MIZZEN FAST

Hollywood Derby winner Ultimate Eagle was the product of a mating

recommended by Dan Kenny Bloodstock. We had purchased a bloc of seasons to Mizzen Mast a few years ago when the young stallion was in a quiet time in his career, like many who start off strong and then wane while the market catches up with their talents.

In Mazzen Mast's situation it helped to know that Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel would be promoting the horse and training some of his foals.

I recommended that trainer/pinhooker David Hanley purchase a season in Mizzen Mast for the Captain Bodget mare he owned in partnership with Ben Walden. The result was the rapidly improving Ultimate Eagle.

J. C. Davis profited by our advice about Mizzen Mast, too. We bought him the mare Zienat for only $7500 from Ken Ramsay and bred her to the grey son of Cozzene.

On the weekend, thaat colt won again at Hawthorne to bring his earnings $300,000 for midwest trainer Dale Bennett.

SMOKIN' JOE

The death of heavyweight champion Joe Frazier was well chronicled in the boxing media.

There was another Joe Frazier, this one a Thoroughbred of some talent owned by Peter Fuller, owner of Dancer's Image, disqualified winner of the 1968 Kentucky Derby. Fuller managed a fighter named Tom McNeely who once got a longshot chance to meet Floyd Patterson for the heavyweight crown.

Joe Frazier (the horse) was purchased by New Orleans owner Albert Stall Sr. I had the good fortune to meet and interview Joe (the boxer) when his horse showed up to race at Fair Grounds. The horse proved good enough to satisfy Stall's quest for a "Saturday"

horse.

Stall Sr. later called me some years later and asked a favor. Could I try to persuade his son, Albert Jr., to give up his ambitions to become a trainer when he graduated in geology at LSU? No dice.

The younger Stall, you may remember, posted a pretty good TKO of his own with Blame in last year's Breeders' Cup.

Back to boxing. I never saw Frazier again but did have the thrill of watching Muhammad Ali train in Vancouver for a bout with Canadian George Chuvalo. For five bucks you could watch him work the heavy and speed bags and skip rope with the grace and power that set him apart.

Fuller bred another good one in Mom's Command and bred the jockey who rode her, daughter Abigail.

SHAW ENOUGH

Longtime Canadian breeders Dick and Jo ellen Shaw were in Lexington during the Keeneland November sales, selling their last horse. After some four decades raising horses at their Glenview Farm west of Calgary the couple called it quits, more a function of age rather than any beef they might have with the the Thoroughbred scene.

Perseverance was never a problam for the duo. I learned that some decades ago when I phoned to congratulate them on a stakes win. It so happened that it was their first added money event after some 20 years of trying.

As sometimes happens, the Shaws then began to churn out high quality runners with David Bell training them at Woodbine. Bell also had horses in the barn for John Franks which is how I became involved. Bell trained the Canadian champion mare Woool00omooloo,

who gave Woodbine race caller Dan Loiselle a chance to dramatize her deep closer runs over the Ontario sod. I admired the pair's loyalty to trainer Bell over the years.

The Shaws represent all that's good in the "sport" of racing. We could wish to have a hundred more just like them.

DUNCAN MCTAVISH SHOWED FAITH IN ME

Word has been received of the death of Duncan MacTavish in Ontario. Duncan was a longtime friend who helped launch my bloodstock career in the l970s at Hastings Park (nee Exhibition Park) in Vancouver.

Duncan was a character of the first order, dividing his time on the backstretch with a second calling, that of professional wrestler who managed to combine each pursuit because the track and the Pacific Coliseum were adjacent. It was not unusal to see Duncan race into the paddock still in his wrestling garb to saddle a runner.

Duncan mostly scuffled in each vocation and he had naught but a handful of cheap horses when we first met. He asked me to be on the lookout when I headed to Fair Grounds in New Orleans for the winter. His budget, he said, was $2,000. I was not about to complain because, to that point I had never actually closed a horse deal, relying on income from the Daily Racing Form. But I was just itching to get started and two grand was as good a place as any to start.

Down at Fair Grounds I noticed a 3-year-old filly named Sutter's Dream who won a straight maiden race by eight lengths. Next time out she bled profusely and did it again in her third start. The rules then dictated that she not race in Louisiana for six months.

Sutter's Dream was trained by a wily Cajun named Pete Leblanc and I came calling to his satellite barn at old Jefferson Downs. Two seasons in Vancouver convinced me that horses had rarely bled from the nostrils, given the more benign Canadian climate.

With Sutter's Dream in "jail" for six months maybe Leblanc would part with her for my $2000. When I told him my price he practically grabbed the money out of my hand while pronouncing me "the dumbest Yankee I ever met".

Duncan and I were in business. He left the filly in New Orleans until the probation was up and actually won a race for $1500 claiming at Jefferson Downs, rightly figuring that everyone would dismiss her as a known bleeder.

The win provided shipping money to Canada where Sutter's Dream reeled off victory after victory, marching up the claiming ladder. When Duncan nominated her to a local stakes the racing office bureaucrats refused her entry. She shipped to Alberta instead where she won a $50,000 stakes sponsored by a tobacco company. By year's end she was voted champion mare in Western Canada. If memory serves, I think Duncan began to beat up on guys in the ring, too.

Duncan packed her up and headed East to try his luck. We lost touch for a few years but he showed up whenever I worked a broadcast for Canadian television from Woodbine.

My association with such an unusual champion did not go unnoticed and others began to support my opinions that led to a most rewarding life as a bloodstock agent who also did journalism rather than other way round. Thanks Duncan. I will never forget you.

And Pete Leblanc? He swore that I was running a ringer.

DOUBLE YOUR FUN

While living in California I would host a Kentucky Derby gathering. In 1990, our party proved lucrative when Unbridled responded to trainer Carl Nafzger's memorable narration for Mrs. (I Love You) Genter.

In those days there were separate pools handling bets from remote outposts and one could never be sure what the final odds might be in your betting jurisdiction. Unbridled paid $23.60 at Churchill Downs but I was stunned to discover that our California tickets were worth double that amount.

Mister Frisky accounted for the discrepancy. Undefeated in l6 starts, Mister Frisky had Latin horseplayers in a frenzy after leaving his Puerto Rico home to win the Santa Anita Derby. Mister Frisky was trained by Laz Barrera of Affirmed fame and that only further expanded the Unbridled price even more. Mister Frisky was hammered down to 6-to-5 despite having lost considerable weight while reeling off his win streak.

Thousands of hombres wore a long face going home to the barrios. When it came time to cash in I discovered that our payoff in Santa Barbara was twice the size than the one in Louisville. Viva! Unbridled

After a brief tussle with my Jesuit upbringing about the proper distribution of the largesse (mine, all mine), I came home with the swag and a flourish and better champagne that we were used to drinking. Summer Squall and Pleasant Tap filled in a $800 or so payday in the trifecta.

O'KELLY TO THE RESCUE

International racing and stallion shuttles have advanced from "wave of the future" to a new way of doing business. After decades of isolation South Africa wants in.

As an invitee to Cape Town's finest hour of sales and graded racing I was duly impressed by the quality of the runners and the enthusiasm of the 50,000 odd patrons who cheered them on.

Scotch distiller J&B sponsored the racing at Kenilworth, a world class facility a few miles from downtown Cape Town. "The Met" is contested over 10 furlongs of turf and was taken down this year with a gritty performance by 20-to-1 chance Past Master, a son of the prolific Jet Master. Jet Master is a grandson of Northern Dancer and he came to the fore in part by accident as happens on occasion in Thoroughbred breeding.

Jet Master was the subject of a difference of opinion between a husband and wife when sent through a yearling sale. The man did not wish to own the horse but the wife did. He put a $10,000 limit on the bidding, the wife went to $15,000 and secured the horse and he wouldn't speak to her for a week, so the story went on S. Africa television.

Jet Master won 17 of 24 starts to earn a chance at stud and he has flourished at distances from six to 10 furlongs.

TBA officials deemed the week a smashing success in the sales ring and at the track.

Hopes are high that administrative issues can be resolved soon that will reduce lengthy quarantines of up to 90 days trimmed to a fortnight. Horsemen there support creation of a $1-2 million US international race once protocols are in place to eliminate the scourge of African sleeping sickness.

The sale was a two day affair and most folks seemed optimistic about its maiden voyage in the indoor arena of a convention center. Close attention was paid to the progeny of Trippi, a bonafide success in America who figures to show his stuff early as a son of the speedy End Sweep, himself exported to good effect in Japan.

The bidding took some time to heat up but John O'Kelly arrived on the rostrum to show the way. The Brussels resident is a fixture at European auctions and I consider him the greatest showman cum salesman in the game. I was selling horses at Newmarket under our Four Star Sales banner when John continually pulled rabbits from hats.

On one occasion he plied bids from a trio of buyers, a Frenchman, an Argentine and an Englishman, all in their native tongue and without missing a beat. Whoever signed up O'Kelly ought to get a medal.

Past Master has been dominant sire for a number of years in S. Africa, accounting for no less than 31 yearlings catalogued at the sale put on for the first time by the Thoroughbed Breeders Association.

Golf great Gary Player had three by Jet Master and another by Fort Wood (sire of Horse Chestnut) in the sale. A regular visitor to Lexington over the years due to his passion for Thoroughbreds, he was not on the premises due to a golf commitment in Abu Dabhi.

A former Lexingtonian named Rachel Harrington looks after the Player yearlings.

A mare bred by Player won the last race on The Met card with a 6-year-old mare named Sangria Girl who captured the G II Reserve Stayer. The winner was sired by onetime US stallion Wolfhound who once stood at Lane's End in Kentucky

As we boarded the bus to leave I congratulated Rachel and berated myself that I had let a longshot get away. Enough J&B clouded my mind enough

to miss the fact that Sangria Girlwas 20-to-1

"All you had to do was ask,"said Rachel. " We won this race last year and had pointed her for this race."

The day concluded with some intramural festivities whereby a sizeable portion of the crowd doffs their kit (that's the way they talk) and sprint (if you could call it that) down the stretch to the winning post. Merciful darkness fell.

My travelling companion was Pam Parker, a noteworthy artist and photographer back in Seattle. We spent the next three days sampling the South African culture in 80 degree weather while the US was in a deep freeze. We puzzled over penguins walking along the beach in such heat. The horses were impressive, as was the wine, the food, the hospitality, mountains, beaches.

Some business was done. I made a fairly limp bid on Hip 126 because I used to own her kin Mille et Une. She brought $90,000 US.

Countryman Barry Irwin bought seven for his partners and Irish horsemen Ben McElroy bought a pair meant for Irish interests.

BELLE WATLING FOUND WANTING IN US DEBUT

Belle Watling, who beat all comers in her native Chile, came a cropper when fourth at Gulfstream Park in The Very One stakes. The defeat came in her American debut.

South American form has held its own in recent years and buying agents have fanned out to scour the globe in search runners that can compete with the top internationalists.

There's an added bonus in the folks you meet along the way.

Belle Watling is a daughter of Dushyantor (Sadler's Wells) who was bred by the prolific Haras Matancilla of Carlos Hirmas. A few years ago I had the pleasure to spend a day with Sr. Hirmas.

Juveniles from Dushyantor's first crop were beginning to run and they demonstrated unexpected precocity. I remarked that he might anticipate great things as Dushyantor's

progeny began to stretch out to classic distances. He beamed at the suggestion which

came to fruition in the days ahead.

Sadly, Sr. Hirmas died several years ago and I am left with memories of that sun-drenched afternoon when we toured Matancilla. He spoke little English but Keeneland's Chauncy Morris proved an able translator. An elderly hidalgo might best describe Sr. Hirmas who for many years filled an outsized trophy room. It's hard to explain the feeling that I was in the presence of true greatness in lively pursuit of Thoroughbred achievement, culminating in the fabled Belle Watling.

Other unforgettable characters were encountered on that expedition. Marcel Zarour, the grande jefe of the Chilean Jockey Club, along with his charming wife Maria (better known as "Icha". Pedro Hurtado, Jose Gatica, Fernando Fantini, and German Fischer

became fast friends and clients.

In two weeks the Latino Americano race will be run at San Ysidro in Chile. One of the favorites, Casablanca Star, is a son of Dushyantor. I'll be thinking about Sr. Carlos.