Summer 1983, Barn K, Timonium. Henry Walters came through the hole with a horse to find a shedrow like nothing he'd ever encountered.

"Hey, you can't walk this late," came a deep voice from the down the way. The man sported a bucket hat, wore coveralls with no sleeves and held a rake. He presided over a stretch of dirt so neat, tidy and devoid of a single footprint -- horse or human -- that it could have been a Zen garden.

"Wait a minute," Walters replied. "This is Timonium. We don't hang our halters at 10 o'clock. We're still working here."

The shedrow artist, groom Lonnie Fuller, cackled, flashed a gold tooth, let Walters walk his horse through and no doubt fixed every divot before leaving work in a 1963 Chevrolet Impala while singing "Bony Moronie" or some other classic.

"Lonnie had that shedrow immaculate, looking like a pool table," Walters said. "I remember coming around the corner with a horse and he stopped me. We became really good friends after that, but it was a shock."

Walters had a few horses, worked until noon, probably longer. Lonnie groomed horses for my father, whose one client was George Strawbridge's Augustin Stable. I was just out of high school, working my last real racehorse job for the summer as Timonium hosted a full meet.

Memories of that summer came flooding back when Walters won the Maryland Million Classic with Barbadian Runner at Laurel Park Oct. 11. In 1983, Walters was in his fourth year of training. He won two races at Timonium that year, one more than the Clancy barn. August 4 must have been a big day for Barn K as Walters won the fourth race with Pation and the Clancys won the eighth with Rollicking Run. I can hear Lonnie crowing now, "Ain't nobody beating Barn K."

As Walters found out, Lonnie was serious about the shedrow. Timonium held a contest to encourage beautification efforts. We banked the corners in the stalls, put "Saratoga pillows" out front, washed webbings, rolled shanks, polished brass, painted tax boxes and installed green-and-white halved stall boards. The horses wore clean bandages and sported shiny coats and pulled manes. Raking was an art form. At some point, we put lime in a burlap bag and dropped it -- gently and just so -- to make a star pattern in the dirt.

Somehow, we lost the contest to Ann Merryman. We figured there was a bribe involved.

Every part of that summer feels like a throwback. A Connecticut-bred, Pation started 96 times and won 17 races. He made 21 starts in 1983, three at Timonium, and won seven. A Maryland-bred, Rollicking Run made 42 starts. She won five, finished second 13 times and third six times. Her 1983 campaign included 16 starts, including Timonium tries Aug. 4, 13, 23 and Sept. 4. Her 1982 also included 16 trips to the post. Her foals included three horses who made at least 62 starts. They won 17, 15 and 11.

Besides Walters, our Barn K -- the end toward Timonium Road near the car dealership) -- neighbors included Mike Goswell and Greg Bowman. Ann Merryman was at the other end. King Leatherbury's horses, and people (wow), were there. Georganne Hale galloped for Merryman. Holly Robinson worked for my dad. So did Kevin Bowie Martin. Other staffers included hotwalkers Two Hour Lou (he lasted two hours) and Every Other Day Ray (he showed up every other day), culture-shocked staffers from the farm in Pennsylvania and names and faces I can't quite summon.

Hale became a Maryland racing executive under multiple track owners. Merryman put together a long training career before retiring in 2021, and won the Maryland Horse Breeders Association yearling show with a homebred this summer. Robinson went to Canada to work for Roger Attfield (and took Lonnie with her) for a while. She meets a gang for dinner every Tuesday night. Sally and Mike Goswell helped make Fair Hill Training Center what it is.

Lonnie died in 1999. I went to the University of Delaware that summer of 1983 and let's just say it's been awhile since I raked a shedrow. My dad turned 91 in October.

Walters is still at it. He won 10 races in 1983, one of just 10 seasons with double-digit victories in a career that spans 45 years. Three times -- 1981, 2013, 2017 -- he won a single race in a year. He went 0-for-37 in 2018.

Now a grandfather, he has the best horse of his life in Barbadian Runner.

The 3-year-old, a $5,000 yearling purchase at Timonium, has piled up $730,630 in earnings with six wins in 18 starts. Through Nov. 6, his 2025 includes 10 starts, five wins, three seconds and a third. He's been first or second in his last six races -- at Monmouth Park, Delaware Park, Colonial Downs, Charles Town and Laurel Park.

Lonnie would let him walk anywhere he wanted.