Asked which of his three nominees – Beau Choix, Gathering Cloud
and Radical Sabbatical – he
planned to run in Friday’s Grade 2 Bernard Baruch Handicap, trainer
Barclay Tagg demurred. Asked about Bernard Baruch himself, the trainer had
considerable insight.
“I like Bernard!” Tagg said. “He was riding in a
stagecoach one time out West and it had a couple million dollars in it, and
they got held up by bandits – this is true – and he stuffed it
under the seat. They made everybody get out and they took all their rings, all
their jewelry, took all their trunks off and opened up the trunks, stole
everything they had and rode off, and he still had his $2 million under the
seat.
“He was a pretty smart guy – an adviser to eight
presidents. His father was a country doctor in Camden, South Carolina,
drove a horse and buggy and had a little black satchel and went house to house.
Bernard Baruch discovered the baths up here, the warm springs, and his father
had always talked about hydrotherapy for people, so he developed the springs
and everything so his father would have something to do in his old age, and
meantime he helped develop the race track and everything else, so that’s
why they called that race the Bernard Baruch.
“I read two books about him. It took two books just to cover his
life. There was a library in Cockeysville,
Maryland, and I went by it on my
way home every night. One afternoon, I left early and I was sitting in there
reading books and I came across these two books and took them both home.
Anyway, I nominated three horses to it and I don’t know what I’m going
to do yet, but I’ve always wanted to win the Bernard Baruch.”