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Friday, June 21, 1985
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Vol.
84 No. 160
I X ISM
L
f E
West her: Warm and breezy weather j3 to continue as today
will be partly cloudy and warm again with a high of 91 (33C).
Tonight will be slightly cooler with a 30 percent chance of
evening thunderstorms and a low of 57 (14C). Mostly sunny
and not as warm forthe weekend with highs ranging in the 80s
(29C). Barb BrandaThe Nebraikan
Resources depleted.
Sports CUt...Page 6
The hostage cri
continues.. .Page
sis
Buglers don't
blow their
own horns
By Lise Olsen
Senior Reporter
Twelve minutes before post time,
the Ak-Sar-Bcn bugler marches out in
front of the scoreboard and plays the
"Call to Post."
Nine times on weekdays and 10
times on Saturdays and Sundays the
music-box-like performance is repeated.
Decked out in a gold jacket, white
bloomers, black boots and a black rid
ing hat, the Ak-Sar-Ben bugler revives a
tradition discarded by most tracks.
Five years ago, Ak-Sar-Ben hired an
Omaha music teacher, John Kool, as its
first bugler in twenty years. A year
later, Joel Edwards, a former music
teacher took over for Kool and has been
the principal bugler ever since.
"People still ask if it's a recording
and I go out there and mock it,"
Edwards said.
Edwards, who received his masters
in speech pathology and audiology
from UNL last August, arranges his
schedule around Ak-Sar-Ben's racing
schedule. Edwards, a member of the
Omaha musicians union, also plays at
the Omaha Civic Auditorium and for
the Barnum Bailey and Shrine circuses.
Playing the bugle, Edwards said, is
harder than it looks. The oversized
horn Edwards uses is three and one
half feet long and has two valves
(trumpets have three).
Kool, who substitues for Edwards,
adds that weather conditions (the
bugler appears rain or shine), back
ground noise and the size of the crowd
complicate performances.
"There's nobody to look at if you get
lost," Kool said. "A lot of people can
play it (the "Call to Post") tut they
don't always seem to be able to play it
out here."
As principal bugler, Edwards said,
he enjoys a certain amount of prestige.
"People come up and give me com
pliments," he said, "(but) when you
goof up you hear that too."
Kool is less overwhelmed by the
crowd's response. "Most of the time
they don't know I'm there."
7
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Mark DavisThe Nebraskan
Top to Bottom, John Kool warns of post time, a close race excites adrenelin, and Donald Phillip and
Willie Mann watch the odds board as the summer rolls by at Ak-Sar-Ben.
Race
n
By Lise Olsen
Senior Reporter
When Jane Bitney graduated from
high school, she wasn't ready to go to
college. She went to the racetrack
instead.
In the fall of 1980, the UNL pre
veterinary major started working as a
groom in Lincoln's fairground stables.
In the last five years, she's worked at
tracks throughout Nebraska and in
Chicago as a groom, an assistant trainer
and a test barn technician. This summer,
Bitney is selling mutual tickets at a
Minnesota track.
"It really gets in your blood," she
said.
In the beginning, she was attracted
to track life by the promise of travel
and excitement and the salary, she
said.
"A groom makes a couple hundred a
week, plus steaks when your horse
wins," Bitney said. But what has made
afiabo
her stay in horse racing for so long is
the track atmosphere, the horses and
the people.
"I probably made more friends the
first day at the racetrack than in the
rest of my life," Bitney said.
Racetrackers come from all walks of
life. They're English teachers, real est
ate agents and Austrailians, Bitney
said. Racetrackers are a closely knit
group, Bitney said. Newcomers often
have initiations. They might be sent for
the saddle stretcher or the key to the
n
a cecnnicia
ns
quarterpole (non-existent items).
Racetrackers are also superstitious,
Bitney said. Black cats are forbidden at
the track, and when its time to move to
another track, brooms are left behind.
It is also bad luck to leave straw in a
pitchfork, Eitney said, although she
admits it might have been her boss's
ploy to get her to work harder rather
than a real superstition.
Working hard, long hours, seven days
a week, 365 days a year is part of a
road, Bitney would often live in a
track's tack room (equipment room)
about half the size of a single garage.
"You put your cot up, throw a rug on
the floor and call it home," Bitney said.
For convenience, most tracks have
laundry and kitchen facilities. The
Chicago track, has separate quarters
(from the horse stables) for track
workers which are "Holiday-Inn-ish,"
Bitney said.
Continued on Page 6
