Thanks so much for sharing. I spoke to FrankD tonight who is enjoying all the folks remembering Uncle Bill in this thread.

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I was envious of Bill when I first met him b/c at the time he spent most of the meet at Saratoga to spread the Good Numbers. This was at a time when TG's were still printed and for sale on track and Bill made sure they made it from the print shop to the track. One time, Jerry told Uncle Bill to make sure he grabbed a Sunday [set of sheets] for back at the house. Jerry was waiting at the house that evening when Bill showed up with a Sundae from McDonald's and handed it to Jerry. Jerry was likely saying something to the effect of "WTF is this?" Bill said, "You said you wanted a Sundae?" LOLOLOL

Over time, he made it clear to me that it wasn't as exciting and enjoyable to be there on a Wednesday behind the Mac and Cheese truck occupying a table by himself. It was when "the boys" would be there. As the week built up as more and more folks he knew gathered and handicapped, joked, laughed, told each other to shut up as Maggie spoke, and on and on. Guys like FrankD, Bob, his close pal Mathcapper (my sincere condolences), Rock's cousin, jimbo, Jerry, Alan, richiebee, wrongly, Sean, NC Tony, and on and on and on. It reminded me of the Into the Wild story in which Chris McCandless went out to the Alaskan Wilderness all alone to be out there, to live it and to find it . . . only to discover as his writings revealed that life is best when SHARED. That's why Uncle Bill loved Saratoga so, so much.

A few other fun notes.

He was an exercise rider. The likes of Dick Dutrow and Allen Jerkens knew Bill. I believe he was the exercise rider for 1964 Gotham Stakes winner Mr. Moonlight. He accompanied the horse to Kentucky for the Derby and the horse finished 7th. I asked him to tell me that story a few times.

I'm told that Kelly Breen knew Bill well and Bill may have taught him a few things about horses.

He once theorized to me that if a trainer could improve a horse's stride length by just 1.5 inches that I should imagine how much better the horse could be. I thought this was some whacked out voodoo thinking but I have to give him the creativity was fascinating. It was a window into a mind truly thinking about every aspect of the horse.

A story that I think was circa 2019. As I understood it, one Saratoga summer afternoon Bill left "the boys" early not feeling the best and headed home to the Saratoga house he stayed at for the month of August. When Jerry and FrankD and others arrived back at the TG house, UB was nowhere to be found. His car was there but no Bill. Everyone was frantic and was starting to look in the bushes and around the porch to see if he had fallen or something worse . . . That's about the time when Bill came Strolling down the sidewalk carrying a bag of groceries to say "Hey guys, what are you doing?" HAHAHAHAAHA

I reviewed all my texts with him this past day. I sent him some backyard photos of the guys in 2022 on Labor Day Weekend from the Spaaa. One member was half asleep and Bill wrote jokingly, "Looks like nap time!" He then followed that up with "The only way I won't be in Saratoga next year is if found dead."

Well Bill, I'm still comprehending I really won't see you again as I thought you had one last Saratoga run left in you, I really, really did.
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I'm hopeful Paul can post the two group photos in this string that include Bill that FrankD sent along. (Now Attached) I'm not tech saavy enough to figure out how to attach them despite several attempts before typing out this post. They are excellent and show Bill in all his glory with "the boys" at Saratoga and at Gulfstream 2 years ago when I know I saw him last.