Hendrickson: 'You can never walk away'

Lori Hendrickson's excitement about this year's Kentucky Derby helped convince her that she was ready to return to training

Thoroughbreds, something she had done for 14 years. She had all but decided to

leave the business about seven months earlier, however, when she lost 10 horses

and two cats in a fire at a barn she was leasing at a farm in La Grange, Kentucky. Her

heart was broken, and she went to work with her husband in his sports apparel

business.

"My mind was starting to get back into it because I started

preparing to go to the Derby," Hendrickson said. "I couldn't wait to go to the

Derby. Normally, I'm not spending two months finding a dress. I got too

excited."

At Keeneland, Hendrickson has three two-year-old

Louisiana-bred colts in training. One of them, Lori's Darling, will become her first starter in a year if he makes his career debut on October 24, five days before the one-year anniversary of the fire.

"He's not named after me," Hendrickson said about the

Yankee Gentleman colt, whose own story tugs at the heartstrings.

He was named

for breeder and owner Jeff Jeans' late wife, Lori, who died of cancer about 1

1/2

years ago. A month after she died, lightning struck and killed the colt's dam

and suckling half-brother at the Louisiana farm where they resided. Then

Hendrickson's barn burned.

"I think we're due," Hendrickson said, alluding to a

victory by Lori's Darling after the run of horrible luck. "He's working awesome,

this horse (who has three consecutive bullet works over the Keeneland Polytrack).

I think his mommy and Lori are looking down on him. I think all of them are

looking down on him."

Hendrickson understandably tears up when she talks about

the animals that died in the fire (a goat survived) and said she heals a little

more each day. Remembering the horses and cats helps, and she included

photos of them in the spiral-bound "gallop chart" she uses to record the

activities of her current runners.

Following the Keeneland meet, Hendrickson plans to train a

small string at Fair Grounds while returning to her Louisville, Kentucky, home to continue

to work with her husband.

"You wouldn't be in this business if you weren't a

dreamer," she said. "It's a part of my life; it really is. Everybody says you

can never walk away from it. I think I really believe it now."

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