Imperial Valley press., 1927-11-05
NOTED TRAINERS
PREPARING FOR
TIJUANA MEET

TIJUANA RACE TRACK, Mex,
Nov. 5.-Word comes that Charles
"Boots' Durnell, one of the most
colorful characters of the American
turf and tabled by host of ex-
perts as the greatest horsemen of
all times, is setting his cap for the
rich winter harvest at the Tijuana
meeting, to be ushered in on
Thanksgiving Day.
Boots" "Long Shot Boots, -
they used to call him, is now rae
ing his string at "Curley" Brown s
beautiful new Arlington race course
in Chicago. 1t was this same Windy
City that furnished the stage set
ting in the days of long ago, when
Durnell and Emil Herr were coupled
in the betting for some of the
coups that made "Bootsn the sem
sation of the turf. Mean horses
| that wouldn t leave the barrier be-
came lambs under the magic touch
of this master horseman. Platers
that couldn't get out of their own
way flashed down in front; good
horses became better and better
ones best.
Then "Boots' joined out with
"Bet a Million' Gates and John
Drake, probably the most sensation
al bettors the turf ever saw. Drake
wouldn't "bet Million" but he
would bet nine hundred and ninety
nine thousand and, when their wiz
ard trainer gave the word, they
would stand all the metropolitan
bookics on their ears and send them
all to the "cleancrs, 80 punch drunk,
broke, every last pocket turnde in
side out and then scraped for good
measure.
Durncll, Gates and Drake became
boogey-men to the bookie, the
"fattcst0 of 'cm shying when this
trio stormed the ring. One Of their
greatest coups was when Nealon
won the Suburban Handicap. In a
moment Of madness, which turned
: into sadness, the "Mets, ''--as the
bookmakers of that time were call
ed,-posted odds of thirty to one
against Ncalon. "Bct-a- Million
fand his two aides took a flying leap
at that "thirty." After they had
! hammered it down to within strikr
ing distance of zero, they sat back
and watched Ncalon write page
in Southern Handicap history.
Went to Rouman1a
Later "Boots' went to Roumania
where he trained for the Prime
Minister of that colorful little coun-
try.
But the ycarning for the old home
town and the old home tracks crept
into Boots soul. SO he trekked
back to the L. S. A. and is now go,
ing great guns with the open purse
! of one of the richest men in the
country back of him. This man IL
w. T. Waggoncr. aged cattle, land
and "oil baron, himself as full of
color as rainbow. He is only
worth something like a hundred
million. He told Durnell the sky
was the limit and Mr.. "Boots >
! h'hl " No'tI 'bNSd lCrb SUMMER ~
| the Phil Chinn sale, and stacked up
the aged Texans chips against the
wealth and elite of turfdom. When
he called it day, lr~ had put his
mark on $4,000 worth of the half
million dollar consignment of blue
floods that passed under the Chinn
hammer. When "Boots' told
Waggoner the bad news, expecting
at least mild reproof for go;nn
+ so strong, the Texas baron drawled
out: "What was the use Of beng
a piker, why didn't you buy 'om
all. -
Among the big string racing un-
der The Three d (Wacgoncr) and
ihc Dmner cnlcrs are: Handy Man
! dy, Mixup, Wellas, Irish Pal, Smii-
( ing Gus, Amilcar and eleven brcd
in the purple youngsters annexed at
the Chinn sale.