John Amerman and his wife, Jerry, have owned horses since 1992, and in their best year, 2001, their stable earned $2,885,983. If Spoken Fur wins the Alabama Stakes today at Saratoga, she can pass that total herself in just the 10 weeks that the Amermans have owned her.
It will take the 3-year-old filly a little more than two minutes to negotiate the 1 1/4 miles of today's race, and if she hits the wire first, she will earn not only the $450,000 winner's share of the $750,000 purse, but a $2 million bonus for sweeping New York's Triple Tiara.
Add that to the $480,000 she earned for winning the Mother Goose Stakes and Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont Park, and even the retired CEO of Mattel Toys can appreciate the rapid return of investment.
"It's almost as good as getting a great acquisition in business," Amerman said in a conference call this week. "Two million dollars is a lot of money, but you have to understand I knew nothing about the bonus until I came to Belmont Park for the Oaks. If it happens, God bless; if not, that's OK, too."
Spoken Fur began her career in Kentucky and Florida for trainer Austin Smith and an ownership group that included his father, George. A nervous filly,
she lost her first four starts, but Smith worked to relax her, and she stormed from far behind to break her maiden by 6 1/2 lengths April 6 at Keeneland.
She won an allowance race by a neck on April 30 at Churchill Downs, where she beat older fillies and mares by 1 1/4 lengths in another allowance May 21. Then Smith sent Spoken Fur to Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel at Belmont Park.
"It was a tough decision to send her up there, but I knew that's where she needed to be," Smith told the Daily Racing Form. "It was a slam-dunk situation.
She caused me a lot of heartache as a 2-year-old because she had so many mental quirks, but she obviously got over all those."
Then Amerman, who has Frankel train about half of his 20-horse stable, stepped in.
"I was talking with Bobby, and I told him I don't really have a big filly in our barn and would he keep his eye out for one," Amerman said. "He said, 'I think I got one you might like. She came in the other day and she might be for sale.' It took probably three minutes, and I said, 'OK, let's do it,' and, sure enough, the deal was done."
None of the principals would reveal the purchase price, but a 3-year-old filly with three straight victories, even if they weren't in stakes, probably would fetch $500,000 or more.
"Bobby called me back a couple of days later and said, 'I think I'm going to run her in the Mother Goose.' I said, 'That's a Grade 1; she's only run in allowance races.' But he said she was doing very well and that we should try it," Amerman said.
Frankel should know; he has won more Grade 1 races than any other trainer this century and with 17 already in 2003, he is on pace to set the single-year record.
Spoken Fur won the 1 1/8-mile Mother Goose and the 1 1/2-mile Coaching Club American Oaks in similarly easy fashion, using a potent kick on the second turn to spring to an eight-length lead in midstretch before jockey Jerry Bailey wrapped up on her.
"Between Austin Smith and Bobby Frankel, they've found the answer," Amerman said. "Sometimes you have to have a little luck in this business."
ARLINGTON MILLION: Sulamani, one of Europe's top horses, and Storming Home, who used to be, head the Arlington Million today at Arlington Park.
Sulamani, purchased by the Dubai ruling family's Godolphin Racing Inc. after finishing second in the Arc de Triomphe last fall, is a two-time Group 1 winner. He finished second to Europe's best horse, Alamshar, in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot on July 26.
Storming Home won the Group 1 Champion Stakes last fall and was sent to trainer Neil Drysdale for an American campaign. He won the Jim Murray and Charlie Whittingham handicaps at Hollywood Park in his only U.S. starts.
Also at Arlington today are the $700,000 Beverly D. for fillies and mares, with Frankel running the two favorites in Tates Creek and Heat Haze, and the $400,000 Secretariat Stakes for 3-year-olds.
BRIEFLY: The $50,000-added Mid-Peninsula Stakes, postponed last week because of lack of entries, drew six 2-year-old fillies and will be run today at the San Mateo County Fair. . . . Trainer Sergio Ledezma runs Debonair Joe in the $150,000 Pat O'Brien Handicap on Sunday at Del Mar.
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It will take the 3-year-old filly a little more than two minutes to negotiate the 1 1/4 miles of today's race, and if she hits the wire first, she will earn not only the $450,000 winner's share of the $750,000 purse, but a $2 million bonus for sweeping New York's Triple Tiara.
Add that to the $480,000 she earned for winning the Mother Goose Stakes and Coaching Club American Oaks at Belmont Park, and even the retired CEO of Mattel Toys can appreciate the rapid return of investment.
"It's almost as good as getting a great acquisition in business," Amerman said in a conference call this week. "Two million dollars is a lot of money, but you have to understand I knew nothing about the bonus until I came to Belmont Park for the Oaks. If it happens, God bless; if not, that's OK, too."
Spoken Fur began her career in Kentucky and Florida for trainer Austin Smith and an ownership group that included his father, George. A nervous filly,
she lost her first four starts, but Smith worked to relax her, and she stormed from far behind to break her maiden by 6 1/2 lengths April 6 at Keeneland.
She won an allowance race by a neck on April 30 at Churchill Downs, where she beat older fillies and mares by 1 1/4 lengths in another allowance May 21. Then Smith sent Spoken Fur to Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel at Belmont Park.
"It was a tough decision to send her up there, but I knew that's where she needed to be," Smith told the Daily Racing Form. "It was a slam-dunk situation.
She caused me a lot of heartache as a 2-year-old because she had so many mental quirks, but she obviously got over all those."
Then Amerman, who has Frankel train about half of his 20-horse stable, stepped in.
"I was talking with Bobby, and I told him I don't really have a big filly in our barn and would he keep his eye out for one," Amerman said. "He said, 'I think I got one you might like. She came in the other day and she might be for sale.' It took probably three minutes, and I said, 'OK, let's do it,' and, sure enough, the deal was done."
None of the principals would reveal the purchase price, but a 3-year-old filly with three straight victories, even if they weren't in stakes, probably would fetch $500,000 or more.
"Bobby called me back a couple of days later and said, 'I think I'm going to run her in the Mother Goose.' I said, 'That's a Grade 1; she's only run in allowance races.' But he said she was doing very well and that we should try it," Amerman said.
Frankel should know; he has won more Grade 1 races than any other trainer this century and with 17 already in 2003, he is on pace to set the single-year record.
Spoken Fur won the 1 1/8-mile Mother Goose and the 1 1/2-mile Coaching Club American Oaks in similarly easy fashion, using a potent kick on the second turn to spring to an eight-length lead in midstretch before jockey Jerry Bailey wrapped up on her.
"Between Austin Smith and Bobby Frankel, they've found the answer," Amerman said. "Sometimes you have to have a little luck in this business."
ARLINGTON MILLION: Sulamani, one of Europe's top horses, and Storming Home, who used to be, head the Arlington Million today at Arlington Park.
Sulamani, purchased by the Dubai ruling family's Godolphin Racing Inc. after finishing second in the Arc de Triomphe last fall, is a two-time Group 1 winner. He finished second to Europe's best horse, Alamshar, in the King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Diamond Stakes at Ascot on July 26.
Storming Home won the Group 1 Champion Stakes last fall and was sent to trainer Neil Drysdale for an American campaign. He won the Jim Murray and Charlie Whittingham handicaps at Hollywood Park in his only U.S. starts.
Also at Arlington today are the $700,000 Beverly D. for fillies and mares, with Frankel running the two favorites in Tates Creek and Heat Haze, and the $400,000 Secretariat Stakes for 3-year-olds.
BRIEFLY: The $50,000-added Mid-Peninsula Stakes, postponed last week because of lack of entries, drew six 2-year-old fillies and will be run today at the San Mateo County Fair. . . . Trainer Sergio Ledezma runs Debonair Joe in the $150,000 Pat O'Brien Handicap on Sunday at Del Mar.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2003/08/16/SP39019.DTL
