TAGG ISSUE 29_Jerkins feature.qxd 25/07/2013 20:37 Page 2
BARCLAY TAGG
BARCLAY TAGG The sensitive horseman behind the hard exterior Barlay Tagg was branded as a ‘curmudgeon’ by some in the media during the years he trained Kentucky Derby winner Funny Cide, but as Frances J. Karon discovers, there was good reason for playing tough and why, as a result, he has been greatly misunderstood
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WORDS: FRANCES J. KARON PHOTOS: NANCY ROKOS, FRANCES J.KARON, HORSEPHOTOS.COM
NDER cover of darkness on an early morning at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York, trainer Barclay Tagg looks up from running his hand down a colt’s
foreleg in a stall. “What am I going to do if I stop training? The winner’s circle is my release.” And as Tagg resumes his routine tendon inspection, the two-year-old fidgets. “Stop it!” It’s a gentle reprimand from a man who seems incapable of walking down his shedrow without affectionately playing with the horses he passes. “How’d you do that, huh, knucklehead?” he says to one, tapping him on the forehead, and, to his pony, ex-racehorse Storm on the Moon, “Hey, pretty! Who’s a pretty boy?” Even the rooster gets attention. Tagg picks him up and asks, “Are you causing trouble?” The reality doesn’t fit with the perceived image of Tagg as a crusty “curmudgeon,” as he has been branded by some of the media. Does he think he has gotten a bad rap? “Well, I did during the Funny Cide years. That was the most single-minded purpose I’ve ever had over a long period of time in my life. He was a very, very high-strung horse and a very talented horse, and I lost a lot of friends. There were a lot of people who didn’t like me because I was really adamant and tough about people bothering him.”
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