I guess it was the spring of 1998. Tracie Smith talked me into adopting a small orange fur ball. Her barn cat
had given birth to several kittens and she was looking for good homes for them. Not
being much of a "cat person" I was very reluctant to take on the extra mouth to feed. In
hindsight I'm glad she persuaded me to do the right thing, otherwise I would never have had the privilege
of sharing time with El Flaco. I planned to name the new stable kitten something "horsey" like Blinkers or Furlong, but while I was searching for just the right name, Doc Phillip Tripp, DMV, walked into the
barn, saw the kitten, and uttered "El Flaco."
"El Flaco?" I asked. He said it was spanish for "skinny". The cat was skinny and the name stuck. Since then, with the aid of Doc John P.'s banana dewormer and a bowl of food with no bottom (kept filled by Joy and Pat Goeing), El Flaco is no longer skinny, but he will always remain El Flaco in name. Though on occasion the name gets formalized by Pat to something like El Flaco C. Gonzalez, Jr. El Flaco has seen many horses pass through the stable in his years as barn cat, and he has seen many stable hands come and go. But he has been a constant at Greenhill Racing. He has been to Turfway, River Downs, the Sports Spectrum, and Ellis Park. He is a good shipper, but a poor loader. Getting him into the pet carrier can be quite a job. Once loaded though he settles right in. I think El Flaco's favorite horse ever would have to be Talented Won. He used to spend a lot of time in TW's stall. Talented Won would lick El Flaco from the shoulders up. When El Flaco exited the stall his hair would be wet and spiked on his head giving him that punk rocker look. Because of his many years of faithful service, I recently promoted El Flaco to shed row foreman. Almost immediately after the promotion he took to climbing up on the straw and sleeping all day. |
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