Photo: charles pravata/eclipse sportswire
Trainer Humberto Ascanio walks alongside three-year-old colt Causeithertz by Giant’s Causeway; he’s the first foal out of the former Bobby Frankel trainee Megahertz at Hollywood Park, Inglewood, CA.
Born in Guadalajara, Mexico, Ascanio, now 62, made the 1,200-plus-mile journey with his mother and several relatives to the border city of Tijuana (across the border from San Diego) at the age of 12 in search of a better life. “My parents had separated, and I had to help out my mother,” Ascanio said. “My sister was the oldest, but everyone else was younger, so I had to help out anyway I could.” For Ascanio, it meant leaving elementary school. “I worked at a car wash and cleaned cars at the border as they waited in line,” he said. “I even helped out a mechanic. Anything, really. We were just trying to work toward a better future.” At the urging of his brother-in-law, Ascanio decided to go to the United States and work with horses. “I had been around horses as a kid, and I had ridden horses,” he said, “but nothing a thoroughbred.” Leaving Tijuana behind wasn’t hard, and once in California Ascanio quickly
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said Ascanio, who took the job and three years later was promoted to assistant trainer. “At times, we had as many as 50 horses in our barn, so that made it necAscanio essary for us to have on board eight exercise riders, 10 grooms, 10 hot walkers and a night watchman.” During the 1970s the Frankel barn was a claiming powerhouse, and it was Frankel’s knack of placing his horses well that brought success to the stable. “Bobby was a good handicapper, and he knew how to place his horses in races where they stood [the best] chance of winning,” Ascanio said. Once a horse entered the Frankel barn, it would undergo a transformation. “Bobby would feed the best to his horses,” Ascanio said. “He would buy the best hay, alfalfa, vitamins, and many times his way of training made a huge difference. Many [new] horses
I had been around horses as a kid, and I had ridden horses, but nothing like a thoroughbred. – Humberto found work with trainers Farrell Jones (father of Gary and grandfather of Martin Jones) and Buster Millerick. “Both were excellent horsemen, and I learned a lot from them,” Ascanio said. “I started as a hot walker. then moved up to groom. I stayed with Jones for two years, then moved to the Millerick barn in 1968 and stayed there until 1973.” It was in 1973 that Ascanio was introduced to Frankel. “A friend told me about an opening, three horses, and good salary and asked if I was interested,” he said. A long friendship was born. After two years as a groom, Ascanio got his big break. “Bobby lost his foreman,”
April 3, 2010
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