THESE RACING SAGES WERE ONCE LONG SHOTS.

Byline: KAREN CROUSE

If trainer Pat Byrne had been one of his race horses, he probably would have been dropped to a lower class level or sent to stud in 1994 or 1995 when he saddled only 11 winners.

The same goes for trainer Sonny Hine, who struggled for years before saddling a horse, Skip Away, that would nose out Byrne's Favorite Trick for Horse of the Year honors.

If trainers were treated like horses, Jenine Sahadi probably never would have known the fulfilling feeling of going from dutifully recording Breeders' Cup history to making it.

The 14th Breeders' Cup was infinitely richer for having at its center trainers, whose lives haven't been bound to the same rigid scripts as those of their animals. Allowed to proceed at their own pace, with no one holding a whip to their heads, Byrne, Hine and Sahadi converged on the winner's circle Saturday at Hollywood Park from markedly different paths; the would-be car taker, the character and the history-maker.

Byrne, 41, tasted success early in the proceedings, with 2-year-old Countess Diana in the Juvenile Fillies, and late, with 2-year-old Favorite Trick in the Classic. It was Favorite Trick's eighth win in as many starts. Not since Bela Karolyi has one man coaxed so much gold out of such youth.

It was a fitting climax to a season that saw Byrne saddle 14 winners from 17 starters during the Churchill Downs meeting in the spring.

It also was a long way up from Byrne's professional nadir in 1990, when he had two horses in his stable. He almost quit, nearly taking a job at his brother's auto-repair shop in Charlottesville, Va.

`The thing about this horse-racing business is you can never sit back and rest on your laurels,'' Byrne said. ``You don't know what's around the corner.''

Hine, 67, never knew what was around the corner during the years he worked in the U.S. State Department as an investigator in Hong Kong. He also spent two years as a fingerprint specialist for the FBI.

He inherited a love of horses from his father, a trainer of unbridled passion and limited success.

Hine - who saddled his first winner in 1948, before Byrne or Sahadi were born - and wife Carolyn had their share of struggles before Carolyn picked up Skip Away two years ago at a bargain-basement price of $22,500.

The Hines paid a supplemental fee of $480,000 to enter Skip Away, a two-time winner of the Jockey Club Gold Cup, in the Classic. Their aim was to buy some respect for the horse.

``I knew the horse was that great,'' Hine said. ``I just wanted to prove it.''

Sahadi, 34, showed something to herself last year, when she saddled the Sprint winner in the Breeders' Cup in Toronto. When Lit De Justice came from behind to win the race, Sahadi became the first female trainer to grace the winner's circle in the sport's richest spectacle.

She barely stopped to catch her breath after that breakthrough win. And you'll find her at Hollywood Park bright and early this morning, though maybe an hour or two later than usual owing to the hangover she predicted she'll have after becoming the first person in Breeders' Cup history to saddle back-to-back winners in the Sprint.

In a giddy flashback to last year's race, Sahadi watched Elmhurst come from last on the backstretch to outclass a 14-horse field that included Byrne's Richter Scale, which finished 5-1/2 lengths back, in 13th.

In a tone usually reserved for indulgent parents, Sahadi says each of her horses is different in their own special way. But the similarities to Lit De Justice were hard to miss, from the rider on his back (Corey Nakatani) to his glued-on shoes (like Lit De Justice, he can't take a nail) and his scintillating kick.

When Hollywood Park hosted the Breeders' Cup for the first time in 1987, Sahadi was cheerfully doing menial tasks as a member of the track's publicity department.

People then recognized her passion for horses would one day be put to greater use. Because her father, Fred, is an esteemed breeder, it was widely assumed Sahadi would leave her mark as an owner.

For her to cement her standing as one of the country's top trainers at the place so near and dear to her heart made the day ``so fun,'' Sahadi said.

She wasn't smiling after her other Breeders' Cup entry, El Angelo, got jostled out of the gate in the Mile and never caught his stride, finishing sixth.

``One minute you're happy, the next minute you're (upset),'' Sahadi said. ``That's just what this life is like.''

Sahadi worries herself sick before big races, which was the same sort of problem Elmhurst used to have.

He'd break out into a ghastly sweat and grow agitated. After giving the matter much thought, Sahadi decided to geld him. He has been a mellow fellow ever since. By early Saturday afternoon, Sahadi had calmed down considerably, too.

``I'm done throwing up for the day,'' Sahadi said, laughing. ``Unless I drink too much tonight.''

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Photo

Photo: Trainer Patrick Byrne, with jockey Shane Sellers, nearly became an auto mechanic.

Associated Press