Have bugle will travel
Meet Callaway Steeplechase bugler ‘Bucky’ Sallee BY LAURIE ROTHROCK DICK  | George Sallee, or "Bucky," has been the head bugler at Callaway’s Steeplechase for 15 years, and was the first bugler to open the New York Stock Exchange. |
The plush turf on the track at the 17th annual Steeplechase at Callaway, in Pine Mountain, is a bright green; the sky a brilliant blue. Leaves on 200 acres of hardwoods wear their resplendent fall colors of scarlet, gold and bronze. Flags flap in a mild breeze. Crowds are setting out lavish lunches on tables and on tailgates, eager for the Sport of Kings Challenge, a premier racing event featuring glossy-coated horses and silk-clad jockeys intent upon establishing records that will qualify them for future races here and abroad. Across the field stands a lone figure dressed in red and white and wearing a top hat. He holds a brass bugle, awaiting the signal to step forward and announce in melodious short bursts the first race. His name is George Sallee, or "Bucky" to his friends. He’s married to Barbara, and has three children, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. He’s been the head bugler for 15 years at Callaway’s Steeplechase. As a traveling bugler– he lives in Georgetown, Ky. and has also been the head bugler at Keeneland Race Track in Lexington, Ky., for 39 years–he has met many dignitaries including Queen Elizabeth, presidents, dukes, duchesses, governors and actors. Sallee’s merry face and the sharp high notes of his bugle have become a fixture at Callaway’s Steeplechase. However, few of the high-spirited onlookers at Steeplechase are acquainted with him, save as the figure with the bugle who is as much a part of the field as the thoroughbreds, their trainers and jockeys. A young 72, he has traveled across the nation to horse race tracks from Keeneland and Churchill Downs to the Kentucky Downs and steeplechases such as the Iroquois Steepleland in Nashville, Tenn., where he has been blowing his bugle for 25 years. A music major at the University of Kentucky, Sallee studied trumpet.
His first job was with the Signal Corps, but he always played with bands. He traveled playing his trumpet with a band in the 1950s. Then he decided the tenor sax was more to his liking, so he worked on weekends in lounges in Lexington’s Campbell House. While playing the tenor sax, he toured with Jerry Lee Lewis for a few years. Later, he worked for the federal government in the Signal Corps and has since retired from the state government’s Public Service Commission. Sallee began playing at Keeneland after being approached by a golf professional in charge of finding a bugler for the race track. Both were at a country club there, where Sallee was playing in the band. "He asked me if I would help him out, and I’ve been helping him out for 39 years now," Sallee laughs. As a traveling bugler, Sallee has been to Atlantic City, N.J., to promote tourism, and performs at conventions in Lexington for Lexmart, a large computer company. When Lexmart had its public opening for sale of their stock, "I went to New York City and was the first bugler in the world to open the New York Stock Exchange," he recalls. "I was at a restaurant in Florida when a friend from Keeneland saw me across the room. ‘Hey, Bucky,’ he called to me. ‘I can’t get away from you. I look at the TV screen and there you are. Everywhere I go, I meet people who know you.’" Sallee’s interest in horses started with his family, who trained polo ponies. His uncle, John Price Sallee, was a prominent trainer. A cousin started Sallee Horse Vans. "He would take horses in his vans all over the world," Sallee recalls. "Another cousin also transported horses. I have spent my life around horse tracks, and I feel I am supplying a little bit of my family’s culture to the racing industry by blowing my bugle at races." He does get around–and not just for horse races. "I also blow my bugle to benefit other races. In Lexington every July Fourth a 10,000-meter foot race is held. I blow my horn for the start of the race and have for the past 15 years. Lexmart takes a bus to the Kentucky Derby every year, and they commission me to blow my bugle as people board the bus. "I love bugling," he says. "It puts me in the position where I meet and see a lot of people. I have to blow my own horn, because I know so many people. In Frankfurt, Ky., the governor had a United Way fund-raising benefit with a horse theme. He had me blow my horn for all the post events. At the Saratoga Race Track, they made a Hall of Fame movie, and I was in it, blowing my horn." Sallee loves the course at Keeneland, but enjoys Callaway’s Steeplechase and the friendly people he meets there. He also likes the longstanding steeplechase tradition of foxhunts in England and Ireland.
The first recorded chase occurred in 1752 in County Cork, Ireland, when a race to the tallest landmark on the landscape, the church steeple, gave the sport its name. Two horsemen, O’Callaghan and Edmund Blake, raced their studs about 4-1/2 miles from one church to another. (There is no recorded winner.) Cross-country match races spread to England with the first recorded race in 1792, involving more than two horses. Steeplechasing eventually migrated to established race courses. Racing meets first took place on Long and run on the inside brush course. The winner of the 2-3/8-mile race has a shot at obtaining an additional purse of $100,000 (a horse winning two of three races in the United States and one in England earns a $100,000 bonus). The Sport of Kings Challenge began its racing events in Leesburg, Va., before moving on to New Jersey and its decisive championship hurdle at Callaway. The series then turns to Europe, with a race at Cheltenham, England, west of London. With so much at stake, there is good reason for excitement when Bucky Sallee announces a race with his bugle. One can almost feel the tension in the horses, their owners and their jockeys–so much depends on the outcome at Callaway’s Steeplechase. One more thing: When the horses are led onto the field for the first big race at Callaway’s Steeplechase, does Sallee pick a favorite? "Yes, I often pick a favorite. I like to bet on racing and love to watch horses run," he says. "I think it’s one of the most beautiful things you can see."
Laurie Rothrock Dick, of Alpharetta, is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in several publications. Details: Callaway is an hour southwest of Atlanta and 30 minutes from Columbus. For more information on the Steeplechase, which takes place Saturday, Nov. 2, contact Wesley Fay, executive director of Callaway’s Steeplechase Committee, at (706) 324- 6252, or see www.steeple-chaseatcallaway.org. Tickets start at $20. For accommodations, call 1-800-CALLAWAY, or see www.callawaygardens.com.
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