Glyshaw on Bullards Alley heartbreak: Just keep going

LEXINGTON, Ky. – The sun rose Monday over Kentucky, although it was hard to tell through the rain and gloom. The emphasis was on gloom for Tim Glyshaw, who was dealing with an all-too-visceral case of heartbreak approaching 48 hours.

“This has been the toughest time,” Glyshaw said.

It was Saturday afternoon when Glyshaw endured one of the cruelest blows for any Thoroughbred trainer anywhere. Bullards Alley, the 6-year-old gelding who gave Glyshaw his greatest moments in racing, had to be euthanized after breaking down in his left hind leg about a quarter-mile into the Grade 2 Elkhorn Stakes over the Keeneland turf.

An uncommon grief quickly took hold of Glyshaw and all who had an appreciation for what Bullards Alley accomplished in a 40-race career best characterized by a workmanlike, grinding style – save for that unforgettable day at Woodbine in Canada last October, when Bullards Alley jumped up and won the Grade 1 Canadian International by 10 3/4 lengths, worthy of a 114 Beyer Speed Figure.

“This sort of thing happens to everyone if you’re in the game long enough,” said Glyshaw, who opened a public stable in 2004. “I don’t want to minimize other horses, but this was the horse that made us a national barn, who won races for us we’d never even dreamed of. He was our everyday horse that had gone on to do great things.”

Glyshaw said jockey Corey Lanerie told him he felt Bullards Alley roll his hind ankle after being bumped off stride by a rival horse nearing the quarter-pole the first time around on the Keeneland turf, and that was it.

“It was a freak deal,” Glyshaw said. “There was no way we could save him.”

Bullards Alley, a Kentucky-bred by Flower Alley, earned $928,622 for his owners, Wayne Spalding and Faron McCubbins, both of whom took great delight in the overachievements of a horse they bought for a mere $11,000 from the Eugene Melnyk dispersal in 2014.

“Obviously I feel bad for Wayne and Faron and our whole barn,” Glyshaw said. “But the one good thing from it all has been the support we’ve gotten from all over. So many people have stories about him. He had a lot more fans than I knew about.”

Aside from the hundreds of texts, calls, and social-media messages he received, Glyshaw said a security guard from the Churchill Downs stable gate placed flowers Sunday at Bullards Alley’s empty stall (Barn 3, Stall 2) and that his mother is having a barn plaque crafted to commemorate the gelding’s feats and the love he inspired in people. Spalding and McCubbins also intend to sponsor a race at the upcoming Churchill spring meet to honor Bullards Alley, Glyshaw said.

“This hit a lot of people really hard, but nobody more than us,” Glyshaw said. “But it’s like I told my staff, ‘We have to take care of the horses still here with us. They rely on us. We don’t have a choice.’ So yeah, of course we’ll never forget him, but we have to just keep going and try to find another one like him.”