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Essential Equine Equipment: A TIE CLIP
Essential Equine Equipment: A TIE CLIP
By Leslie VanSant
The late, great John Veitch was an old school horseman, which meant that everything was just so in the Hall of Fame trainer’s shed row. He had standards, not only for the horses in his care, but also for the people who cared for them.
My husband, Wayne VanSant, worked several years as John’s assistant trainer at major race tracks across the country. “We never saddled a horse for a race without wearing a coat and tie,” Wayne explained. “We dressed properly out of respect for the sport, the tradition and John.”
Saddling a horse requires a lot of moving around. Consider a deadfit 1,200-pound animal that knows it’s about to run. Fast. And over a long distance at breakneck speed. You’re trying to get the saddle on, the jockey up on its back and the pair over to the track safely.
All while properly dressed to John Veitch’s standards. In this situation, a tie clip is not just an accessory, but an essential part of a race-day uniform. With your tie clipped to your shirt, it minimizes any distractions—like a tie flapping up in the eye—while keeping one more piece of equipment properly secured.
“It was January, 1992, and I was getting ready to take Memories of Pam up to the paddock at Gulfstream Park,” Wayne recalled. “She was running in a prep race for the Sewanee River Handicap later in the meet. I stopped by the gift shop because I needed a tie clip. I bought one, and the mare won her race that day. Of course, the tie clip must have been lucky.”
The clip stayed with Wayne across his career and, until 2023, when working as a steward at a local steeplechase meet, it just gave up and fell apart.
The tie clip may or may not have been lucky. Memories of Pam won the prep, but not the stakes race. But the next time you see Wayne at a steeplechase meet, check out his new tie clip and ask him to tell you the story about Memories of Pam, Carlos the hotwalker, and her size seven racing plates.
