(Opelousas, La.) – Carroll Castille, Whispering Oaks Farm owner, chose Don Charles Stemmans as the honoree for a sponsored feature race at Evangeline Downs Racetrack & Casino on August 2. Whispering Oaks Farm is a thoroughbred breeding and racing operation locate in Carencro, La. The event is part of a big night of Louisiana Champion Awards, REAP Benefit, Louisiana Stallion Stakes sponsored by Coteau Grove Farms/Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association and D.S. “Shine’ Young Futurity.
“Don was the man that mentored me from my start in racing,” said Carroll Castille. “He was the one person I go to for advice about anything. He has always been here for me, and I wanted to be sure we honored him and all that he has done for our industry.”
Don was involved in the horse racing business for decades. He trained thoroughbreds, quarter horses and operated Traders Rest Farm, Inc. a full-service breeding, training and boarding facility in Scott La. He was the starter at Evangeline Downs in Carencro, La., served on the board of the Louisiana Thoroughbred Breeders Association for over 20 years board member of the Louisiana Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protection Association, and operated Stemmans Horse Supply in Carencro. Don and his wife Janet started that business in 1968. He had shops in Hot Springs, Ark., Kenner, La., and Bossier, La. There were long time stores at Delta Downs in Vinton, La., and Sam Houston Race Park in Houston.
Don was famous for teaching racetrack folk how to do things the Cajun way. If someone got sick and injured, he would show them how to do a fundraiser. He wasn’t shy about asking people for help to assist people who needed it. “I think we have all lost count of the number of people Don has helped throughout his life,” said Castille. “I count myself lucky to this day that I was one of them.”
When Don returned full time to the Cajun Country, he returned to eight generations of family tradition in the horse world. He remembers his grandfather’s blacksmith shop, where you always had to wear shoes because of the hot iron. His grandfather shod all kinds of horses and mules, but he was famous for his skill in shoeing buggy horses. His father was a horseshoer, too, and Don prides himself on his own horseshoeing know-how. Before he got into retail, he would shoe horses on his days off from working on oil rigs, onshore and offshore.
One of Don’s ventures was a bush track in Carencro. He has a charming painting hanging on his office wall at Stemmans that artist Earl Hebert captured a slice of bush-track life. The bush track he has portrayed is the same one Don ran and there are fancy women, sharp-dressed bettors, jockeys, owners, trainers, families. Don could identify many of the characters in that painting. The track was a three-quarter mile oval with good sandy loam footing. It was once right off the main road in Carencro, but it is long gone.
Don has two daughters. Catherine is a Ph.D. and a professor of sports medicine at Indiana State University at Terre Haute, Ind. Charlotte has a degree in accounting from Tulane and, as Don says, “she is the quality control and the financial wizard behind the Stemmans shops." She is also the current Mayor of Carencro. His son Charles works as a Soil Scientist with USDA and resides in Carencro.