Almost Famous back on track to stardom

A couple of weeks can make an enormous

difference in the life and career of a young horse, and Chuck and Maribeth

Sandford's Almost Famous is a vivid illustration of that fact.

Just two weeks ago, trainer Pat Byrne was at a complete

loss to explain a dull fourth-place run by the son of Unbridled's Song in the

Street Sense Stakes, a one-mile overnight stakes for two-year-olds that was

the co-featured event on the "Stars of Tomorrow I" program on the opening day of

the Churchill Downs Fall Meet.

A $500,000 purchase by the Sanfords at the Fasig-Tipton

Florida two-year-old sale in March, Almost Famous had dazzled in his in September

debut at Churchill Downs. Coastline, the runner-up that day, soundly whipped

Byrne's colt in their rematch.

After hours of pondering, Byrne concluded that he had "babied" the colt in

the weeks leading up to the Street Sense and decided to tighten the screws on

Almost Famous. He gave him one day of rest, outfitted the colt with blinkers for

his gallops and worked him out of the starting gate with those blinkers in a

sharp time of :35 2/5 on November 2.

Byrne's tactics were validated Saturday when Almost Famous

returned on just two weeks rest and rolled to an easy front-running victory over

a promising group of young rivals in a

1 1/16-mile allowance optional claiming

race, the colt's first test at a two-turn distance. The margin under jockey

Corey Lanerie was six lengths in a winning time of 1:44 4/5 over a fast surface.

"He came out of the race super good and he ate-up quick

last night," Byrne said. "It was easy for him. There's no doubt he's got a lot

of talent."

The official Equibase chart noted that Almost Famous

"hopped" at the start from his rail post. But he quickly gathered himself under

Lanerie and galloped to the lead. At that point, the race was essentially over

and he drew off easily in the stretch.

"I really didn't want him on the lead, but he just kind of

out-galloped the others to the lead," Byrne said. "My instructions to Corey were

that we'd like to see him win, but we'd like to see him come from off the pace.

But he broke, Corey had a split-second decision and the horse kind of took

himself to the lead. He's got a big stride on him and he just out-galloped them

to the first turn, and after that he just kind of dragged Corey around there."

The next race for Almost Famous could be the

Grade 2, $175,000 Kentucky Jockey Club, the 1 1/16-mile co-feature of the "Stars of Tomorrow

II" program on November 30, the Fall Meet's closing day. But he is one of two horses

owned by the Sandfords and trained by Byrne that could be in the starting gate

that day. Their Chas's Legacy, a two-year-old gelded son of Bernardini, scored his

first win in three races at odds of 14-1 when he defeated a well-regarded group

of maidens at 1 1/16 miles on Thursday.

"We've got two horses now and I don't know if we'll run

both in the Jockey Club, but I know we'll run one," Byrne said. "We'll talk with

the Sandfords about that possibility. The important thing is that both horses

came out of their races great."

With Saturday's impressive second victory in three starts,

the career bankroll of Almost Famous rose to $56,479.

"We got both of these started now," Byrne said. "They're

both nominated to the Jockey Club. I've got no interest in going to New York

with either for the Remsen. There's plenty of races without going all over

the countryside."

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