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| Dennis Patterson, 72, has been working 12-hour days, seven days a week for over 50 years. Every day, Patterson spends more time at his stable at Bay Meadows than in his home in San Mateo. He arrives at Bay Meadows around 6:30 a.m. and stays long after the races, leaving around 7:00 p.m.
Such a schedule would strain weaker relationships but Patterson has remained married for almost as long as he’s been in training. His wife, Theresa, who works for the track, joked about why they got married three months after his first victory. Despite his dedication to his career, he has remained married to his wife for 50 years. “I wanted to see if he was good enough for me to marry.” Theresa said with laugh. “I wanted to make sure he could win a race before I married him.” The Pattersons exchanged vows Oct. 5, 1957, the same year Dennis became a trainer, winning his first race July 14. Early in their relationship, their friends were skeptical that the marriage would work, citing the sacrifices and long hours needed to succeed as a Thoroughbred trainer. “I had friends that said ‘Your husband can’t work seven days a week because nobody works seven days a week,’” Theresa said. Bay Meadows has been Dennis’ training base since 1964, longer than any trainer at the track, according to the track’s publicity director. Dennis, whose soft-spoken demeanor is comparable to a more intelligible version of the mumbling pastor in Napoleon Dynamite, enjoys his time at the stable, despite having the same daily routine for five decades. “I think the best part of the day is just being here with the horses,” Dennis said. His office, decorated with approximately 50 winner’s circle photos from the last 10 years, serves as an extension of his tack room. There are halters, equine medications and liniments, a bag of apples, and a blue bucket containing carrots. And if that doesn’t indicate there are horses nearby, the two carcass-laden fly traps hanging from the ceiling will. Theresa half-jokingly expresses relief that the office—which also has a microwave, refrigerator, and a cooler—is too small to hold a bed. “He has all of this comforts of home,” said Theresa of her husband’s office. “As soon as he gets a bed, we’ll never see him.” While Dennis tends to his horses, Theresa oversees the Bay Meadows owner/trainer lounge, which insulates horsemen from the betting public. Her hours are much less grueling, than her husband’s, working from 11:00 a.m. (when the Bay Meadows clubhouse opens) to about 4:30 to 5:00 p.m., depending on how many races Bay Meadows has that day. Despite working for the track, Theresa rarely gets to see her husband during the day, only getting a glimpse when he has a horse entered in a race. Fifteen minutes before post time, you’ll find her (wearing a green polo shirt with a small Bay Meadows logo—the uniform of Bay Meadows employees) down by the paddock railing, intently watching her husband tack up his horse in preparation for the upcoming competition. Together, the Pattersons race Nakiska, a 4-year-old colt, with Theresa owning and Dennis, of course, training. Nakiska has a victory and a second place finish from five starts and has earned $12,120 in his brief career. Nakiska finished seventh as the betting favorite in his last race, causing Theresa to gently tease her husband about the horse’s disappointing performance. “I tell Dennis, ‘If Nakiska doesn’t win another race, I’m going to get another trainer!’” Theresa said. Theresa doesn’t interfere with her husband’s work in the stable, which she thinks has helped keep their relationship strong. “I don’t do anything at the barn at all,” said Theresa. “A lot of trainer’s wives work physically at the barn, cleaning stalls or doing whatever. The smartest thing he ever did was not let me clean out a stall when we first got married. That’s why we have been married for 50 years—because we didn’t work together.” Dennis takes the ribbing in good nature, predicting how his wife might second-guess him if she was working for him. “‘Why did you run that horse there?’” said Dennis. “‘Go get Baze’ ‘Jerry (Hollendorfer) wouldn’t have done that!” The Pattersons have raised four children, three boys and one girl, all of whom have worked in racing at some point. Bill Patterson manages his father’s horses at Golden Gate Fields in the East Bay while Dennis Jr. is a jockey agent in Southern California. Jim used to sell the Daily Racing Form but now works for the franchise tax board. Peggy once worked in the racing office but now teaches at Mt. Carmel, a Catholic elementary school in Redwood City. “(Peggy) used to get upset because at the dinner table, they’d all be talking about racing,” said Theresa. “‘She’d say, “How come that’s all you guys ever talk about is racing?’” To those outside the sport, horse racing may seem like a glamorous sport, where the wealthy spend millions on racing prospects, women wear garish hats, and spectators sip on mint juleps. But a look at Dennis’ calloused hands and crusty fingernails shows the opposite is true for small-time trainers like him. (Patterson won 11 races from 115 starts. For comparison, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer won 244 races from 1,014 starts) “I’ve never really trained any top horses,” Dennis said. “For the most part, I’ve dealt just with claiming horses (the blue collar horses that fill every day races). There are a lot of cheap horses that you have a lot of affection for because they were hard-trying. A lot of them had physical problems and still give you the best effort.” Despite the lack of stakes wins and accolades, Dennis’ extensive hands-on work impressed Thoroughbred owner Dennis Yokum, who hired Patterson as his trainer. Yokum and Patterson teamed up to campaign Storm Talker, winner of the 1998 Pleasanton Stakes at the Alameda County Fair, one of Patterson’s two stakes wins in his career. “I wanted our horses to be with the best horsemen I know,” said Yokum of his decision to hire Patterson for Car-Den stable, which he operated with his wife Carol. “I wanted to know that our horses would be taken care of like I was there myself. And nobody cares more than Dennis.” Yokum is now is the racing manager for the Mercedes Stable, best known for owning Rock Hard Ten, winner of the 2005 Santa Anita Handicap and runner-up in the 2004 Preakness. The Mercedes Stable operates primarily in Southern California, one of the top racing circuits in the country, but not all of their horses are capable of competing there. Yokum recommended they send their well-bred but less talented horses to the easier Northern California circuit and hire Dennis Patterson as their trainer. (An example of such a horse is William T, a 4-year-old half-brother to Rock Hard Ten, by Theatrical.) “It wasn’t difficult to get Ernie (Moody) and Mercedes (Villa) to send horses to Dennis (Patterson),” Yokum said. “I simply told them that I knew the best horsemen in the world and they should employ the best.” Many of the horses Patterson receives from Mercedes Stables are hindered by injuries, requiring Patterson’s extensive acumen to salvage their careers. Yokum sites Patterson’s work with the Mercedes Stable’s Lethal Litigator (two wins and $20,550 in earnings from six starts after moving to Northern California) and Bobby Dazzler (five wins and $99,900 in earnings from 14 starts after relocating to Patterson’s barn) as some of his best work. A horse that symbolizes Dennis’ training career is Attack Force, who finished second in his debut July 14, 2002, the 45th anniversary of Dennis’ first career win. Attack Force never won or placed in a stakes, finishing no better than fourth in three stakes attempts, but managed to earn $331,866 in his career. He was what I call a “friend of the racing secretary,” helping fill races for five years, making 46 starts. Owner Car-Den Stable retired Attack Force last August, ending his career with eight wins, 17 seconds, and 10 thirds. Attack Force succeeded through determination and consistency, just like his trainer. Dennis tries to find time to write, but that can be a struggle considering his strenuous schedule. In 1998, he won honorable mention in the Thoroughbred Times Fiction Contest and had his story “Tack Talk,” a series of tales told by horse tack and barnyard tools. “I’m only doing this (training) until my writing career takes off,” Dennis said with wry grin. The Pattersons plan to stay at Bay Meadows until the track closes, which is scheduled to conduct its last meet in August. “They’ve been saying for 10 years that they are going to close,” said Theresa. “This is close as they have come to it.” Despite the imminent demise of Bay Meadows, Dennis plans to stay in racing, even if it means relocating to Golden Gate Fields near Berkeley or the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton. “I’ll be the last one out the gate,” Dennis added, describing how they have no solid relocation plans. “I’ll shut the gate and turn off the lights.”  About the Author: Jon Forbes is a freelance writer and a native of the San Francisco Bay Area. He grew up attending Bay Meadows Racecourse, which is scheduled to be redeveloped after the San Mateo County Fair meet in August. In order to provide documentation of the final year of racing at Bay Meadows, Jon is writing a series of columns about life at the track for the Racing Dispatch. The Racing Dispatch is thrilled to have Jon Forbes offering his perspective. He has exceptional talent and a tremendous future in horse racing journalism.
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