The secret bar is tucked behind a wall in the den of George Bolton's San Francisco home. Press a panel and a hidden door opens, revealing a private speakeasy that, in another time, might have fooled the law.
Bolton enters, pours a drink and settles in, to sip and savor the mood. Racing photographs dot the walls and tell the story of a champion thoroughbred who, in another time, might have been Seabiscuit.
But this isn't the Great Depression, and this is another race horse. Bolton's hideaway is a shrine to Curlin, the colt Bolton co-owned when he won the 2007 Preakness Stakes en route to Horse of the Year honors. That Bolton hails from Brooklandville, in Baltimore County, made Curlin's victory at Pimlico Race Course even sweeter.
"Just to be in the Preakness was way beyond my wildest dreams," said Bolton, 44. An investment banker in San Francisco, he grew up a continent away on the family farm 20 minutes from Pimlico.
"To win it in one's own backyard is a once-in-a-lifetime situation that you have to absolutely cherish," he said.
One year later, the magic lingers, even if Bolton's ownership of the horse does not. Bolton sold his share of the colt in the winter and won't have a horse in the Preakness this weekend. He is already searching for the next Curlin.
The walls of his wet bar immortalize Curlin, from the photos of his five big racing victories as a 3-year-old to the keepsakes from his run at Pimlico. Here is Bolton's yellow owner's pass, carefully saved from race day; over there is Curlin's leather halter, with his name engraved on a small brass plate.
Sometimes Bolton pauses, white wine in hand, to remember that he really did take part in the colt's success.
"The room is his secret oasis, a little jewel box where George nests and relives the sheer excitement of a year that seems incredibly surreal," said Lindsay Bolton, his wife.
Sometimes Bolton emerges from the bar to the den, slides his favorite disc into a DVD player and relives Curlin's string of pearls: the Rebel Stakes, Arkansas Derby, Preakness, Gold Cup and Breeders' Cup Classic.
"At night, while I'm putting the children to sleep, I'll hear him in there watching the races," Lindsay said. "He knows the outcome, but there he sits, almost with parental pride and wearing a dimpled smile from ear to ear."
