Eight women have tried without success to train the winner of the Belmont Stakes, but the ninth shooter could prove the charm when Alexis Barba saddles Make Music for Me in Saturday's 142nd running.
The closest any woman has gotten to the winner's circle was Dianne Carpenter, who saddled the 17-1 shot Kingpost to get second behind Risen Star in 1988. But if the oddsmakers are any guide, Barba might have the best chance of all with her Music man.
In the lush quiet and beauty and space of the Belmont backstretch, Barba stood back yesterday, looked around her and said: "This place is awesome. The grounds are so beautiful."
She might also have been speaking of her horse. Few colts have come to New York's great classic with a background anything like Make Music for Me.
Barba launched the colt's career in a maiden special at Hollywood Park last July, when he finished fourth. She promptly ran him back in a bunch of graded stakes, getting two seconds and a third.
The scoreboard: six races as a two-year-old, four in graded company, no wins -- but three of them right on the heels of a colt named Lookin At Lucky, who would go on to win the Preakness.
After a rest, Barba returned Music to the races in March. In a maiden? Not likely. She sent him in a grass stakes at Santa Anita. Hello. He won it, so he broke his maiden in a stake.
She then shipped him to Keeneland for the Blue Grass, which he detested, then into the Kentucky Derby, where he ran the best race of his life, to come from dead last, 28 lengths behind, to grab fourth at 30-1, beaten by less than five.
We are familiar with D. Wayne Lukas' strategy of tossing promising young horses early into the deep end to test their mettle, but he is the soul of caution next to Barba.
"We ran Music in those graded races because he has so much talent," she said. "I've been around a lot of good horses, but he showed me right from the beginning how good he was."
To date, he has not fulfilled the potential. He still has won only one race, but he has earned more than $362,000, a nice return on the $95,000 purchase price.
"I had him just right on Derby day and knew he was going to run a big race," Barba said. "I was thrilled to hit the board."
She skipped the Preakness, preferring the Belmont. She shipped him to New York on May 17 to get him accustomed to Belmont's demanding sandy track. Six days later, she drilled him a mile in 1:43.3. Over the weekend, he fired a bullet five furlongs in 1:01.2 on the training track.
Like nearly everyone else in town, Barba does not know what to make of this Belmont.
"We hope to win it, but I can't even guess how it is going to unfold," she said. "It's a funny race on pace. Very tricky.
"First Dude may go to the lead, but how far can he go? Nobody knows who can get the (mile and a half) distance. All I know is that it's tough to get our horse tired."
The only time Music has run on a dirt track was in the Derby -- and that was a slush pile. He still has not run over a fast dirt surface.
Barba, a 57-year-old Californian, learned much of the business working for the late Eddie Gregson for 20 years. She has been running her own operation for 10 years. She has nine horses in her care now, including another top three-year-old, Alphie's Bet, who won the $200,000 Snow Chief at Santa Anita in April.
But Music is the man of her hour. He's aptly named. He's by Bernstein, after Leonard Bernstein. If he can win the million-dollar Belmont, it is going to be one sweet tune all around.
