Her first trainer learned what he knew from a Tom Ivers book on how to train a racehorse using the interval method
Tent of Honor Awarded to: “The PERSON nominated shall meet the criteria of length of service to the breed, courage to do what is best for the horse, be above reproach, devote to the horse and community and provide service in the areas of leadership, heritage, education and/or research.”
Requirements: Fifteen years in the Arabian horse industry having raced 10 years. Owner, Breeder, Doer.
HR: Jane Teutsch, congratulations on this award. Your background is jam-packed with risky adventures, wonderful passages, and a full life with Arabian horses and those that love them.
Jane: “I have always had a love for horses but never had a chance to own one until our only son, Monte, desired to have a horse and join Pony Club. We bought him a half Arabian, half Quarter Horse named Polly, and off he went. Our daughter and I had also begun to take lessons and off I went. Daughter Cara, was very allergic to horse hair; she was our swimmer.
At first, I had show horses but that didn’t last long because it was boring for Ray to go to shows, unless it was to see his son soar over fences and whatever else Polly and Monte could find to jump over.”
Jane found the athletic Arabian to her liking.
“I sought the best from my mentors; Dr. Sam Harrison and Joe Castle. Joe led me to his trainer, Glen Rottweiler, who took my first pureblood Arabian mare, Senisa, (already a winner of the US Champion Snaffle Bit Futurity 3-yr-o), and tried to make her our first racehorse.
Glen and his wife loved Senisa, but even though she was athletic in her own way she was not FAST! She ended being our son’s cavalry horse at NMMI and my dressage horse and dam of my beloved gelding, Soaring Eagle. Dr. Sam rode Eagle at the ranch during a visit there and told me never to sell him because he was such a special horse. This was in 1982 and Eagle died at 30 years of age, after serving me as my riding horse on trails, herding cattle, and then using him to teach others to ride.
I had bought a lovely Crabbet mare to be my dressage horse and she was in foal to a Bask son. The resulting foal was a HUGE colt with a personality that wouldn’t quit. My Arabian showhorse friends said he really was too ugly to be an Arabian. Gay Angels Gabriel, our truly first race horse, grew up in Colorado and was trained to race by me and an unlikely trainer named Les Roberts, an Anthropology professor at the University of Colorado. Les and I trained him on the hills of Soaring Eagle Ranch, until it was necessary to put in a race track, (used by us and many other Colorado trainers). Gabriel was to race at Arapahoe Park that summer of 1985 but the track closed suddenly before the Arabian meet even began and Les was forced to take him to California. Mind you, Les had never been backside and only knew what we had learned about racing from a Tom Ivers book on how to train a racehorse the interval method.
To make a long story short, Les arrived at the fair circuit so pitifully unprepared on how to even enter a horse, etc. that all the other Arabian trainers pitched in to help him learn the ropes. Gabriel raced his maiden race at Fresno and won. He raced the next week in Sacramento and won that. He again raced the next weekend in a stake race against seasoned stake horses. After he won that they went on to San Francisco for the Arabian Derby at Bay Meadows in two weeks time. Derbys for Arabians at that time were for 3-yr-olds. When Ray and I arrived in San Francisco to see Gabriel run, we met our mentors, with whom we had been talking to all along, Dr. Sam, Joe and their lovely wives. We all became fast friends, Ray and I the young newcomers.
The Derby had the best Arabian horses in the country. Gabriel had been diagnosed with a pulled suspensory ligament and he would have to be run on Butazolidin (Phenylbutazone). He had NEVER had any drug prior to that and we were horrified. Nevertheless, we decided to do it and then take him home to rest. There was a three way photo finish for first, Gabriel taking third. Gabriel was SO mad, as, he was sure he had won the race since he passed the other two horses on the next stride but another horse was taken to the winners circle. He fumed all the way off the track, stomping his feet. Ray and I were hooked on racing from then on. Gabriel was chosen 3-year-old colt/gelding of California that year of 1985. Les Roberts went on to train Arabian horses for many years.
In 1984, Les Roberts, Ray and I, with the help of another couple, founded the Colorado Owners and Breeders of Racing Arabians (COBRA) making it recognizable by the state. It was not until 1990 that Arapahoe Park reopened and raced their first Arabian races. I will say, probably my most significant contribution to Arabian racing was being a co-founder of COBRA, serving in different capacities throughout the 32 years on the board, as president, vice-president, and treasurer. Also, I enjoyed being a part of all the other endeavors COBRA sponsored to promote Arabian racing in Colorado. We were a very active club and worked very well together. My husband Ray, was such a support throughout it all and LOVED the sport. He was the business man behind the business. After Ray sold his company and retired, he became very active. He was president of COBRA for many years and dealt successfully with the track management. Ray was also vice-president of TABA for years.”
Side Notes:
1. Dr. Sam, Miss Betty, Ray and I became very good friends, visiting back and forth from Tennessee to Colorado for many years until Dr. Sam died. We have attended the Darley Awards which Dr. Sam started since their inception, missing very few. Dr. Sam was the founder of AJC and ARC with the motto: “The Best You Bet”.
2. We raced our horses all over the country: California, Texas, Delaware, Colorado, Idaho, Kentucky, Florida and Arizona throughout our 37 years of racing. We have two 3 year-olds going to Delaware in 2017. We also raced internationally with TM Super Bird, Special Zell, Freds Zell,and Zells Cowboy.
3.Our first foal bred was a half Arabian mare in 1975 and our last was in 2017. We have bred and raised about one hundred foals throughout our years including Thoroughbred race horses, however, our real love has always been Arabians.
4.Horses we are most proud to have bred and raced are Gay Angels Gabriel, Strawberry Fields, Soaring Fast n Easy, Wikings Wixen (she never raced but produced MANY racehorses) Black Beaches, Sand on Fire and Paddys Day. Horses we raced successfully but didn’t breed; TM Super Bird, Djet Set de Falgas, TC Che Che.
Ray and I have enjoyed, immensely, our years in this crazy world of Arabian Racing. In fact, on the eve of our becoming octogenarians, we attended the Arabian race in Louisville Kentucky in September 2016 at Churchill Downs to see our most famous home-bred, Paddys Day, race and win. That was not his greatest fete, however. He had run and won the Grade 1 stakes at Delaware and two weeks after that was flown to Los Alamitos to run in the 3rd leg of the Triple Jewel where he came in second by a nose. Then he was flown back east to run and win, by 8 ½ lengths, again at Churchill Downs. Three consecutive weekends, three stake races, three different tracks and two trips by air across the country! No horse, anywhere, that I know of, has done that and stayed sound. It reminds me of how this story got started————with our first true racehorse, Gay Angels Gabriel. He ran three weekends consecutively, winning all three and then two weekends later ran in the Derby, coming in third in a three horse photo finish. There really is something to this interval training.
“It is a great honor to be inducted into the Tent of Honor. Thank you to those who thought I was deserving to be recognized.”