The Gambler and the Bug Boy: 1939 Los Angeles and the Untold Story of a Horse Racing Fix

275 Pages·2007·1.59 MB·English

by  John Christgau

UNIVERSITY OF NEBRASKA PRESS • LINCOLN AND LONDON
1939 Los Angeles and the
Untold Story
of a Horse Racing Fix
John Christgau
© 2007
by the
Board of Regents
of the
University of Nebraska
All rights
reserved
Manufactured
in the
United States
of America
Library of Congress
Cataloging-in-Publication
Data
Christgau, John.
The gambler and the bug
boy : 1939 Los Angeles and
the untold story of a horse
racing fix / John Christgau.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical
references.
isbn 978-0-8032-1122-3
(cloth : alk. paper)
1. Horse racing—Corrupt
practices—California—
Los Angeles—History.
2. Mooney, Big. 3. Siler,
Albert, 1920– I. Title.
sf335.u6c35 2007
364.1'72—dc22
2007008262
Set in Quadraat,
Quadraat Sans
and Plaza by
Kim Essman.
Designed by R. W. Boeche.
Title page illustration ©
iStockphoto / Gary Golden.
For Dion

List of Illustrations ..........viii
Acknowledgments ............ix
1. The Gambler ...............1
2. The Bug Boy ................9
3. The Goose Girl. . . . . . . . . . . . .24
4. Synod ....................33
5. Whichcee .................44
6. Sporting Women ...........57
7. The Biltmore Hotel .........68
8. Buron ....................77
9. Kandahar .................85
10. Pinkus and Omelet. . . . . . . . . .96
11. English Harry. . . . . . . . . . . . .107
12. Testa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
13. Gate Breakin’ Adair. . . . . . . .128
14. Ned and Scotty. . . . . . . . . . . .136
15. “Get Giesler” .............148
16. The Big Shots .............160
17. The Dictograph Machine. . . . 171
18. “The Fateful Day” ..........180
19. The Percentages. . . . . . . . . . .188
20. July 4, 1946 ...............199
Sources ...................213
Following page 106
1. Albert Siler at Bay Meadows racetrack as a
“bug boy,” October 1938.
2. Albert Siler with actress Marian Marsh at
Del Mar racetrack, August 18, 1939.
3. Albert Siler on the witness stand with a
Daily Racing Form.
4. Albert Siler weighing in after a race at
Hollywood Park, summer 1939.
5. Albert Siler aboard Pinkus, in the winner’s
circle at Del Mar, August 17, 1939.
6. Albert Siler standing with his brother,
Lawrence, next to a 1939 Chevy.
7. Big Mooney on the witness stand.
8. Irving Sangbusch, alias J. J. Murphy,
on the witness stand.
9. Buron Fitts in court with Deputy William E. Simpson.
10. Buron Fitts and California Horse Racing
chairman Jerry Giesler.
11. A group photo of the jockeys riding at
Santa Anita in the spring of 1939.
12. Willis Ward outside the courtroom.
13. Albert Siler shooting pool at Santa Anita
in the spring of 1939.
14. View of the finish line at Del Mar in the fall of 1939.
Years ago, while driving through Russia, my friend Dion Dubois
told me the riveting story of a horse-racing fix involving his fa-
ther and four other jockeys at the Elko County Fair in Nevada
in 1947. In search of that story, I stumbled across this one. This
book is dedicated to Dion, the best storyteller I know.
Several people served as co-tellers of this story: Freda and Mar-
gie Siler spent a half day telling me Albert Siler’s story; George
Siler and the late Jim Siler carefully took me through Siler fam-
ily history; Robin Rae Adair made the arrangements for me to
interview her father, Raymond Adair, who provided clear mem-
ories of his friendship with Albert Siler; although I am twice his
size, Junior Nicholson’s vivid stories helped me to imagine what
it must have been like to be a tiny bug boy from the Great Plains
in search of racing stardom; Ted and Ursula Potter’s pictures of
Lowden helped me visualize that setting.
Biff Lowry provided helpful leads. Pete Pedersen shared rac-
ing history with me, then shifted gears dramatically and took
me up to the stewards’ crow’s nest at Hollywood Park, where his
colleagues George Slender and Tom Ward let me watch them
work. Steve Gehre and John DeFelice introduced me in the 1960s