"He didn't know anything about school. It was different in those days," says Tony Dutrow, now a trainer in Philadelphia. "We saw the success our father was enjoying and there was no doubts in our minds that we could do the same thing. School felt like something that was just in our way, as stupid as that sounds."
In 1984, Rick Dutrow convinced his father to move his operations to New York, where there was more money to be made. And he did find plenty of success before returning to Maryland in 1997.
"I think I've done everything I can do up here," he told The Sun at the time. "I've served my term. Now I think it's time to go back and enjoy the rest of my life."
By that point, Dickie had become frustrated with his middle son, his work habits and his lifestyle, which seemed to focus more on gambling, women and partying than horses.
"Dickie thought Ricky was one of the greatest horsemen around. Period," says Mark Reid, who learned the ropes from Dickie in the 1970s and is a friend of his son. "He knew Ricky could get the most out of a horse, which is why it was so frustrating for Dickie. Dickie was the hard-working, no-nonsense, taskmaster-type. Ricky was the rebellious wild child."
Father and son reached a stalemate, both too proud to bridge their differences. One man all work, the other all play.
"My dad didn't teach us about fun," Dutrow says. "He taught us the work ethic. He worked every day; even Christmas Day he was at the barn. Every day he was out there pitching. He never said, `Go have some fun.'"
At odds with his father, Ricky Dutrow stayed behind in New York, convinced his career was about to take off.
"I didn't want to go back to Maryland with my dad," he said. "I figured that was a dead scene."
Trouble with drugs
Aside from having little money and more vices to indulge than horses to train, Dutrow did himself few favors. Over the years, he has been suspended because both he and his horses have tested positive for drugs.
The last suspension came in 2005. Dutrow insists his horses are clean, though whispers follow him from track to track. "I've had so many different suspensions," he says. "Half of them I deserved. Half of them I didn't."
In those days, he was using marijuana and cocaine and saw few bets that weren't worth taking.
"I don't know what was going through my mind at the time on stuff. I know it wasn't working right," he said this week. "I'm still trying to keep my mind working the right way."
