August 29, 2004

BY MIKE HOULIHAN

I put a ten spot to win on Absolute Authority the other night at the Hawthorne harness races in Stickney. The stud went off at 2-1, and like a mope I ignored my cardinal rule. Never bet the favorite.

I tried to speak with the horse before the race as he stood in the paddock. When I introduced myself, he turned to face the back wall and I was staring into his keester. I didn't expect Mr. Ed, but this was a total snub. It wasn't the first time I've found myself talking to a horse's ass.

 Donna Lee Ozment is the horse's trainer. She clued me in, "Being the favorite is the kiss of death. To be on the cover of the program or 'best bet of the night,' just throw that one out." I should have listened to her.

Donna has been in the horse business for 38 years. "Which is tough when you're only 39!" Her maternal grandmother was a Blackfoot Indian. She bought her first horse when she was 12 for 75 bucks. "I baby-sat for the neighbors and mowed lawns. I saved my money and bought a saddle horse."

She moved to a fairgrounds near Champaign, where they had harness races, and by 13 she was working at the track exercising horses. "I got to clean a lot of stalls and I jogged and I bathed and I hot walked and I bought my first standardbred when I was 16." Standardbreds are horses specifically bred for harness racing.

Today she trains horses for owner Ed Teefey. "I've trained horses for Ed for 20 years, longer than most of my husbands."

Donna is a regular Dr. Dolittle with her horses. "They're very responsive to my voice. Falita's a mare, I tell her to pick up her foot and she'll pick it up. She's a really cool horse."

The sport originated on the rural roads of America toward the end of the 18th century, when Jethro would challenge Festes to a race in their horse and buggies. The sulkies were popular at county fairs, and then in the '40s pari-mutuel betting kicked in and they were off to the races.

Most of Donna's harness racing is done at Hawthorne and the rest of the year at Maywood and Balmoral racetracks. The pacers and trotters run almost every day of the year. She gets up every morning around 5 a.m., feeds, grooms and exercises the horses and then loads them onto a truck and takes 'em to the track to run. She won't get to her home back in Steger until after midnight most nights. It's a grueling schedule. I can imagine her husband, Tim screaming, "My kingdom for a horse!"

Donna took me on a tour of the backstretch, where all the horses hang out with the drivers, grooms and trainers in the stables. I got used to the smell right away. Jack Kelly of the Illinois Harness Horsemen's Association joins us as we walk over to the track. Donna says hello to one of the drivers, "Hiya, Frenchy," and I feel like I'm in a Mickey Rooney movie. There aren't many women working here, and I ask her if that's ever been a problem. "No, I like men."

There's a family atmosphere to the backstretch. Donna has known many drivers since they were kids. But that's not what draws her to the track. "I just love horses. I always have. They're easy to get along with, they're fun. I have a lot of success with mares and fillies."

Stallions can be unmanageable. "Some of these things come in here and they're over the wall and they're bellowing and kicking." Those horses soon become geldings. The lesson being that if you get out of line, you get castrated. Donna says, "Yeah, exactly." Jack Kelly says, "Kinda like being at home."

The trainer and driver both get 5 percent of the purse and the owner gets the rest. "Catch drivers" take a lot of mounts and can pull down as much as five grand in a week if they get hot. Nice work if you can get it. What if you get a big fat guy like me that wants to be a driver? "The race bikes are so aerodynamic now I don't think the weight makes a difference. Size doesn't make a big issue in our business."

Size don't matter. It sure ain't show biz.

The Illinois Harness Horsemen's Association Benevolent Fund was founded in 1997. The fund helps owners, drivers and trainers during hard times. Today the fund finances college scholarships for horsemen's kids. "We've had a couple of medical emergencies where people were in dire straits and we've helped them. It's a great organization."

Donna trains a couple of horses that she owns. What do you do with a horse that's just a complete dog? "Well, most of them I keep. If I really don't think they're gonna make it, I usually try to find them a home and get them adopted. The last one I gave to a little girl for a saddle horse. I broke him to ride, no more racing, just broke him to trail ride and gave it to this 16-year-old girl and she's still got him."

That girl just might be the next Donna Lee Ozment.

Jack and I watched them trot around the track as they warmed up before post time. A horse got spooked and tossed the driver and cart over the rail. Donna ran out of the stands and hopped on another cart to come to the rescue of the frazzled filly.