It was nineteen fifty two at Hollywood Park Race Track. At age seventeen Tommy Brown worked thoroughbred horses on the track as an exercise jockey. Tommy, my younger brother, started work in the early mornings before daylight and was usually finished working the horses before the sun heated the morning air. Tom did not look like an athlete because he had been starving himself for more than a year to keep his weight under one hundred twenty pounds. He was five feet eight inches tall and seemed to be growing taller by the minute. He had wonderful coordination, balance, and super strong hands and arms to control the large animals. Tommy had the expertise needed for race horse riding. He had been the leading jockey during the quarter-horse races at the fairgrounds in Reno where he lied about his age and used his older brother Ted's identification. Now he earned money exercising race horses at Hollywood Park.
Margaret O'Brien was making the movie Glory about race horses. Tommy was about the same age as Margaret, and he was selected to coach her on how to sit crouched on a race horse saddle and how to use the whip. He taught her to mount a horse as he gave her a "leg up" onto the little jockey saddle. The saddle was strapped to a bale of straw, and reins were tied to a post. Tommy gave Margaret pointers she might use in the movie, and the instructions lasted only a day. When the movie makers were gone, Tommy was made fun of by his race track friends. They teased him about a romance that was impossible. Miss O’Brien’s mother was a strict guardian of her child actress.
Years later Tom told me, "Pink Champagne was a speed-burner for half a mile. Then she would let up. I mean, I had to hold on tight at the start of a race to keep from slipping back to her rump and falling off as she ran out from under me. I saddled Pink Champagne one morning and reported to the track-master that I intended to run her half a mile. An older man was standing by with some horses he was apparently training. He asked me if I would allow one of his horses to run next to my mount. I said, ‘This mare I'm riding is Pink Champagne and she's a speed burner. Don't be surprised if she leaves your horse in the dust at first, but after a half a mile, she quits. I'm telling you because I don't want your horse to be upset when we leave him behind.’ "
"Don't worry" said the older man, "my big bay won't mind. He's not uneasy with fast starters."
Tom continued, “We walked our two horses and I asked the other exercise boy where he wanted to start the three quarter mile run. He decided to run on the outside of the track. We took a slow running start to the starting pole. Then I screamed and whacked Pink Champagne.
“I had wrapped her mane in my hand and pulled with all my might to keep from slipping back behind the saddle. She shot ahead, but I watched the big bay stay just to the right of my horse's heels running easily with what I could see was perfect action. When we reached the three eighths of a mile pole, the other jockey clucked in his horse's ear. The big bay doubled his cadence and jumped ahead as if he had been shot out of a canon. Clods of dirt hit me in the face from the flying heels of the big bay.”
After the workout Tom complimented the other exercise boy and asked the name of his mount. "This big bay is Citation, winner of the Kentucky Derby. The trainer, the old man you were talking to is Ben Jones, the world-famous trainer for Calumet Farms in Kentucky. He's the best race horse trainer in history."
A year later Ben Jones hired Tom to work with his race horses that were being trained. Ben had just started teaching his son who was a year or two older than Tommy. Ben Jones agreed to teach Tommy too. Tommy Brown learned to train race horses in California with Ben's son. Tommy became the youngest licensed trainer on the big race tracks. He was only eighteen. I remember listening to him on a radio interview.
Citation, nicknamed The Big Bay, was the winner of the 1948 Triple Crown, the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and Belmont Stakes. He was the first horse to win a million dollars. The Big Bay set a world speed record in 1950 by running the mile in 1:33 and three fifths. Citation died in 1970.
My little brother, Tommy did not stay long at the race tracks. He joined the United States Air Force, married Nancy Venner, and they started a family. He earned a college degree in his spare time while he was in the Air Force. After serving in New Mexico and later in Spain in the Air Force, Tom earned a doctorate in education. He became one of the pioneers who taught medical doctors to specialize in Family Practice. Tommy Brown also created several off campus satellite colleges (Some of them on military bases) for Chapman College. He is retired and lives near Sacramento, California where he specializes in making wine.
*NOTE: See Mooching for another story about Tommy and also see While Horse Jones by Tom Brown.