Horse racing is a "business built on hopes and dreams," says Pope McLean, so it's not surprising that the prominent Kentucky breeder is allowing himself to get a little excited about the eighth race this afternoon at Laurel Park.
The final race on a weekday card in Maryland normally doesn't attract much attention, but McLean, his two sons and about 10 friends have a first-time starter entered named Xcessive Heat, and if the mystery of thoroughbred bloodlines lets lightning strike twice, the 3-year-old colt could be a very good one.
Xcessive Heat, whose sister, Xtra Heat, set a record for fillies with 25 stakes victories, works out yesterday at Laurel in preparation for his first race today.
(Don Wright For The Washington Post)
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Xcessive Heat is a full brother to the filly Xtra Heat, and in the past 10 years, no horse based in Maryland has come close to running anything like her.
Maryland horseman John Salzman bought the smallish but compact Xtra Heat out of a 2-year-olds-in-training sale at Timonium for a mere $5,000. He was the only bidder. The filly debuted in a nondescript maiden claiming race at Laurel in June 2000, weaved her way through traffic on the turn, won and then never stopped winning.
Until an ankle injury ended her career three years later as she prepared to compete for a $2 million pot in the world's richest sprint, Xtra Heat had finished first 26 times with five seconds in 34 starts. Her 25 stakes victories are an all-time record for a female runner. She was named 3-year-old champion filly in 2001 -- in a sport that rarely recognizes sprinters for division titles -- and earned nearly $2.4 million.
"She was my favorite," said jockey Rick Wilson, who rode Xtra Heat in most of her races until he got seriously hurt in a fall at Pimlico. "This mare was special."
At a time when large crowds at Laurel and Pimlico were rare, Xtra Heat packed them in. Fans lined the winner's circle rail three deep to cheer her and often weep when she returned from battle. In Feb. 2003, Laurel gave away 4,000 Xtra Heat bobble heads dolls.
In Kentucky, Xtra Heat's success convinced McLean to send her old dam, Begin, back to the little-known stallion Dixieland Heat for one more mating before she retired. In a long career in the breeding shed at McLean's Crestwood Farm in Lexington, Begin had been matched with a different sire every year and only this one combination had clicked.
McLean usually breeds to sell, but he decided to keep Xcessive Heat.
"We just thought it was the last foal out of this mare, and it was a late foal, and we got some people to buy in on the risk with us and have some fun," he said. "This horse has everything [Xtra Heat] had, but whether he's got the same desire, that heart she had, we'll have to see. We hope the light comes on when he comes out of the gate."
McLean sent Xcessive Heat to Laurel-based trainer Michael Trombetta, who with a small, talented stable has been winning with 30 percent of his starters.
Trombetta knows Xcessive Heat has the fiery bloodlines and also plenty of speed. In a final workout before today's race, the colt zipped three furlongs in a sharp 35 4/5 seconds. Still, the trainer betrays no excitement when talking about the race.
"He should run credibly and should run well, but I won't be disappointed if he doesn't win," said Trombetta, 38, who grew up in Baltimore learning the ropes at Pimlico. "It's each individual as they come. If your brother is a professional athlete, that doesn't mean you're going to be."
Salzman, who raced Xtra Heat, works every morning in the Laurel barn of his son, Tim, just around the corner from Trombetta. Asked if he felt sentimental when he noticed Xtra Heat's brother in the entries, Salzman flatly said, "No.
"I wish him luck with the horse," Salzman said of Trombetta. "You've got a tough act to follow with that filly. I'm not bragging, I'm just saying. I've bought horses out of sales that are full brothers to good ones that weren't worth a quarter.
"If you look at [Begin's] foals, she's had a bunch, and Xtra Heat was just a freak. It's just that simple."
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