Horsemen Bid Farewell To Bowie
- Details
- 29 Apr
As trainer Linda Gaudet went about the business of taking down walls of photographs that tell the history of her life and that of her husband, Eddie, and their children at the Bowie Training Center, the emotions were bittersweet.
“We’re excited about the move,” said Gaudet, who has stabled horses at the center for nearly 43 years, with her husband there many years before that. “But in a way, it is agonizing. It’s been two weeks of not sleeping and I’m not sure the car won’t come here all on its own when I go to work [at Laurel Park].
“Both my kids were raised here. They were home-schooled here. We’ve been in this barn close to 30 years. It was new when we first moved in and it was a nice barn at that time. There are a lot of memories here. Lacey [her daughter who is also a trainer] said she was going to go to Wal-Mart and get a bunch of frames for all these pictures so we can put them up in our new place, but a lot of them will come home.”
Gaudet and all the other horsemen, some of whom have stabled their horses at the Bowie Training Center for up to half a century, have been slowly moving out of the 101-year-old facility during the last few months. The last horses shipped out Tuesday, April 28.
“I’ve been here a long time,” said Magill, 49. “Ten years; And I used to come here for the races with my dad when I was 9 or 10 years old. There’s sadness to be going, but when you’re over there [at Laurel Park], it is exciting. Bowie, well, it is time to go. It was getting a little run-down.”