THIS MIX IS UNMATCHED.Byline: KEVIN MODESTI LOUISVILLE, Ky. - When he was the enfant terrible en·fant ter·ri·ble n. en·fants ter·ri·bles One whose startlingly unconventional behavior, work, or thought embarrasses or disturbs others: The radical painter was the enfant terrible of the art establishment. of the Los Angeles Los Angeles (lôs ăn`jələs, lŏs, ăn`jəlēz'), city (1990 pop. 3,485,398), seat of Los Angeles co., S Calif.; inc. 1850. racetracks in the 1970s, Bobby Frankel trained three winners one afternoon and then flew into a binocular-hurling rage because a fourth horse threw a shoe and lost. Frankel slammed his fists down so angrily after a photo-finish defeat he broke a box-seat railing. He blew up if not every race went his way. Mellower now at age 61, Frankel admits to a ``testy'' nature. ``It must be the (natural) chemicals in my body,'' the Brooklyn native said Tuesday morning at Churchill Downs Churchill Downs, Ky.: see Louisville. , with a familiar wadda-ya- want-from-me? shrug, when a writer inquired about the source of his moods. Jerry Bailey is another of thoroughbred racing's famously sore losers, so competitive it kills him to let his 10-year-old son beat him at basketball. You would think this is an explosive chemical mix, Frankel and Bailey, respectively the trainer and jockey of Empire Maker, favorite for Saturday's 129th Kentucky Derby Kentucky Derby One of the classic U.S. Thoroughbred horse races. It was established in 1875 and run annually on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs track in Louisville, Ky. With the Preakness and the Belmont Stakes, it makes up U.S. racing's coveted Triple Crown. . But they've never had a falling out or, apparently, a cross word. ``I've read how he gets hot after a race,'' Frankel said of Bailey, ``but he hasn't got hot at me.'' It might be different if not for the fact that when Frankel and Bailey team up, they usually seem to win. Individually, Frankel and Bailey were voted the nation's outstanding trainer and jockey the past three years. Together, they're better than that. They're like Shaq and Kobe on a basketball court, Montana and Rice on a football field, Serena and Venus on a doubles court. Racing hasn't seen a pair like it since trainer Charlie Whittingham and jockey Bill Shoemaker William Lee Shoemaker (August 19, 1931 – October 12, 2003) was an American jockey. Referred to as "Bill", "Willie," and "The Shoe", William Lee Shoemaker was born in the town of Fabens, Texas. At 2. were winning stakes together - including a Kentucky Derby with Ferdinand - in the 1980s. A reigning Eclipse Award-winning trainer and jockey have teamed up in America's biggest race only one time since Laz Barrera Lazaro S. Barrera (May 8, 1924 - April 25, 1991), was a Cuban-born American Hall of Fame thoroughbred racehorse trainer. Born in Havana, "Laz" Barrera was one of nine brothers who went on to become involved in thoroughbred horse racing in the United States. and Steve Cauthen Steve Cauthen (born May 1, 1960 in Covington, Kentucky) is an American jockey. Cauthen, the son of a trainer and a farrier, grew up in Walton, Kentucky around horses, which (along with his small size) made race-riding a logical career choice. guided Affirmed to the 1978 Triple Crown. Though Frankel, a Pacific Palisades Palisades, cliffs along the west bank of the Hudson River, NE N.J. and SE N.Y., extending from N of Jersey City, N.J., to the vicinity of Piermont, N.Y., with a general altitude of from 350 ft to 550 ft (107–168 m). resident, is headquartered at Hollywood Park Hollywood Park may be several places:
New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of , is based on the East Coast, they get together often enough to have won Grade I races with 10 different horses the past three years. Empire Maker and most of the rest of those horses have won under the green and pink silks of Saudi Arabian Prince Khalid Abdullah's Juddmonte Farms, Frankel's major owner since 1990 and the Eclipse Award breeder of 2002. ``Let's face it, if they don't win two stakes in a weekend, they're not doing well,'' said Wally Dollase, trainer of Ten Most Wanted, the main Derby danger to Frankel's Empire Maker and Peace Rules. ``That combination, Frankel and Bailey - with Juddmonte - they're unbeatable right now.'' Why wouldn't they choose each other? In Bailey, 45, Frankel sees a jockey who is always prepared. ``He does his homework. He knows how the other jockeys ride and what they're going to do in the race. Whereas, I've come to the paddock with some jockeys who don't know Don't know (DK, DKed) "Don't know the trade." A Street expression used whenever one party lacks knowledge of a trade or receives conflicting instructions from the other party. what horse they're riding.'' In Frankel, Bailey sees a trainer whose horses always will be set for their best efforts. ``I think anybody who rides for Frankel is going to be on top of the game,'' said Tom Knust, the former Santa Anita racing secretary who is the agent for Kent Desormeaux, one of the top jockeys with whom Frankel has hired and fired and hired again over the years. ``But I don't want to take anything away from Jerry. You have to earn that position.'' The Frankel-Bailey chemistry - and Empire Maker's class - might be an unbeatable combination in the Derby. CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Trainer Bobby Frankel, right, and jockey Jerry Bailey will team to race favored Empire Maker on Saturday in the Kentucky Derby. Ed Reinke/Associated Press |
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