Cancer diagnosis prompts horseplayer to pursue dream of training

Following a 12-hour surgery in November to counter Stage 4 oral cancer, 40-year-old horseplayer George A. Bryant made a vow to himself. He would pursue a career as a trainer.

Bryant is one step closer to making that a reality. Earlier this month, he passed his trainer’s test at Sam Houston Race Park. He also has clients like Michael Iavarone, who won the 2008 Kentucky Derby with Big Brown, lined up for the Lone Star Park meet, which opens April 28.

“When I had the surgery, afterwards I said to myself, ‘This is my dream since I was a kid,’ ” Bryant said of training. “I just got to go for it!”

:: For the first time ever, our premium past performances are free! Get free Formulator now!

Bryant grew up in racing as the son of George Bryant, a jockey turned trainer who has recently retired. The younger Bryant worked as an assistant to his father at times, and also was a racing manager for HDT Allied Management. In addition, he is a board member of the Texas Thoroughbred Association and in 2020 competed in the National Horseplayers Championship and was second after Day 1 of the annual event in Las Vegas.

“With my dad stepping away, this is a perfect time for me,” said Bryant.

Bryant was out with friends last September when a sore on his tongue that he had battled on and off for about a year became unbearable. His girlfriend urged him to get it checked out and after initially being diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma, Bryant was hit with even more difficult news.

“I went and got a CAT scan and it had progressed and moved to my lymph nodes in my neck,” Bryant recalled. “They classified it as Stage 4 oral cancer.

“They said, ‘Hey, you’ll have to get this taken care of in three or four years or you’re not going to be around.’ I was like, ‘It’s that serious?’ ”

Bryant’s surgery called for cutting out half of his tongue and replacing it with a portion of his forearm. They also took out 74 lymph nodes from his neck.

“I was in ICU for a week,” he said. “I didn’t wake up for two days.”

Bryant then spent 10 more days in the hospital before undergoing 30 rounds of radiation therapy in his mouth and neck.

“It took all my beard, took the hair on the back of my head, and burned holes in my mouth,” he said. “It was way worse than the surgery.”

But by the end of January, there was victory.

“On Jan. 28, I rang the bell,” Bryant said. “I’m officially cancer-free.”

Bryant expects to have about six horses at Lone Star. One came through via social media, as Iavarone and Bryant are friendly on Instagram.

“I put my goals on social media and one was to party with Michael Iavarone, and he said: ‘As soon as you get your trainer’s license, we’re going to party. I’m going to send you a horse.’ ”

Bryant said he also will be receiving horses from Wes Melcher, a longtime owner based in Texas; Gayla Rankin, a Texas resident who has multiple stakes winner Happy Soul in training with Wesley Ward; and Stephen Thompson, who has multiple stakes winner Wholeottamo in training with Jayde Gelner.

Bryant said Lone Star is his home track, and after the meet closes in July he will head to Remington Park in Oklahoma City.

“I wanted to be a jockey when I was young,” Bryant said. “I outgrew that when I was like 13. The next step was trainer. Now, it’s happening.”

:: Get Daily Racing Form Past Performances – the exclusive home of Beyer Speed Figures

◗ Sam Houston leading trainer Steve Asmussen has the probable favorites in the two allowances on the Friday night card, with Airline Drive leading a field of fillies and mares in the eighth race and Big One on deck in the ninth. Stewart Elliott, who is second in the local standings, has been named to ride both horses in the one-mile races for 3-year-olds and up bred in Texas.

◗ Fonner Park announced two horses stabled in Barn R have tested positive for equine herpesvirus in results confirmed March 11. The barn, which houses 100 horses, is now under a 21-day quarantine and the Nebraska track has since stepped up sanitation of the paddock area and starting gates. Racing continues, but there are restrictions concerning movement of horses from Fonner.

◗ The fields for the Grade 3, $500,000 Sunland Park Derby and $300,000 Sunland Oaks will be drawn on Sunday. The races are among seven stakes to be run March 27 at Sunland. The Sunland Derby offers its winner 50 points for the Kentucky Derby and the Sunland Oaks offers the same for the Kentucky Oaks.

◗ The annual summer yearling auction put on by the Texas Thoroughbred Association and Lone Star Park will be held at the Dallas-area track on Aug. 29.

◗ Will Rogers Downs near Tulsa opens its meet Monday.