Old Friends Try First Classic with Uncle Lino

Two racetrack kids from P-Town are trying to spoil the Xpressbet.com Preakness Stakes (gr. I).

Their paths split at times over the years, but the friends from way back at Amador Valley High School—two sons of Northern California jockeys raised in the fair-track town of Pleasanton, Calif—are in Baltimore with longshot Uncle Lino for their first classics run May 21.

The trainer is 70-year-old Gary Sherlock, a former Quarter Horse conditioner at Los Alamitos Race Course who gave up on the nighttime grind in 1980 to dabble in Thoroughbreds. The owner is Tom Mansor, who decided to claim a few horses with Sherlock five years ago before landing the Uncle Mo   colt for $52,000 as a yearling in 2014.

"Just some P-Town boys," said Mansor, who owns Uncle Lino in partnership with Sherlock and Purple Shamrock Racing. "Back in the 50s, there were 4,000 people in town and 2,000 were racetrack people. It was like Mayberry with racetrack people."

Pleasanton is where the Alameda County Fairgrounds is located, and also has a racetrack that was built in the 1850s. Sherlock was forced into service at an early age—1957, as he recalls—when his father was injured during a spill working out.

"They told him he'd never walk, never use his shoulder, and never ride again," Sherlock remembered. "So we moved to Pleasanton and he bought six unbroken yearlings off Jeff Bonde's grandfather. I was 11 and my brother was 14. Guess who did all the work? My dad was (4-foot-11), with one arm and on crutches, and a broken arm and broken pelvis.

"That's when it started."

After spending around 15 years training Quarter Horses, however, Sherlock hit a wall in 1980. At the time, he was the third all-time winningest trainer at Los Alamitos, but the schedule of training in the mornings and racing at nights became too much to handle (he estimated he got two hours of sleep during the gap in between and three hours of shuteye after the night's races), especially with a family and ample ballgames to watch.

"I was 35 going on 55," Sherlock said. "Fifteen years of night racing was enough for me. I had two little kids and I wanted to raise my kids. Even though I was young, I was burned out."

But Sherlock still kept a foot in the door. He began a pinhooking operation in the 1980s and raced whatever he couldn't sell. The small operation was just fine with him. He never had more than 11 winners in a year as a trainer from 1980 to 1995, but he had his family time. Unfortunately, just like he was forced into the business in his youth, he was forced out in 1995.

A carotid artery dissection, which can often cause stroke, was discovered in Sherlock's neck that year and doctors told him to stay away from working with horses, because of the stress and the blood-thinning medications he had to take. But again, he kept his foot just far enough in the door to stay involved in the game.

"I sold insurance for 10 years," Sherlock said. "It was a natural fit for me. I kept the same schedule, was out at Clocker's Corner (at Santa Anita Park) in the morning, and did worker's comp for all the trainers.

"Then it just got to where I missed the horses."

So he got back to buying yearlings again in 2005, and it wasn't long before he struck for the score of his career. That same year, he purchased an Orientate   filly by the name of Intagaroo for Tom Grether Farms, with a price tag of $37,000.

Three years later, in 2008, Intagaroo won three grade I events—the Santa Monica Handicap, the Humana Distaff Stakes, and the Ballerina Stakes—and sold for $1.8 million at the 2008 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall mixed sale.

In Uncle Lino, Sherlock has also taken a relatively low purchase price and increased its value. By scorching-hot stallion Uncle Mo—four of his progeny will run in the Preakness—Uncle Lino was from the first crop of the sire and was a bit of an unknown.

"I buy horses. I don't buy pedigree. It just so happens he has good pedigree," Sherlock said. "I just found him in the back, kept looking at him, watched him walk, and said 'All right, I'm going to try to buy him.' It was the first crop of Uncle Mo, but there were some Uncle Mos that brought some money."

And he had a perfect partner in Mansor. Sherlock is pretty blunt about what he looks for in an owner.

"I don't really like people, believe it or not. Well, I like people, but I don't like owners and playing the whole game," said the trainer, who oversees a stable of about 21 horses at Santa Anita. "I train for all friends and good people. That's the way I want it."

Uncle Lino is a legitimate longshot at 30-1 on the Preakness morning line, but he's coming off a game victory last time out in the California Chrome Stakes at Los Alamitos April 30 and the colt seems to be enjoying his stay in Maryland. Sherlock calls him a "ham," because he's taken to stopping at every gap in the Pimlico stakes barn to peek out and pose for photos.

BALAN: Uncle Lino Game in California Chrome Stakes

"He's a poser, isn't he?" Sherlock said with a smile, watching the bay look through the stable gap for the umpteenth time during a walk. "The security guards are even taking pictures of him. That's how photogenic he is. He's like a little kid. 'Let's go play.' "

There's also the possibility that Uncle Lino, who dueled through almost all of the California Chrome victory, will be the one to catch in the Preakness from post 2, with undefeated favorite and fellow son of Uncle Mo Nyquist likely not far behind.

"We're going to the front," Sherlock said. "If I was outside, I'd see how it develops. From where I am, we're going to go—unless someone on the outside gets stupid."

For Mansor, a win would be nice for him personally, but he said his main concern is getting his friend the recognition he deserves as a horseman.

"I want this horse to do well, because Gary needs to be recognized," Mansor said. "He's a great horseman. To have success, you need to have luck, and with this horse, he's made his own luck."

Sherlock's thinking isn't as big-picture. The longtime horseman says the Preakness is just another race—unless, of course, Uncle Lino shocks Pimlico Saturday.

"I don't get caught up in the hoopla," Sherlock said. "I like to run. The result is what matters to me, not the trip. If he does well, I might have a different feeling."