Bauer Continues Tradition of Having a Stable Family

Most horsemen consider their jobs a way of life, what with the ever-present cowboy boots, 10-gallon hats, big belt buckles and long hours.

Up-and-coming quarter horse trainer Joel Bauer takes his job one step further.

It’s a family affair.

Bauer, 27, grew up in Ventura County, the child of parents who raised horses for a living. Today, he has about 20 head in his stable at Los Alamitos Race Course and on any given morning you can find him and his wife Janelle rubbing down horses at the barn space they rent.

Joel met Janelle, a pony rider at Los Alamitos, about four years ago, not long after he started his own business. They married a year ago, and despite Los Alamitos purse increases over the last few years, the Bauers have no illusions of getting rich quick. Instead, they manage their stable’s growth.

“If money is the issue, I’d quit and do something else and get a couple of days off each week,” Bauer said.

Getting to know their clients well is as important as sending their horses out to the track. One big family, you might say.

“A smaller stable is about all I want,” Bauer said. “It’s the way I like to do it. I like to know what’s going on with each of my horses.

“Those people who have 100 horses in their barns, they have a lot of really good help and that’s fine. But the owners don’t call up the help to ask how their horse is doing,” he said. “They call me and I have to answer them. With 100 horses, there’s no way anyone is going to know exactly what’s going on with everyone.”

Bauer’s tiny stable, nevertheless, has turned in some big results.

Last season, he took a hunch on an Mr. Clean Jeans, an unspectacular 4-year-old sorrel gelding. Originally claimed for only $1,600, Mr. Clean Jeans responded to Bauer with victories in the $14,220 California Claiming Stakes Challenge and the $50,360 Professional Choice Claiming Stakes Challenge Championship.

Two weeks ago, Bauer became the first trainer in Los Alamitos’ 49-year history to send out three breeds to victory on the same night when he saddled a quarter horse, an Arabian and a thoroughbred.

Bauer, who prefers to train quarter horses because he believes they are more intelligent than other breeds, accepts only horses that he thinks will fit into the tiny family circle he has developed.

“The horses become like your children,” he said. “You live and breathe with them everyday.”

DEL MAR OPENING

Purses are expected to increase as much as 15% when the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club opens its 42-day meet Thursday. The meet concludes Sept. 8.

Last season, Del Mar paid out an average of $416,000 a day to winning horsemen during a 43-day meet. This year, daily payouts are expected to average $450,000.

The increase was been made possible by state legislation passed last year that gave horse racing tracks in the state tax breaks and allowed them to increase the number of daily races being shown via satellite for wagering purposes. Twenty imported races a day are now allowed.

First post on opening day Thursday is 2 p.m.

SOLD

The San Luis Rey Downs training facility in Bonsall has been sold for $6.3 million to a Canadian investor, who says he plans to renovate the facility.

Frank (Scoop) Vessels III, grandson of Los Alamitos founder Frank Vessels, had received several offers from developers to sell the 110-paddock facility, which can house up to 600 horses. Despite its location adjacent to Vessel’s Stallion Farm, the Northern San Diego County area has seen much housing growth in recent years.

But Canadian industrialist Frank Stronach, who purchased Santa Anita Race Track last December for $126 million, told the Quarter Racing Journal Magazine he intends to convert the facility into a holding center for horses currently trained at Santa Anita.

CLOSING POINT

Del Mar will host two free, early-morning horse seminars geared for families, Aug. 14 and 28. Hosted by track announcer Trevor Denman, the two-hour sessions will feature a question and answer period, appearances by jockeys and trainers and an opportunity to watch morning workouts. The sessions begin at 8 a.m. For more information, call (858) 755-1141.