Letter to the Editor: On Raymond DeStefano

Editor's Note: The following was inspired by the TDN's recent 'Why Racing' series.

A family's move from Brooklyn to Floral Park, just a few hundred yards from Belmont's training track, would launch a remarkable career and life within the Sport of Kings. A move anywhere else would have changed the history of the sport.

Raymond DeStefano was not born into racing and had no background in it whatsoever. Had it not been for the move, he never would have become entrenched in it, and surely would have never been part of one of its historically most poignant moments.

It all started with the smell of manure, hardly a lure but combined with seeing horses galloping around the training track, young Ray became curious. Seeing the training, combined with hearing the roar of the crowd from Belmont's huge clubhouse and grandstand was all it took for Raymond to begin sneaking onto the grounds.

In 1962, Ray watched his first race after sneaking into Belmont as a boy and watching the Belmont Stakes from hedges on the backstretch near the seven-eighths pole. He saw Admiral's Voyage pass him ahead of Jaipur and the sound of the horses breathing and the riders chirping, along with the horses' powerful hooves hitting the Belmont dirt which would be called Big Sandy, had him hooked from that moment. Jaipur went on to win that Belmont under the legendary Bill Shoemaker. Ironically, 19 years later Ray, while working on the starting gate, handled champion John Henry and Bill Shoemaker, loading them into the gate and standing in it with them for the 1982 Jockey Club Gold Cup.

During the summer of 1966, Ray was still a young man sneaking into Belmont. He visited with trainer Eddie Neloy and got to know Buckpasser, trainer John Nerud and Dr. Fager, one of if not the fastest racehorse ever. Mr. Nerud would years later have Ray in his home talking horses. He visited with Frank 'Pancho' Martin, who became his mentor and somewhat of his godfather on the track, not only giving Ray his first job in racing walking hots, but also helping him work for Murty Brothers Horse Transport and on the gate crew for NYRA.

While working for Murty Brothers, Ray traveled all over the world, escorting champions like Dahlia. He unloaded Secretariat off a plane after his final race and victory at Woodbine and still has a piece of his mane that wound up in his hand. That very piece was authenticated by the National Museum of Racing when they borrowed it and put it on display. Jean Cruguet, friendly with Ray from his time on the gate crew, gave him the goggles he wore when he won the Belmont Stakes and Triple Crown with Seattle Slew.

Ray flew out to California with Slew O' Gold for the inaugural Breeders' Cup Classic, where he took care of him and attended a party after the race with his owners, who celebrated as if they had won. He shared a bottle of champagne with actor Albert Finney outside when he arrived. He spent a time interning at Claiborne Farm and worked with the Hancock family and some of the best-bred horses to look through a starting gate.

Had the DeStefano family moved anywhere other than Floral Park, it would have been someone other than Raymond DeStefano who held the head and comforted the great champion Ruffian when she was euthanized after her match race with Foolish Pleasure. Ray was working as an assistant for Dr. William O. Reed at the time of the match race. Dr. Reed's hospital was right next to Belmont and when Ray saw what happened on television and heard the crowd, he rushed over to the hospital.

Ray was already at the hospital when Ruffian arrived. He helped prep her as much as they could as there was really no time for prepping. He was present throughout the operation and was with her in recovery along with her regular DVM, James Prendergast. Ray was tasked with holding her when the decision was made that all that could be done had been done. She went to sleep in Ray's arms and in the arms of a man who truly loves the game, all because of a move from Brooklyn to Floral Park.

—Jonathan Stettin