PATIENCE PAYS

Ron Ellis is known around the tracks as a patient man.

One of Southern California’s winningest thoroughbred trainers, Ellis is known for taking his time with horses and taking special care with those prone to injury.

His patience was tested in recent weeks.

Ellis had hoped to run three horses in the Breeders’ Cup today at Hollywood Park. But Benchmark dropped out of the Classic with a chipped ankle last month. Then Twice the Vice, who would have been the favorite in the 1 1/8-mile Distaff, was found to have a fracture of the cannon-bone last weekend.

Adding insult to injury, the Breeders’ Cup selection committee chose not to include Exotic Wood in the $1-million Sprint, an oversight that rankled Ellis.

It wasn’t until Monday that the trainer got a break of the lucky kind. He learned Kelly Kip wasn’t coming out from New York, allowing Exotic Wood to move from the also-eligible list into the field of 14.

Not given to mood swings, Ellis reacted with quiet satisfaction.

“I’m obviously happy,” he said. “I’m glad she gets the chance to show what she can do.”

“Let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”

-- Hebrews 12:1-2

Ellis has always loved horses. When he was 15, a neighbor took him to Santa Anita and he fell in love with the track.

Still a student at Monroe High, he began working after school and during vacations as a hot walker, cooling down horses after their daily exercise.

His parents had visions of him continuing his education, but after graduation “there wasn’t any need to go to college,” Ellis said. “I knew what I wanted to do.”

Veteran trainer Larry Sterling made him a groom and they spent hours in the barn discussing the art of training.

It’s a tricky business, knowing when and how to push a horse, knowing every horse is different. There are a thousand details to sweat, from halters and saddles to blacksmiths and veterinarians.

The trainer must play psychologist, sensing how to motivate his animal. He must play businessman, keeping his clients happy, keeping a staff.

“Larry took me under his wing,” Ellis recalled. “I learned most of what I know from him.”

The young man figured that, with a little luck, he might be training his own horses by the age of 25. But he’d been around the backstretch only a few years, was only 20, when luck came calling.

“He that has patience may compass anything.”

-- Francois Rabelais

To B. Or Not was an established sprinter that was having trouble with injuries. The horse had passed from Sterling to another trainer but wasn’t improving. The owners knew Ellis and suspected he had the personality to solve the problem.

“They knew I really loved the horse and would treat it well,” Ellis said. “We could take our time and plug away.”

Instead of cutting his teeth on a $10,000 claimer, Ellis jumped in with a legitimate stakes horse. To B. Or Not won the 1980 Carlsbad Stakes at the now-defunct Del Mar Fair meeting and then won on opening day at Santa Anita.

“There was a huge crowd of 60,000 or 70,000 people,” Ellis recalled. “That was a big thrill.”

The horse raced until he was 7 years old and earned $300,000 under Ellis’ handling. It was a heady beginning for a novice trainer.

“I thought every horse I trained would win,” Ellis said. “I probably didn’t appreciate the circumstance until after that horse retired and I didn’t get another one like him for a couple of years.”

Still, his stable grew. In the mid-1980s, he got a call from Marty and Pam Wygod.

“We liked his hands-on method of training,” Marty Wygod said. “The attention to detail, the amount of time he devotes.”

Ellis took Pharma--who had a history of ailments--and nursed her through just 14 races over the course of several years before the 5-year-old mare finally won the $155,650 Santa Ana Handicap.

His forbearance paid off with Twice the Vice, who returned from a nine-month layoff to give him a big win in the $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park last year.

“Where there is patience and humility, there is neither anger nor vexation.”

-- St. Francis of Assisi.

One of his greatest joys has become one of his greatest disappointments.

“Twice the Vice was the one I was really looking forward to,” Ellis said. “We worked hard on her all year.”

Last week, a bump appeared on the mare’s lower left foreleg. Ellis ordered a precautionary examination, the kind that almost always comes up negative. This time, the X-rays showed a slight fracture.

Ellis lost more than a chance to race his cherished horse.

At the age of 37, he has trained horses that have amassed $15.5 million in purse earnings, winning 20% of 2,814 starts, according to the Daily Racing Form. His horses have won at Saratoga and Belmont. They have finished in the money 48% of the time.

Yet, none of his horses have run in the Kentucky Derby or the Preakness. He lacks the caliber of win that would vault him beyond the description of “up-and-coming,” into the atmosphere of a D. Wayne Lucas or a Charlie Whittingham.

Twice the Vice might have carried him there.

But you won’t find Ellis bemoaning his fate. You won’t find him scrambling to enlarge his small stable of 40 to 50 horses, though a larger number might give him more chances to develop a winner.

No matter what happens with Exotic Wood today, Ellis won’t change his careful, methodical ways.

“In this business, you have ups and downs,” he said. “I don’t get too excited when I win and I don’t get too disappointed when I lose.”

For now, Ellis can remain patient.