SPORTS FLASHBACK 1984: High stakes for equine enthusiast

John Berger attributes his love of horses to his Hungarian background. That may be just as good a reason as any for this former volunteer stable hand, turned groom, turned owner, for turning down a substantial offer for Koleanla recently.

If he sold the horse, he says, all the fun would be gone. Of course, the fact that the three-year-old filly sweetened the pot to the tune of better than $10,000 in its last race may have some bearing on Berger’s thinking.

By winning the Countess of Dufferin Stakes at Assiniboia Downs, Koleanla has greatly enriched Berger’s stock as a good judge of horseflesh. The favorite in Sunday’s $15,000 added stakes race came in an impressive 4½ lengths ahead of the field.

Jockey Frank Licata said that being on the best horse makes it easy to win.

Ile des Chenes area horse owner Berger may be tallying up the number of bags of oats the three-year-old paid for Sunday, but he may also be remembering how fleeting success is in horse racing. What’s won in a minute can be gone in a minute as well, if the horse suffers an injury.

That was the case of the dam of Koleanla, who Berger bought a share of as his first race horse, eight years back. The promising two-year-old Lend Lease-Christy’s Sister had just one win before she was retired at three with bone chips in her knee. Of the three foals she’s had, only Koleanla has survived.

The filly’s name is taken from the first two letters of the middle name of John’s three children – Konrad, Lee and Angeline and the middle name of his former partner’s son, Lang.

Koleanla has had a winning season for John, and his current partner, his brother Tom. In five starts, the horse won once, placed second twice and was third once.

Berger expects the horse will be able to run in another three or four stakes races before the end of the season, but will forego a shot at a $50,000 race this weekend, in order to rest up after Sunday’s win.

Berger said they decided to stay home on the weekend and go for the easier (though smaller) purse and then rest the horse, rather than going after the big one in Saskatchewan.

Sunday’s win was also a thrill for trainer Sandy McPherson, as it was his first mother-daughter combination, having trained John’s first horse as well.

But Berger didn’t just walk in and buy a horse and still is one of the few owners who spends a lot of time at the stables at Assiniboia Downs.

While living in Crestview, 10 years ago, and working at a bank in the area, he started to spend spare time at the track, working for free in the stables and hot walking horses for the privilege of being allowed to hang around.

Berger says Sandy McPherson still tolerates having him hang around, even though he doesn’t muck out five stalls like he used to.

If you want to find Berger these days, try Perimeter Concrete on the west side of the city or head down the road a short piece and you’ll run right into the Downs.

But don’t try to get any tips for use at the mutual windows. You won’t get rich betting on Koleanla, daughter of Lend Lease-Christy’s Sister by Sinister Purpose if she keeps coming in paying $4.40 to win and $2.09 to show.

But if you’d just like to hang around the horses, maybe Berger can line you up with someone who needs a few stalls cleaned out. He tells me then they never, ever turn down free labor at the Downs.