I Didn't Know I Had A Gambling Problem

I was never much of a gambler, that is until I hooked on to the story of Lost in the Fog. I had been working as a producer for the CBS affiliate in San Francisco and it was a dream job in many ways. I had the run of the place. I could produce any story I wanted and I was making decent money, but when I met Harry Aleo I ditched it all and laid down the biggest bet of my life. 

I grew up and still live in Noe Valley, a quiet neighborhood right in the center of San Francisco. 24th St. serves as the area’s business zone and is home to trendy restaurants, upscale boutiques, and one sore thumb - Twin Peaks Properties. Harry Aleo’s dusty old real estate office is a time capsule. It’s been there since 1947 and it looks like it. It’s Harry’s bastion, his stand against the changing times and, in his own words, an “island of traditional values in a sea of left-wing loonie liberals.” 

I walked by Harry’s office every day for years and every now and then I would stop at his storefront windows to examine his photos of Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. I had never dared to speak with Harry in person but he was always in the back of my mind as a potential subject for the t.v. show on which I was working. In my eyes, though, there wasn’t enough of a payoff. It needed to be about more than just a guy with political slogans in his windows. It needed a twist, a personal angle, to justify doing a piece. 

In February of 2005 I was reading the San Francisco Chronicle’s Sporting Green when I came across the story of a local racehorse named Lost in the Fog who was being trained over at Golden Gate Fields. The bay area racing scene was buzzing about this promising young colt who was one of the early favorites for the Kentucky Derby. He was the talk of racing and a source of pride for what is considered a minor league track. The story detailed the horse’s precocious speed, spoke of his blue collar trainer, Greg Gilchrist, and described in great detail Lost in the Fog’s owner; a cantankerous old San Franciscan who taunted the local liberals with conservative paraphernalia out of his 24th St. real estate office. It was my guy.

I went in to Harry’s office that day and we hit it off right away. We had both grown up in Noe Valley and, despite the facade, Harry turned out to be a very warm and funny guy.  Harry and his story was supposed to be a little three minute piece for my show but as I got to know Harry, his trainer Greg, and Lost in the Fog, it turned into much more. Before I knew it I had quit my job and was following the story all over the country, waiting for the horse to finally lose. Instead, he just kept winning and winning and eventually became horse racing’s biggest story of the year. I told myself I would just let it ride until I found myself an ending. Well, I got my ending but it wasn’t one that I would have ever anticipated. Two years after walking into Harry’s dusty office, I’m out a job and a fair amount of money but I made a new 87 year-old friend and found the story of a lifetime. 

Next Time: End of the Line for Harry