Bob was a big gambler, a little shaky. I was happy because I had a good stable of his horses to train, but he’d always put the screws to me. When he drank he’d take on the largest person he could find. One night a bunch of us were at a table at Hungry’s to celebrate a win. You grilled your own steaks at Hungry’s — big old sirloins, huge slabs of Texas toast. Bob got drunk and said, I’ll put my dick down the neck of this beer bottle. He was working on it when Charlene stood up and said, Bobby, put that little thing away. The waitress came over and we got kicked out of the restaurant.

At draw time, the owner had to be present, but Bob lived in Oklahoma, so he said, We’ll fix that problem right now and put the horse in your name. Well, wasn’t that fine and dandy — on paper, I was the owner. But then when we win a nice race, guess who paid the tax?

Bob’d come down for the races on Wednesdays and Saturdays. He’d rent a motel room for the week and the room would sit empty on days he drove back to Oklahoma. One week when I’d been sleeping in my truck he said, You might as well stay at the motel since it’s paid for, and he gave me the key. But then he came back early and let himself into the room one night while I was asleep. He thought he’d get him some from me.

He was slick, tricky — a slippery son of a bitch. He pulled stunts that made me look like an idiot. You had to watch him. You had to learn. He respected it when you outsmarted him. You can’t blame a man for trying, he’d say.

THIS HORSE, THIS RACE

His name was Dark Side. They had him on the kill truck for the slaughterhouse. When he was a baby, one of the brood mares kicked him in the head, knocked out one of his eyes. There was a big socket there, caved in but covered with fur, with a couple little eyelashes poking through.

He wasn’t mine at the time but I’d been watching him awhile. Then one day somebody said, That horse you like so well is gonna be slaughtered.

I said to Bob Bozeman, We need to get this horse. We can buy him for kill price, eight hundred bucks. That’s when kill price was high. Bob said, If you think you can do something with him, make us some money, I’ll fund it.