Trainer Bruce Headley, who died last Friday following a stroke at age 86, had many interests outside horse racing. He loved his horses, but he also had a great zest for life. He loved to tell stories, tease people he liked and just have fun.
Ask those who knew him, and they’ll tell you he was a real character. The people closest to him most likely have their own favorite memories and tales of a man who never graduated from high school but taught lessons to many during his career.
The stories include the time Headley threw a pass during a touch football game at Arcadia County Park that caused friend and longtime agent Scotty McClellan to run into a tree and nearly kill himself.
After McClellan got up and players on both sides were finished holding their breath for fear he’d been seriously injured, everyone shared a hearty laugh at McClellan’s expense, led, of course, by Headley’s distinctive cackle.
“I said, ‘Bruce, why would you do that?’ And he said, ‘Well, nobody was open,”’ McClellan said Thursday while recalling the incredible life of Headley, who was a fan favorite around the Southern California tracks for decades.
Then there were the annual parties Headley and his wife of 59 years, Aase, would host in the backyard of their Arcadia home.
“We had Jack Russell races,” said Hall of Fame jockey Chris McCarron, who rode many of Headley’s 123 stakes winners. “We had a Jack Russell at the time and our dog actually won one of those blue ribbons, and I have a picture of that hanging on my wall.
“That was so much fun. They really knew how to enjoy life and they were a blast to be around.”
But what his friends and coworkers really remember about Headley was his horsemanship, the fact he returned home with so many bargain purchases at horse sales and turned those horses into stakes winners.
“I am very disappointed that the Hall of Fame hasn’t put him up there because he really belongs up there,” said another Hall of Fame rider, Alex Solis, who rode Headley’s best horse, Kona Gold, to victory in the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs. “There are a lot of guys who can call themselves trainers, but he wasn’t just a trainer, he was an incredible horseman.
“From the time he picked them as a baby, to the times that he broke them himself, to the times that he gave them rest and took care of them, that’s an incredible trainer. Not many people can say that.”
McCarron rode another of Headley’s top horses, Variety Road, and he recalled an incident in 1986 that showed how much the trainer cared for his horses.
“I was the fourth rider to fall in a five-horse spill, and Laffit (Pincay) was the last one to fall and he landed right on my left leg and broke it in four places,” McCarron said. “Put me out for the Breeders’ Cup, put me out for about six months.
“But to demonstrate how caring and concerned Bruce was, Variety Road wasn’t injured and he got up and started running down the track, and Bruce ran out onto the track and caught him. He yelled to the horse and the horse came right to him. He put his hand on the reins and led the horse back.”
Headley, known for embracing the hay, oats and water method of training, also learned one valuable lesson early on: If you’re good to the horse, the horse will be good to you.
“And he lived by that,” McCarron said.
Others in the industry took notice.
“He used to say, ‘You don’t need to be fast. You just got to last,’ and at first I wondered what he meant by that,” McClellan said. “What he meant was, if your horse had some ability and you took care of that horse and gave it time (off) when it needed time, the horse would reward you.
“When a horse had an issue, he gave him time. If they got a quarter crack, he’d patch it and give ’em time to heal. He believed in backing off and not trying to press the issue.
“That’s why he had so many horses that were 7-, 8- and 9-years-old running and winning stakes and doing well.”
The names read like a Who’s Who of the sport – Kona Gold, Bertrando, Got Koko, Street Boss, Surf Cat, Variety Road, Arson Squad, Son of a Pistol, Kalookan Queen, and the names go on and on.
Perhaps Solis is right. Maybe Headley should be enshrined in the racing Hall of Fame, right up there with the greatest of the greats.
“I think so, but I don’t know if the masses would think so,” McClellan said. “If you really look and see what the guy did, it was phenomenal. He didn’t get the best bred or the most expensive horses. He did all of this with cheaper, less quality horses that he turned into stars year after year after year.”
But even if Headley never makes the Hall, he’ll be remembered not only as a great horseman, but a great friend to many. Even more so to some.
“He wasn’t only a friend to me, he was like a father to me,” Solis said. “I learned so many things from him. He made me a better horseman.”
In other words, horse racing is a better sport today because of men like Bruce Headley.
Follow Art Wilson on Twitter at @Sham73
