Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, May 18, 1990 TAG: 9005180847
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: B-4 EDITION: EVENING
SOURCE:
DATELINE: BOWIE, MD. LENGTH: Medium
Meredith "Mert" Bailes, the trainer of J.R.'s Horizon, hopes to somehow emerge from Saturday's race with a win. But he also knows he's got nothing to lose.
"The best I can come out of this thing is with a smile on my face and a feeling of accomplishment," Bailes said Thursday. "The worst I can do is what everyone expects me to do."
J.R.'s Horizon, a 50-1 choice in the early line, and 30-1 pick Fighting Notion have been training this week at Bowie Race Course, which is about 40 miles removed from the carnival atmosphere at Pimlico.
Instead of being quizzed by reporters, scrutinized by TV cameras and surveyed by fellow trainers, the horses' handlers have enjoyed much-needed seclusion as they prepare for the race of their lives.
At Pimlico, the colts are lined up next to each other in stalls located in the same barn. At Bowie, J.R.'s Horizon and Fighting Notion are housed in different stables located about 50 yards apart.
Ah, privacy.
"Things might not always go right, so we're better off not letting the opposition know what's going on," said Nancy Heil, Fighting Notion's trainer. "This way we get to keep pretty much to ourselves."
Because both horses have raced at Pimlico several times, they have the advantage of running the Preakness on their "home turf." That won't mean a thing, however, if they simply aren't as good as the competition.
"We don't want to feed him to lions," Bailes said. "We just want him to do what he can do . . . If we can lay within 12 lengths of the lead by the time my colt starts his run, we'll be happy."
Heil, on the other hand, wants her horse to bolt out in front and just try to hang on with all he's got.
"We want to get on the rail," Heil said. "He's got good speed - it's just a matter if he can go a mile and 3/16ths on the front.
"The other horses have been tested, but mine hasn't had a chance to run with them," she said. "I'm asking him for a big effort here, but I really believe he can do well. We're not running just to run - we're running because it's a speed track and he's a speed horse."
Fighting Notion showed off that acceleration on May 1 when he rolled to a wire-to-wire 20-length victory at Pimlico. The grandson of Avatar, who ran in the 1975 Preakness, has won three of eight races in 1990, his first year of racing.
In his last race, at Pimlico the day after the Kentucky Derby, J.R.'s Horizon weakened in the stretch and finished sixth. The horse, a son of Caveat, has won three of eight lifetime races and finished second in three others.
Sitting in his truck, stopwatch in hand, Bailes hits the button as his horse crosses each quarter-pole. His thoughts turn to the Preakness.
"It would tickle me to death to see it pour down rain on Saturday," he says. "He certainly does run well on an off track. Oh no, it wouldn't hurt my feelings at all to see some slop."
Someone asked Bailes if he'd checked the forecast. The question snapped him out of his reverie.
"Sunny skies, of course," he answered. "What'd you expect?"
by CNB