Trainer Lynn Whiting
Born: June 28, 1939 Resides: Louisville, Kentucky Family: Nellie, wife; Keri and Lori, daughters.
Lynn Whiting has won so many stakes and handicaps at Oaklawn over the years, he has lost count.
He won the Razorback with Lil E. Tee, the Southwest and Rebel with Clever Allemont. There were victories in the Rebel and Crabapple by Phantom On Tour; Bachelor triumphs with Karen's Tom and Call The Tower; the Northern Spur with Del Mar Danny, Magnolia and Martha Washington with Classy Irene; Mountain Valley with At The Threshold, Haillye's Prince, Sway and Karen's Tom; the Dixie Belle with Hyper And Saucy and the Dixieland with Brash Brother, Wondered Prospect and Karen's Tom.
On April 16, 1990, in winning the six furlongs' Bachelor Stakes, Karen's Tom established a track record of 1.07 4/5 that still stands.The high-water mark of his spectacular career came in 1992 when he won the Kentucky Derby with Lil E.Tee.
A lot of those stakes horses were owned by W. Cal Partee of Magnolia, AR.“Mr. Partee was a tremendous sportsman.
"If I found a nice prospect for sale, he’d permit me to buy it,” said Whiting.
When asked for his favorites among horses he’s trained, Whiting answered, “Of course, Lil E. Tee is one. Others would be Classy Irene, Karen’s Tom, Sway, Big Pistol and At The Threshold."
Whiting fondly recalls Sway, hero of the 1980 Mountain Valley.“He had a broken foot. My vet, Dr. Gary Lavin, told me to bring him back and maybe win a couple of claimers and possibly lose him. I’d swim Sway, then race him and he went right up the ladder from $18,000 claiming to a stakes horse. He ran for two and one-half years without finishing out of the money.”
What Spa fan will soon forget the rivalry Developed at Oaklawn in 1992 between the Whiting-trained Lil E. Tee and the Tom Bohannan-trained Pine Bluff, two Arkansas-owned colts.Pine Bluff beat Lil E. Tee in the Arkansas Derby, but the tables got reversed in the Kentucky Derby. Then followed the Preakness which Pine Bluff won and Lil E. Tee finished fifth.
"I had a good teacher - my father," Whiting says in reference to Lyle Whiting, who trained for almost a half century. "When I was young, he emphasized that I develop an eye for a horse and be able to know its value. Dad was a stickler for foundation. 'Put a good bottom under your horse, he'd tell me. There is no room at the top if you don’t have bottom.’”
Racing records show that Lynn was born in Great Falls, Montana.
As a young rider, Lyle was riding on a western circuit that included Great Falls, Spokane, Butte, Omaha, Longacres and Aqua Caliente.
A steward at some of those tracks was George Schilling.At Great Falls, Lyle met a young lady named Lurleen, who would eventually become Mrs. Whiting.
The Great Falls track had a midway. One evening Lyle and Lurleen were walking on the midway where they encountered Judge Schilling.The judge stopped to chat with the young couple.T
he next town on the racing circuit was Spokane, where in a race a horse ridden by Whiting, impeded one handled by Harry McGahan.At this time there was a shortage of riders on the circuit, so often the jockeys were fined rather than suspended.
At a steward’s hearing the next morning, the judge looked at Whiting then said, “Young man I must give you five days.” With a twinkle in his eye, he added, “Now you have time to take the train back to Great Falls and marry that nice young woman you introduced me to that evening on the midway there.”
Some 40 years later, Lyle recalled, “the judge was a smart old bird. The more I thought about it, the more I decided he was right. So I returned to Great Falls where Lurleen and I got married.”