes Judy Wigginton, a veterinarian assistant after years as an exercise rider, and Candie Baker, wife of trainer Jimmy Baker. Another sister, Marlene Wigginton, was a former jockey and assistant trainer for her brother-in-law until her death in 2010.

“Pat's mom would come out to the barn all the time,” Fischer recalled. “She didn't do any work, but she'd sit up by the tack room and read her prayer book. All the girls were there doing something.

“He was always bragging on his kids, and especially his grandkids. When they were doing sports, he'd have the clippings on the bulletin board in the tack room. He was really a family-oriented person and really loved his family. Oh, he'd get mad at them but he never got mad at them like 'I won't talk to you.' It was 'Darn it, Joey, walk (the horse) a little faster.' That was it.”

Trainer Dale Romans was just a kid hanging out at the barn of his dad, the late Jerry Romans, when he first met Montano, whose barn was in the same corner of the Churchill Downs backstretch. Romans finds it hard to fathom how Montano was able to succeed with so much going against him.

“Now anybody who comes here, there's Spanish markets to go to, Spanish places,” he said. “You don't have to speak English if you don't want to. You think about when he did it, there wasn't any of that. Also, the Spanish wave that came through found a safe haven in Angel. They could go to Angel when they had a question. He'd help you. He was a mentor. Not just jockeys, anybody who didn't know where they were, they were a long ways from home, they could always go down to Angel's barn and he'd fix problems for them or explain to them – and it would be all right.”

Romans said he first realized “what a leading trainer was when Angel was the leading trainer at Churchill. He was leading in everything. He made a good living and raised his family right (while working) on the racetrack. He was very proud of that.

“I think he was very happy to be known as the father of the clan, more so than as a horse trainer.”

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