By John Scheinman
Special to The Washington Post
Saturday, April 5, 2008

In the early morning hours before the races last Saturday, trainer Tim Tullock sent Gattopardo onto the track at Laurel Park for a five-furlong gallop, a final bit of speed work before a confrontation today with the fast horses awaiting him in New York.

The big gray colt warmed up and then displayed his terrific velocity, stopping the clocker's watch at 58 seconds, more than two seconds faster than the next best effort at the distance that day and a time that can instill wild dreams in even the most steadfast horsemen.

Who works five furlongs in 58 seconds at Laurel Park, Tullock was asked a few days later.

"He does," Tullock replied. "Secretariat did."

At the time of year when horse racing reaches the level of frenzy of spawning fish, everyone wishes they had a Gattopardo, a 3-year-old that just might be good enough to win a Triple Crown race.

Tullock takes the first major step toward that goal today when Gattopardo runs at Aqueduct against seven other 3-year-olds in the Grade III $150,000 Bay Shore Stakes, a seven-furlong race taking second billing to the Grade I $750,000 Wood Memorial, a major steppingstone on the road to the Kentucky Derby.

Despite the temptation, Tullock, 43, who lives in Columbia, chose not to thrust Gattopardo into the Wood, a 1 1/8 -mile race that attracted 2007 juvenile champion War Pass and a slew of accomplished runners. The Beyer Speed Figure of 103 that Gattopardo recorded winning the Miracle Wood on March 1 at Laurel showed he could be as fast as any 3-year-old in the country, but too much, too soon can ruin a horse.

Gattopardo's owner and breeder, Michael Ueltzen, kept looking at the past performances of the Wood field this past week and saw his horse fitting in. If Gattopardo could win, the next stop might be the Kentucky Derby.

"The problem I'm encountering with Gattopardo -- and it's a nice problem -- is he's turned into a different horse in his last two races," Ueltzen said. "When I see a [speed figure] of 91 and 103 and the other horses in the 70s and 80s except for War Pass, I see everybody as a little vulnerable."

Tullock did, too, but he kept his focus on the Bay Shore.

"I've made mistakes with my judgment being clouded before," said Tullock, who fell in love with horses watching races on the New England fair circuit growing up in Northampton, Mass. "You see enough [Kentucky] Derbies over the years and horses that were supposed to win don't, and horses that didn't belong there are never the same.

"We're very happy with our decision right now."

The decision right now is to try to win the Bay Shore. If all goes well, Gattopardo will return to Aqueduct on April 26 for the Grade III $150,000 Withers at a mile and then go on to the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico.

"It's the same, old trainer's thing," Tullock said. "We'll see what happens."

Racing note: Jack Werk, one of the leading pedigree consultants in the country, recommended Ueltzen breed his mare Senza Paura to the stallion Johannesburg, a former champion and grandson of the great Storm Cat. The result was Gattopardo.

Researching Senza Paura's pedigree jogged Werk's memory, bringing him back to a day he had spent in Germany.

"Gattopardo's dam, Senza Paura, is a half-sister to a Group II winner named Germany," Werk said. "Back in the '90s, I was invited by the German Breeders' Association to speak about [breeding] patterns in Baden-Baden. They took me to the races one day while I was there, and the winner of the big race that day was named Germany, and I had a big bet on the horse. I said, 'I'm in Germany, so I'm betting on Germany.' I couldn't read the racing program and won.

"I told Mike I have a special affection for his mare, and I told him the story."

Ueltzen, who is president and chief executive of The Republic Group, a high-tech export management company, was born in Germany. He breeds and races under the name of Germania Farms and his silks are black, red and gold -- the colors of the German flag.

"I grew up on a trotter stud farm outside Munich," Ueltzen said. "My parents were in horses. My grandfather was a steeplechase jockey. I eat, drink and bleed horse manure."