Every summer, Saratoga Race Course serves as an epicenter of high-class juvenile racing. Day after day, week after week, promising 2-year-olds take center stage in competitive stakes and maiden races.

On the Sunday morning of Oct. 26, 1986, Larry Bramlage was minding his own business in a Chicago hotel as he prepared for a lecture to the American College of Veterinary Surgeons. Bramlage was a Kansas native who received his DVM credentials at Kansas State University and his master’s degree from Ohio State University, where he was on the teaching faculty, as well as an equine veterinary surgeon of growing repute.