Eclipse Award winner Carl Nafzger (pictured on the left), trainer of 2007 Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense, was the guest speaker at the National Cutting Horse Association Convention in Lexington, KY, on June 22. Nafzger, a former rodeo bull rider and three-time National Rodeo finalist (1963-1968), took out his trainer’s license in 1968 and saddled his first stakes winner, Speedy Karen, in 1971. In 1990, he won his first Kentucky Derby with Unbridled, who went on to win the Breeders Cup Classic.
Nafzger was introduced by out-going NCHA president Bill Riddle (pictured with Nafzger), an all-time leading cutting horse trainer, who at one time was race trainer for internationally renowned Fares Farm in Lexington.
Following Nafzger’s talk, he held a brief question and answer session. Here is an excerpt:
Q: Explain how you go about looking at yearlings.
Nafzger: I look at what I can afford. Then, the thing that I am really critical on is the rear end of a horse because that’s where the power comes from. I look more on the rear end than anywhere. Without an engine, I do not have a shot.
Q: Why did you stick with Calvin Borel (Street Sense’s jockey) in the Derby?
Nafzger: Calvin Borel is a horseman. We thought we had a good horse and we wanted a jockey that would stay with him. We didn’t want a jockey that would just go out there and try to win horse races.
My first out on a horse I never worry about much except a good experience. I want him to come back happy. So we had Calvin ride the horse and he came in second in his first out. So when we got to Arlington (Park for his second start), I said, “Okay Calvin, put this horse in there. Make them beat you. Let’s see what we’ve got – if he’s really a runner.” Nobody really knows until you get in competition.
After the race, when we’d won it, I told Mr. Tafel (owner of Street Sense), “That’s the last race we will ask this horse to win. From now on, we’ll let the horse win races.”
That’s what we did and he’s taken us everywhere. I don’t train horses. Horses train me. I watch a horse. The horse tells me what it’s happy doing. A horse will take you as high as it can take you. But if you can’t watch a $5,000 claimer give one hundred and ten percent, then you shouldn’t be in horse racing.