A tribute to the remarkable Red Man
by John Cirillo
Back in the day in the early 1970s, my best friend Vinnie Olivieri and I had a trusted, tried-and-true motto: “When in doubt, bet Carmine!”
That would be “The Red Man,” the Colt’s Neck Crusader himself, Carmine Abbatiello.
We were railbirds at Yonkers and Roosevelt Raceways, cutting our teeth in betting the trotters and pacers. Vinnie’s brother Johnny, uncle Ralphie Morelli and his pal Stanley were always there, too.
We were young and smart and it worked. Carmine was the full package: he had the hands, the feel, the timing. Oh, my goodness! Those crimson red colors with appropriately gold stars. Abbatiello was the gold standard. We were painting the town red and we loved it.
Another motto here: Don’t get caught red-handed by not including Carmine in your bets.
He could take them wire-to-window, on the engine, down the road. But he was equally adept coming from behind. Carmine was the best damn catch driver in the ’60s and ’70s — yes, better than Herve — and remains so today 50 years later.
He was the perennial driving champion at the New York harness tracks, winning nearly 20 titles on the strength of 7,000 dash wins and $50 million in purses. He was enshrined in the Hall of Fame in 1985.
Big Towner, Newt Lobell, and Taurus Romeo were among the standout pacers he reined to the winner’s circle, the latter two trained by his elder brother Anthony.
Carmine was so good, so wildly popular, that he did a very cool television commercial for Schaefer beer: “Come into the Schaefer Circle,” said The Red Man. I sure did. Good God, it looked frosty and delicious in Carmine’s mug.
The spot concludes like this: “Tonight, Carmine won the daily double, the feature, the eighth, the ninth and the check.”
Guess who the famed NYC restaurant Carmine’s is named for? You guessed it. Owner Arthur J. Cutler named it in Abbatiello’s honor.
I remember one night at Yonkers, Carmine happened to have drives behind two Australian pacers in the daily double. Unknown on American shores, they could not be backed with confidence in the wagering. Both paid in the 6-1 range, and a daily double return of close to $100. I’ll take $500 for a $10 wager any time, thank you very much.
Another evening at Roosevelt, The Red Man drove Soky’s Atom to victory in the George Morton Levy. When interviewed after the race, Stan Bergstein pointed out that the colt was the only horse sired by Albatross in the race. Carmine laughed when replying “and the only Abbatiello.”
When I was a senior at Fordham, I’d commission my pal Jim Donaghy to drive me up to Yonkers for a daily double wager in his metallic green Impala. I’d invariably return to campus with a wad of cash, most times thanks to The Red Man.
And my roommate Joe Casino and I would take a walk up Fordham Road to the OTB parlor to plunk down our wagers on Carmine. We didn’t have to work part time jobs because of our successful bets.
In the past year, Carmine’s son Eric had been posting Abbatiello updates on Facebook, some of which were pops celebrating Christmas Eve, mommy bear listens to Dean Martin, pops crabmeat over linguine, pops kidney chicken, pops looking for home in FL, pops at Collingwood Flea Market and — on Aug. 6 — pops at Peking Pavilion. I said to myself, “I have to get to Manalapan for lunch with Carmine and Eric.”
Don’t put off until tomorrow what you can do today. Sadly, the little reunion never happened. I wonder if he used chopsticks?
Six months later, Carmine has joined the special angels in paradise. Born on May 23, 1939 in Staten Island, passed Jan. 27, 2026. May he rest in eternal peace.
Editor’s note: John Cirillo is a lifelong harness racing zealot, who admired Carmine Abbatiello from the rail, and later from the paddock and press box as Yonkers Raceway’s PR director from 1981 to ’84.
