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Sunday, Feb. 11, 2007,
Daily Racing Form
JAY
HOVDEY COLUMN
THIS LADY WILL
LEAVE BEHIND A LEGACY
By JAY HOVDEY
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| Mesaros photo |
ARCADIA, Calif. - It will come as no surprise, to anyone who
knows her at all, that Trudy McCaffery, the daughter of Canadian
football icon Fritz Hanson, is not going down without a fight.
Since she burst onto the scene in the early 1990's with good
horses like Mane Minister, Nice Assay, and Visible Gold - all
owned in partnership with John Toffan - McCaffery has been the
bantamweight champion of the best possible racing world. If
there is a right side to an issue, you will find McCaffery on
it.
From the start, she cared more than most, spreading her
compassion to every deserving corner of the business. She can
play hardball when necessary, especially when she was raising
funds for her youth organization, Kids to the Cup. But she also
owns a quality pair of soft kid gloves, and has used them to
beneficial effect.
More than anything else, though, McCaffery has spread the
message - by word and deed - of the pure delight experienced by
close proximity to the Thoroughbred.
"There's more to it than just the winner's circle," she has said
more than once. "We've watched some of these horses since they
were weanlings, and it's already a joy. The winner's circle just
makes it extra special."
McCaffery should know. She's been there enough, but always, she
will insist, on the coattails of some remarkable animal. Their
names read like an inventory of racing treasure - Free House,
Bien Bien, Came Home, Del Mar Dennis, A.P. Assay, and Pacific
Squall, just to name a few. Own just one of them in a lifetime
and you've caught lightning in a jar. Own them all and you have
written a chapter in the history of the game.
Still, McCaffery insists that owning racehorses comes at a steep
and serious price, and not merely in terms of training costs and
vet bills. From the start, she embraced a moral obligation to
the ultimate welfare of the animal, no matter what its economic
worth. And to this creed she has held true, as those who have
served with her on the boards of the California Thoroughbred
Breeders' Association, the Thoroughbred Owners of California,
Tranquility Farm, and the Oak Tree Racing Association can
testify.
This is not meant to be a benediction. As these words are
written, on Friday afternoon, McCaffery is still at home in
Rancho Santa Fe, dealing with the final ravages of a brain tumor
diagnosed last year. She tried chemotherapy, but it nearly
killed her. So she went cold turkey, opting only for medication
that would control the inevitable seizures symptomatic of the
malignant growth.
McCaffery knew she was trimming her days, but they would be
better days, she figured. And she was right. She played golf as
long as she could, went to the races when her spirit was so
moved, and kept her friends and family close without dwelling on
the rest.
Now precious time is running out, and she knows it. If she can,
if it is at all possible, there is a fervent hope that her mind
will be filled with the sweetest images of her singular life. Of
bounding over fences as a girl in Calgary aboard prize-winning
hunters and jumpers. Of standing in a Kentucky field, surrounded
by her mares and foals. Of the blaze-faced chestnut Bien Bien
winning the San Juan Capistrano and then his son, Bienamado,
doing the same.
Let her savor once again some of the best days that did not end
up in the winner's circle, ever proving her point. Of Bien Bien
just missing to Kotashaan in the Breeders' Cup Turf, and of Free
House, wearing a smudge of McCaffery's red lipstick on his white
nose, losing the Preakness by a bob to Silver Charm in a
three-way photo with Captain Bodgit.
It was on the Pimlico backstretch, in the hours after that
incredible 1997 Preakness, that Trudy McCaffery displayed her
truest colors. Though emotionally drained, McCaffery still
managed to fizz with the energy of a giddy fan.
"Was that the most amazing race you've ever seen?" she demanded.
No one argued. And no one blinked when McCaffery suddenly broke
away from her beloved Free House, first to console trainer Gary
Capuano and praise his work with Captain Bodgit, then to
confront Silver Charm himself, trade compliments with his
owners, Bob and Beverly Lewis, and tease trainer Bob Baffert
with good-natured sportsmanship, promising that they would still
need to deal with Free House at the Belmont if they wanted to
win the Triple Crown.
"Of all our horses, he was the one who gave me the most joy,"
McCaffery said of Free House, winner of the Pacific Classic, the
Santa Anita Handicap, and the Santa Anita Derby. "He made me
proud, and he made me laugh."
Free House died in July of 2004 after an accident at Vessels
Farm in Bonsall, Calif., where he had retired to stud. When it
happened, McCaffery said, "I felt like I'd lost a son."
Free House is buried at Vessels, beneath a stone marker near a
pond and two cottonwood trees. In an ultimate tribute, McCaffery
scattered some of her father's ashes over the same consecrated
ground.
"And that's where I'll be, too," she insisted not long ago.
"Right there with the two most important men in my life."
© 2007 Daily
Racing Form
Reprinted with permission
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