Iowa Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (ITBOA)

 

20 Questions with Trainer Kelly Von Hemel

By Dennis L. Bracewell

 

Bracewell:  What is it like growing up with such great horsemen as your father Don Von Hemel and your brother Donnie K. Von Hemel?

 

Von Hemel:  It’s been a privilege.  Dad has been very successful and my brother has too.  Just to be able to be around them all the time and to have that wealth of knowledge at your access is a big advantage.  We bounce ideas off of them quite a bit!

 

Bracewell:  Donnie K. got jump started with the fifteen-time winner and millionaire, Clever Trevor.  Would you say twenty-three time winner and millionaire Sure Shot Biscuit was your breakthrough horse?

 

Von Hemel: I think so.  We’ve been pretty fortunate having some pretty good horses over the years but, yeah, he was definitely the man at the time.  First millionaire like that, he was really a big step up.

 

Bracewell:  What are your greatest memories of the Sure Shot Biscuit campaign?

 

Von Hemel:  Just seeing him in the stall.  When you had him in your barn it was just so special seeing him in the stall every morning.  It’s hard to narrow down one particular race.  I think that race at Keeneland, the one he won on the grass was pretty special.  He still has the track record in Omaha when he won the hundred thousand (stakes) over there.  It’s hard to narrow down just one highlight but just seeing him in the barn everyday was probably the biggest highlight.

 

Bracewell:  Sure Shot Biscuit was winless in his last sixteen career starts yet hit the board in thirteen of those sixteen starts.  Was it difficult seeing this champion come up just a little short in those races?

 

Von Hemel:  Yes it was.  You’re always hoping for the best.  As things mounted up as far as talent dwindling and age caught up and a little problems.  We took chips out of his knees and he was pretty arthritic.  The day he went over a million he was in the front the whole way until the final jumps and he finished third.  If he could’ve just won that day would have been awesome.  It was pretty tough.  You can see by the stats that he ran hard every time.

 

Bracewell:  You train for a veritable “who’s who” among Iowa trainers as your owners include country music star Toby Keith; the Richter Family Trust; Iowa HBPA President Leroy Gessman; ITBOA Board members Ray Shattuck, Dick Cosaert and Scott Pope; and many others.  Is it difficult keeping such high profile connections happy?

 

 

Von Hemel:  No.  They’re all very intelligent people; they’re all good horsemen; they all know how the game works; they know where their horses belong.  It’s been relatively pretty easy working with all of these guys.  They’re just all very good horse people.

 

Bracewell:  The movie Dreamer was loosely based on ten-time winner Mariah’s Storm trained by your dad and owned by Des Moines’ own Thunderhead Farms.  Did you get to spend any time around Mariah and what are your recollections of her?

 

Von Hemel:  My favorite one, a lot of people remember when she beat Serena’s Song at Turfway, but the most special race she had was the one in Omaha.  She had fractured her cannon bone the year before and dad had trained her up to the Ak-Sar-Ben Oaks and she won big.   Seeing that first race come back and run like she did the first time was incredible.

 

Bracewell:  Your beautiful wife, Pamela, is the daughter of trainer Larry Donlin.  How do you guys ever get away from horse racing and what do you do for fun when you are away?

 

Von Hemel:  We don’t get away very often.  For a lot of years we went to Las Vegas with my family to the rodeo.  My dad’s been to the National Finals Rodeo for like 40 years straight.  Unfortunately we don’t get away from horse racing a whole lot.  We’ll spend a weekend or Christmas but that’s pretty much it, this is about all we do.

 

Bracewell:  My greatest night of racing came on Iowa Classic Night 2009, when our homebred, Brenda’s Slew finished first in the Iowa Sorority Stakes in front of your runner, Jenny Lynn.  You, however, did win three stakes races on that card.  Was that your greatest night of racing?

 

Von Hemel:  It was a big night.  We’ve had some big nights, though.  We’ve won three races on Classic Night each of the last three years.  They’ve all been very special because of the owners and everybody that participates.  The success we’ve had on Classic Night has been pretty special.

 

Bracewell:  You campaigned 2010 Champion Two Year Old Iowa bred filly Launch Light Lady, who was sold last fall in the Iowa Fall Sale.  Lucky Daz, who beat Launch Light Lady in the 2010 Iowa Sorority, has come back strong, and recently beat Launch Light Lady in an allowance/optional claimer.  You also have top filly Someplace Else. Which one of these two fillies is your best shot on Classic Night 2011?

 

Von Hemel:  It looks like Someplace Else is our best shot.  She’s an awful nice filly.  She’s had seven starts and has 3 wins and 4 seconds.  Of course Ginger Added will be in that race.  We ran really big the other night in open company.  She’s probably our best shot that night.

 

Bracewell:  Miss Macy Sue, who won ten of nineteen career starts, got you to the Breeder’s Cup where she ran third.  What’s it like running in the Breeder’s Cup?  What’s it like running at Saratoga?  And what’s it like winning a stakes race at Churchill Downs?

 

Von Hemel:  The ride that she took us on started at Churchill when she won the Winning Colors and then she came here and won the Saylorville.  But going to Saratoga, that’s one of those dreams you never think you’ll get to experience.  At Saratoga it was a five horse field and she was favored.  It was Pletcher, Frankel, me, and two other Hall-of-Fame or future Hall-of-Fame trainers saddling horses so that was a lot of fun.   Then to go to the Breeders’ Cup and Presque Isle was so much fun. To go there and watch Street Sense and English Channel, the Europeans, the paparazzi, it’s special.  If you had a purple Breeders’ Cup saddle cloth on, I don’t care who you are, there were lots of cameras clicking.  That ride, from Churchill to Saratoga to the Breeders’ Cup, that’s one of the rides that everybody wants to do.  I think everybody should go to Saratoga.

 

Bracewell:  Ray and Peggy Shattuck are super nice people and true assets to the Iowa thoroughbred scene.  Their Red Hot N Gold, who recently retired, won two Cyclone Handicaps, the Iowa Breeder’s Derby, the John Wayne Stakes and even won the open-company Hot Springs Handicap at Oaklawn Park.  What’s your fondest memory of Red Hot N Gold?

 

Von Hemel:  I think the first time that he won the Cyclones Stakes just by a nose. Physically he wasn’t bad but he just wasn’t at the top, at the peak of his performance, but he still gutted it out.  It epitomized what he was when he ran that day that he wasn’t 100 percent and still got it done.  What a pleasure, what a joy, what a racehorse! 

 

Bracewell:  You have won three of the four running’s of the Iowa Classic Sprint.  Do you have any runners that you are keying for that race this year?

 

Von Hemel:  We’re in trouble this year.  Nothing to run.

 

Bracewell:  Semaphore Man was another top sprinter in your barn winning nine races and over a half million dollars.  He seemed to love Oaklawn Park winning two Count Fleet Sprints while also finishing second and third in that race.  What was the key to that son of Formal Gold’s success?

 

Von Hemel:   I think a lot of it, he did have a fondness for Oaklawn, but we always gave him a lot of time off.  He was always good and fresh and we pointed him to Oaklawn.  He was always at his peak as far as fresh and physically he was just at his peak when we hit Hot Springs.

 

Bracewell:  Of all the tracks you’ve been to which track is your favorite and why?

 

Von Hemel:  I love Keeneland and I love Saratoga.  Both of those places, the history, the nostalgia, and the people’s love for the game.  When you walk down the streets at Saratoga, I don’t care where you go, what shop, what restaurant, there’s horse racing pictures everywhere, it’s all about horse racing and everybody knows you.  Hot Springs is also like that.  The history that’s been at Keeneland and Saratoga is very special. 

 

Bracewell:  You have a son, two daughters and a grand-daughter.  Will any of them be following you into the family business?

 

Von Hemel:  Boy I hope not (laughing).   Right now, Kelby went to horse shoeing school and he’s an apprentice.  But as far as following my footsteps for being a trainer, no.

 

Bracewell:  You got your one-thousandth career win at Prairie Meadows in 2007 with the Toby Keith horse, Bones Light.  Will you keep training to win two-thousandth and beyond?

 

Von Hemel:  I hope I can win that many.  This is one of those games you just can’t out-grow.  As long as you can keep in it, keep being successful and keep having customers.  Hopefully we can get to that point.

 

Bracewell:  You’re off to Remington Park for the fall and then to Oaklawn Park for the spring.  How do you deal with being away from home?

 

Von Hemel:  That’s the worst part of the business is being away from home a lot.  When the kids are growing up you miss a lot.  You miss a lot of activities and you just miss them in general. It’s a little easier now that they are older.  That part of the business is by far the worst part of it.

 

Bracewell:  You served on the board of directors for the Iowa HBPA.  What do you think are the greatest challenges facing our horsemen?  What are the greatest challenges facing our board?

 

Von Hemel:  There are a lot of them.  I think right now if we can get the ADW (account deposit wagering) money going and if it works as good as some people think that it might.  If we could expand this meet and get more days.  We all want to be here longer, we live here.  On the other side, if you look across the country, 67 is a lot of days.

 

 

 

Bracewell:  Your dad is having a phenomenal year this year at Prairie Meadows.  Are you supplying him with some training tips?

 

Von Hemel:  Dad came in with a lot of horses with conditions and he puts them in the right spots.  They’ve been running really good for him.  We talk quite a bit but I’m usually getting tips from him, not the other way around.

 

Bracewell:  What is your favorite horse racing movie?

 

Von Hemel:  It’s been fun with Seabiscuit coming out and Secretariat coming out and of course Dreamer.  But if I had to choose one, I probably shouldn’t say this, but Let it Ride, you’ve got to love that one!  And I really loved Secretariat.  It’s been really good with the horse movies and there’s more coming.  HBO will be having a horse racing series.  But, especially with Secretariat there were no negatives. Our business, as you well know, they always want to throw in the gambling.  Secretariat was so refreshing without all of the negativity that goes along with our business as far as the gambling or somebody doing something illegally.  It was so refreshing to see such a nice, good, wholesome movie.

 

 

Thank you for your time, Kelly.  It’s always a pleasure talking with you, your wife and your owners.   Good luck on Classic Night and best of luck to you this Fall.