Wiggins gets an almost Hollywood ending

Last updated: 11/28/09 1:55 PM

Trainer Hal Wiggins was all smiles following his career finale
(Photo courtesy of John C. Engelhardt)

“What a way to finish,” trainer Hal Wiggins said Saturday morning.

With his final starter as a trainer, Wiggins watched as Robert V.
Hovelson’s HIGH SPIRIT (Stephen Got Even) closed from far back at
Churchill Downs to win Friday’s 10TH race by a nose and pay $55.60 to
win under Terry Thompson.

“I didn’t bet a dollar on him,” Wiggins said. “I had a hundred dollar
bill in my pocket and I was planning to break it and bet $5 across on
him, but I got to talking with a lot of people and never did it.”

What made the win all the more unreal for the 34-year training
veteran were the circumstances surrounding the race.

“If it hadn’t been the end of the meet, we probably wouldn’t have
run,” Wiggins said. “I had to change riders because Calvin (Borel) was
riding for his brother in the race. He was shortening up (from a mile to
seven furlongs) and jumping up in class. He was a legit 26-1 shot.

“When I put the saddle on him, I started to think about it being the
last one a bit and I spent a little extra time in the stall.”

More than 12 lengths back after a half-mile, Thompson swung High Spirit wide
at the head of the lane and began to mow down the field. At the eighth-pole,
racing in the middle of track, High Spirit was still four lengths off the lead
but managed to win.

Jockey Calvin Borel and Wiggins share a celebratory moment
(Photo courtesy of John C. Engelhardt)

“After I took the saddle off, Calvin was waiting for me by the scale and he
gave me a big hug,” Wiggins said. “He had won a race for me on Lady Durlyn
(Mutakddim) on Thursday. We go a long way back together. I found an old picture
the other day from 1983 at Delta Downs with the two of us the first year he
rode.”

So Friday capped a Hollywood ending for Wiggins, almost.

“If Hollywood had written the script, I would still have Rachel,” said
Wiggins, who turns 67 on Monday.

Rachel, of course, is Rachel Alexandra (Medaglia d’Oro), the brilliant
three-year-old filly who Wiggins saddled for owner-breeder Dolphus Morrison and
partner Mike Lauffer for a record-smashing 20 1/4-length victory in the Kentucky
Oaks (G1) this spring.

Wiggins said that Friday’s victory and Rachel Alexandra’s Oaks triumph would
rank high in the top five moments in his career. The day Rachel Alexandra was
sold would be at the opposite end of the spectrum.

“It was a low point, no question,” Wiggins said of the morning Rachel
Alexandra left his barn for the short journey to new trainer Steve Asmussen’s
barn in early May. “But I don’t blame the owner for selling. To hit a home run
like that with the size of operation that I have, that doesn’t come around
often.

“I sure didn’t foresee a year like this. I thought we would have traveled
around the country with her and eventually maybe tried the males once.”

Wiggins, who will stay at Churchill Downs until Tuesday to oversee a couple
of works before turning the barn over to his son Lon, retires with a total of
872 victories in a career that began in 1976 and produced its first winner at
Evangeline Downs on July 2, 1977. His horses earned a total of $20,218,625 in
purses.

“It’s been a great ride and I’ve met a lot of great people,” said Wiggins,
who will join his wife, Renee, in Houston. “I am still going to go to sales and
still be involved in it. I love the game so much, I don’t want to quit cold
turkey.”