Wally Hennessey

proudly articulated. "'l‘hrough my associv ation with the track and haying to go into the race office. Barbie and 1 met and the rest is history. \V'e haye a wonderful 1—— year—old daughter Kristy. \\”e haye a beautiful home in (Eoconut (Ireek. Florida where we live year round." Both Barbie and Kristy follow \V'ally‘s career closely but they haye chosen not to be ayid stu— dents of the game.

There is only one lirst win tor a driyer and rarely is it eyer lorgotten. ’l'his reins— man clearly remembered his milestone win at the Charlottetown 1)riying Park in 19—1. lie recounted. "1 remember that my last driye as an 18-year—old was my first win. The horse was (kiln/Midge Frisco which 1 co-~owned with Frank Roberts. \V'e raced some double—dashes then and we were so busy warming up our horses that I missed the post parade. It was really emlxtrrassing. 1)ad l‘re— quently gaye me adyice on what to do belore a race. He meant well but 1 lound out that can't be done. It simply didn't work that way. He would set my hand— holders for me which were way too far lor me and 1 was unc<>mlortab1e with them that way. He told me not to leaye with (jail/bridge Frisco because he didn‘t want me to do anything wrong. 1 had my mind set that 1 would answer in the allirmatiye to his adyice but when the race started 1 had nothing on my mind but to go forward hoping that 1 could get my first win. 1 Mt out ol‘ the gate just as tight as 1 could and 1 led at the half in

1:07 and won the race in 3:12 by open

14

Behind the Gate

lengths. l haye had some nice wins but that one was as good as any." lt's amaz— ing that. alter 5 years and 702‘) yicto- ries. win number one was still so yiyid and so important.

Another memorable mile for this gentle- man was his lastest win in a mile race. It was the grand opening of the new mile track at (Iolonial Downs in Virginia with a huge crowd in attendance for the oll‘i— cial opening. \V’ally won that night in 1:»18 with Pact/1c l’e/lu. a horse trained by liddy Lohmeyer. For some reason \Vally belieyed this mile had an asterisk with it.

Ilis memory wasn't as yiyid as to his slowest recorded \‘ictory 101‘ a mile dis— tance. He stated. "1 belieye it was at the (,Iharlottetown l)ri\'ing Park bel‘ore we had an all—weather track. 1t would haye been in the mud and probably around 2:23," ()lder racing enthusiasts will re-~ member the horses struggling through the unique red mud before the adyent ol

rock dust on l’lil racetracks.

'l‘his durable athlete who measured S's" in socks and weighed in at 110 pounds. trained and droye many memorable hors- es during the lirst part of his career in the .\1aritimes below his departure to the ['nited States. \V'hen asked to select the. he seemed to enjoy the trip down menr ory lane. He commented on each. “(kin/bridge Frisco was the \‘ery lirst horse that I trained and drove. 1 will neyer forget him. George Murphy's (Mm/ml (Io/(rt raced in a class of horses