HHLou's Bloodstock & Handicapping Service Phone: 502-292-2109 E-Mail HHLou@aol.com December 4, After being on the Race Day Las Vegas show with Ralph Siraco and Andy Beyer I thought I would share with you an article Andy wrote about my score in 1997. It is from the Washington Post Archives:       Hee Haw Wasn't Ready To Cash In, Then He Did By Andrew Beyer Column: ANDREW BEYER Thursday, January 30, 1997 ; Page B01 Don "Hee Haw" Alvey has spent the past 30 years around race tracks in the East and Midwest. He has worked as a jockey agent and a bloodstock agent, and he has always been a bettor, and he knows that sharp swings of fortune are part of the game. But even he was unprepared for the way fate has taken hold of his life during the past 14 months. In November 1995, Alvey felt that something was wrong in his gut (whose ampleness is the source of the nickname by which he is universally known). It didn't take long for a doctor to diagnose that he had cancer of the kidney. He was taken almost immediately to the Veterans Administration hospital in Louisville, where surgeons removed a rib, a kidney and a four-inch malignant tumor. They told Alvey that they got out all of the cancer, but during his months of recuperation he was obsessed by worry: "You have a lot of time to think, and every time you feel an ache or a pain you think, `Here it is again.' " The cancer not only had affected his health and his usual buoyant spirits, but his bankroll: There are no group health plans for racetrack scufflers. Alvey went to work in the summer as the agent for jockey Larry Melancon at Churchill Downs, with some success, but their relationship dissolved and Alvey was out of action again. The thought of the cancer kept weighing on his mind. "I had no hustle. I was basically staying at home." In November, one year after his operation, Alvey went back to his doctor for a checkup. When it was finished, the doctor said: "We've run every test known to man. You're going to live." His assets were low but his spirits were elevated, and Alvey realized it was time to get on with his life. Oaklawn Park was opening Jan. 17, and he decided to go there to start wheeling and dealing again as a bloodstock agent. On the day before the season was scheduled to start, he began to drive from Louisville to Hot Springs, Ark. -- and that is when fate stepped in to steer his destiny. The temperature was plunging rapidly as Alvey set out on his journey, and when he was 80 miles from home his car phone rang. A friend at Oaklawn was calling him to advise, "You might as well turn back. They've postponed opening day by a week because of the weather." Alvey, however, was now eager for action. "I decided," he said, "that I'd just turn left at Nashville and go to Gulfstream Park." He got to Miami that night, and the next morning he headed toward the stable area at the track, stopping on the way at a restaurant that is a popular hangout for racetrackers. While he was having his breakfast, a Kentucky-based trainer, Tony Reinstedler, stopped in. Alvey has high respect for the trainer; he had cashed a bet on a Reinstedler horse named Tansit at 11 to 1 at Churchill in the fall. The trainer greeted Hee Haw and mentioned, "That colt who won at Churchill is in the ninth race today. I ran him here two weeks ago and he blew his mind coming into the paddock; he came apart and ran a really bad race. I've schooled him [in the paddock] since then. Use him in your exactas and trifectas -- he'll be a big price." At the track that afternoon, Alvey studied the Racing Form and observed that there were two formidable New York invaders running against Tansit. But with the Reinstedler horse at 60 to 1, he couldn't resist taking a shot. He bet $40 to win, $20 to place and $20 to show, plus $10 exacta boxes coupling Tansit with each favorite. For good measure, he played $2 trifectas coupling Tansit and each of the favorites in the first two positions, with everybody else in the field in the third position. The total investment came to $200. Alvey watched excitedly as Tansit rallied from seventh place and took the lead as he entered the stretch. But then the Bill Mott-trained Zede, one of the two favorites, hooked him and looked as if he were about to surge past. Alvey was relieved that he had bet to place. But Tansit fought back and resisted the challenge, inching away to win by three-quarters of a length. Alvey dashed toward the winner's circle and let out a whoop in the direction of Reinstedler, who motioned for him to join the winner's circle ceremony. As Alvey was posing for the photograph, the race was made official and payoffs were posted. Alvey glanced at the tote board and exclaimed that the trifecta had paid $2,900. But somebody standing next to him said, "There are too many zeroes for that," and Alvey looked again. With a 30-to-1 shot running third, the trifecta had paid $29,854.80. Tansit had paid $130.40 to win, and the exacta was worth $1,307. For his $200 investment, Alvey's total return was $39,763.80 -- all of it because of a deep freeze in Hot Springs, Ark., and a fortuitous stop at a restaurant. The pendulum of racetrack fortunes is always swinging, and at long last it had swung in Hee Haw's direction.   Articles appear as they were originally printed in The Washington Post and may not include subsequent corrections.   July 7, 2001 After finishing 11th in the Sun Coast Tournament in March I won the June 16th edition of Keeneland's NTRA tournament to win $10,000 and a return trip to the NTRA finals at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Following that up I finished 3rd in Churchill Downs finals on the 5th of July.  I have several dates lined up for August to play in tournaments in Las Vegas including the Ballys, the Orleans and possibly the Keeneland tournament on August 11th. Since I am already qualified to the finals I will only be playing for the money only so come on down and join me. One of my biggest success stories last year was in my Horses To Watch section. On July 2nd, I saw a filly make her first start at Churchill and she was a game 4th after being stuck on a very dead rail. I posted then she was a filly that had a great future ahead of her. Here are the results of that post. She went on to win two of her next three starts with a 2nd in the Arlington Washington Lassie stakes and off that went into the Breeders Cup Juvenile filly race. Below are the results of that race and she eventually earned the Eclipse award for Champion 2yo filly of 2000. BC Juvenile Fillies 7- Caressing ...... $96.00- 34.80 -15.80 3- Platinum Tiara ...... 11.40- 7.40 12- She's a Devil Due ...... 5.20 $2 Exacta 7-3 Paid $940.60 $2 Trifecta 7-3-12 Paid $18,355.80 Success Stories Really Polish, the 3rd place finisher in the 1998 Kentucky Oaks was bought by Team Valor in late March of 1998 after I offered her to Barry Irwin. Mr. Irwin is a good judge of horses and was quick to jump on her after an allowance win at Oaklawn. Victory Gallop was another I spotted as a potenial Classic horse in the fall of 1997 at Colonial Downs, but was turned down by a couple vets for minor things. After he was 2nd in the Laurel Futurity, Elliot Walden purchased him for the Prestonwood people through another agent. I have had success in the past and hopefully will continue to do so, so get on my customer list so you too can be contacted when these horses are found and offered. Contact me through my Customer Service Department or give me a call and let me know exactly what you are looking for. Some of the other stakes horses we have found for our customers have been At The Threshold, Big Pistol, Robins Rob, Powis Castle and Bedroom Blues to name a few. All of these were bought as young horses and proved to be stakes winners and very profitable for their owners. At The Threshold was 3rd in the Kentucky Derby for Mr. Cal Partee and sired his Derby winner Lil E Tee. Overview | Products/Services | Resource Library | Customer Service | About