Tere Albanese has an interesting background in our great game. Past the Wire is proud to introduce her and her unique enlightening interviews. Here is a little bit about Tere and a recent interview with famed trainer Ron McAnally.
Tere Albanese:
Tere Albanese moved with her family from New Jersey to Los Angeles when she was nine. Settling in the newly developing town of Chatsworth located in the San Fernando Valley, she was surrounded by orange groves and horses. She immediately traded in her ballet slippers for riding boots. Horses became her life. She rode and showed hunters and jumpers all the way through high school. Years earlier, in 1963, her father took the family to Santa Anita. Tere picked a horse named Candy Spots to win the Santa Anita Derby and he did win. He also went on to win the Preakness. Mesmerized by the racehorses, she thought she’d like to work with them someday.
In high school, her dad gave her a car, appropriately, a four on the floor Mustang. That’s when it began. She would cut school and head to Santa Anita. After graduating from high school, she started galloping horses, working for R.L. “Bob” Wheeler, Gary Jones, Laz Barrera and, although not an official Charlie’s Angel, she freelanced for Whittingham.
Not only did Tere have a knack for riding, she had a knack for writing as well. Even before attending and graduating from UCLA she wrote the California Breeding column for the Daily Racing Form and freelanced for many industry periodicals. Her best received article is a Q&A she did with Bobby Frankel entitled “Frank as Usual.” The article was published in 1993 by the Thoroughbred Times. After graduating from college, she went on to become the Assistant Editor for the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association’s monthly periodical.
Tere left the racetrack to pursue a teaching career and became a middle and high school English and Social Science teacher earning a teaching credential in both disciplines. However, once a racetracker, always a racetracker. After 14 years of teaching, Tere wanted to write again. She jumped back in with a splash posing the same basic questions in her 1993 Q&A of another Hall of Fame Trainer, Richard Mandella.
Although Mandella has never been much of a talker, he sure had a lot to talk about with Tere. The Mandella article turned into a four part Q&A picked up and published by Ray Paulick in the paulickreport.com. The four installments ran during Santa Anita’s “Big Cap” week this year. The long format was a hit with fans and industry professionals alike.
To learn more about Tere Albanese and read all of her articles, please visit her website:
www.AnimalinstinctsPublications.com
About a year after we moved to California, my grandparents came out from New Jersey to visit. My father took us to Santa Anita Park. It was 1963, the year that Candy Spots won the Santa Derby and I actually picked him to win! He also won the Preakness that year. I was entranced by the horses at the track. I vowed that I would one day be one of the pony-people that rode the saddle horse, which take the thoroughbred and their jockey to the gate. I never really thought about it much after I started riding at the hunt club, but somehow I was lured back to the races and since I had a car, I would cut school and go to Santa Anita. I ended up surpassing my wildest dreams of being a pony-girl and became an exercise rider, exercising the racehorses and a racing journalist.
I’ve been on some of the best horses and worked for some of the best trainers, all of which are Hall of Fame trainers: Gary Jones, Laz Barrera, and Charlie Whittingham. I also worked as a reporter for The Daily Racing Form, The Thoroughbred Times and I was the Assistant Editor for the California Breeders’ Association monthly magazine.
