'Prediction' making fond
memories
for trainer and charity
by Dave Joseph - The Ft.
Lauderdale Times. July 21, 1985
There are fond memories, Janet
Del Castillo says, but not many of victory.
Between bushtrack racing and bad breeding, Del Castillo, 40, has had little
luck and fewer winners with the thoroughbreds she has trained. After eight
years, she can't recall any of her horses as "noteworthy. It seems they've
always been bottom-of-the-line claimers."
In Winter Haven, where Del Castillo lives with her three children, the locals
don't care a lot about horse racing. In February, they turn their attention
to the Boston Red Sox, headquartered there for spring training. The rest of
the year, Winter Haven is known as the home of Cypress Gardens.
But Del Castillo may yet change the way they think. In the middle of Winter
Haven, on 12 acres, Del Castillo has what seems to be a legitimate stakes
horse in FIRST PREDICTION. The horse has been in the money six of her ten
races, and in her last start finished second in a division of Calder's Gloxina
Stakes.
Del Castillo isn't the only one profiting from First Predictions success.
The Florida Horsemen's Children's Home in Ocala for "problem" boys and girls
shares.
When Ed MacClellan of the children's home offered to sell Del Castillo the
filly and another horse in March for a bargain-basement $5,000, Del Castillo
didn't have the money. "I was helping them with artwork at the school, and
Ed asked if I wanted the two," Del Castillo said. The horses had been donated
to the school, and "he said that I could pay him when I had the money."
When First Prediction began earning some purse money, Del Castillo didn't
forget. Now, every time First Prediction earns a check, the children's home
gets a donation.
Del Castillo's odyssey began 10 years ago. Born and reared in San Francisco,
she trained polo ponies until she joined the Peace Corps and went to Columbia,
where she met her husband. After living in Buffalo and Staten Island, the
Del Castillo's moved to Winter Haven and started racing horses. "One day my
husband said that we should get some racehorses, so we got a few mares and
we bred them," Del Castillo said. "We raced [quarter horses] at Pompano, then
we got thoroughbreds. But after putting around $16,000 into the horses we
were lucky if they were running in $2,500 races at Tampa [Bay Downs]." Finally,
along came First Prediction, a 3-year old by On To Glory-Around The Bend.
First Prediction is not a large filly, but she has showed enough to be considered
a runner. After breaking her maiden at Tampa Bay Downs in March, the filly
has continued to improve. After running respectfully in two allowance races
at Hialeah, the filly moved to Calder and finished second to C'Mon Liz in
the Gloxina two weeks ago. Appearing to weaken after C'Mon Liz passed her
entering the stretch over Calder's turf course, First Prediction made a run
at the victor in the closing yards to place.
In Lieu of a track, Del Castillo has used her backyard. She builds her horses
up with slow five-mile gallops through the orange groves. "It's really more
like a trail," mostly heavy sand, which Del Castillo says builds up stamina.
"I think it's like a child," she said. "If you expose a horse to a lot of
things, then it's only a question of speed. I think my training builds up
a horse and makes it a stronger piece of equipment." After building up the
endurance and then testing her horses with intervals of speed workouts, she
swims them in a mile lake behind her house, "sometimes two times a day if
it's hot." The rest of the time, Del Castillo quarters her horses in her eight
stall barn as little as possible. "I think a horse needs sun and vitamin D,"
she said. "Sure, mine have a few problems with some cuts and nicks they get
on our fences, and their coats always look bleached , but their bodies are
much more solid, and I've never had any tendon problems because of the long,
slow foundation."
The foundation has been laid for
Saturday's $50,000 Office Queen Stakes for 3-year old fillies over Calder's
1 1/16-mile turf course. "I really think we've got a chance," Del Castillo
said. "All I've ever wanted all these years was a horse I could throw in the
van to race that wasn't afraid was going to get claimed. I've waited a lifetime
for this, and I may not get another chance."
So Friday Janet Del Castillo will van First Prediction the 4 1/2 hours from
Winter Haven to Miami in hope of winning the Office Queen. There will be a
lot of people pulling for Del Castillo, but none more than the boys and girls
at the Florida Horsemen's Children's Home.