Alydar

LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- Nick Zito wants to compare Strike the Gold to Alysheba. Let him indulge. There are enough similarities for a pre-Derby mix of a little realism, a little dreaming and a lot of hope.Alysheba, racing's all-time leader in money earnings, won the Kentucky Derby four years ago. It was, officially, his second career victory. He had won the Blue Grass Stakes in his final start before the Derby but was disqualified for a bumping incident.Now, Strike the Gold, trained by Zito, enters off a win in the Blue Grass, his second career victory.

For the first time in the 23-year history of the Eclipse Awards, the 1994 Horse of the Year honor will be announced in Washington.Members of the Thoroughbred Racing Associations, which represents the bulk of North American racetracks, are breaking from tradition this year.Normally, the TRA's annual convention, and accompanying Eclipse Awards dinner, is held at some cushy warm-weather location such as Palm Springs, Calif., or Miami.This year it means Jimmy Croll, owner-trainer of likely winner Holy Bull, will have to leave his winter headquarters in South Florida and head north to accept racing's biggest prize.

LAUREL -- Peter Pugh pulls on his red baseball cap with the blue lettering that spells "Calumet Farm," and hops into his pickup truck."You wanna know what really makes me mad? People that dump this farm," the 39-year-old trainer said."I hear it all the time -- 'hey, have you got paid yet?' -- stuff like that. They would be so lucky to have even one son of Alydar standing in their shedrow."The litany goes on, ever since the world-renowned farm, the farm that is synonymous in this country with horse racing and Kentucky bluegrass, filed for bankruptcy on July 11.A week earlier Pugh shipped into Laurel with the bulk of what is left of the Calumet Farm racing string -- 10 horses, including two sons of Alydar, named Joy Maker and Aly Fresco; Beautiful Gold, a daughter of champion sire Mr. Prospector out of Calumet's champion filly, Before Dawn, and seven other royally-bred, though heavily leveraged, horses.

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Calumet Farm sits in the lap of bluegrass luxury here, a sprawling monument to what thoroughbred racing once was and to what it has become.Once the most celebrated farm of its kind in America, it is now in Chapter 11 bankruptcy, having amassed $127 million in debt in a nine-year spending spree. Creditors are lined up at the door, IOUs in hand.Today and tomorrow, to satisfy those creditors, Calumet, all 843 acres, is being auctioned off, piece by piece.The horses are already gone, most in a dispersal sale last November at the Keeneland Auction.

Hall of Fame trainer Laz Barrera, who saddled Affirmed, the most recent Triple Crown winner, died early yesterday after being hospitalized with pneumonia. He was 66.A native of Cuba who had a 40-year training career in Cuba, Mexico and the United States, Barrera died at Rio Hondo Hospital in Downey, Calif., at about 1:30 a.m.Barrera entered the hospital Wednesday night. Barrera's son, Larry, said his father had been ill for about two days.Affirmed, the 1978 and 1979 Horse of the Year, was the winner of a series of famed stretch duels with Alydar in the 1978 Triple Crown.

All along, they had been so relaxed. So when it came time for Team O'Neill's horse to make his charge -- a historic one -- the colt moved forward almost nonchalantly. I'll Have Another glided past Bodemeister to win the 137th running of the Preakness Stakes on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course, setting up a chance at the first Triple Crown since 1978. The California-based horse is the 12th to win the first two legs of the Triple Crown since Affirmed edged Alydar in all three races.

If you think about it, whatever horrible curse has befallen actress Susan Lucci now seems to have enshrouded the Super Bowl-bound Buffalo Bills.Fourteen times, Susan Lucci has been nominated for a Daytime Emmy for her work on the popular soap "All My Children."And 14 times, the poor woman has watched as some other actress yelps with joy, rushes to the podium and cradles a gleaming gold trophy while dabbing her eyes with a Kleenex.Could you blame Ms. Lucci if she came home every day and threw a shoe at the dog?

HALLANDALE, Fla. (AP) -- Strike the Gold trainer Nick Zito says his colt is gaining on Florida Derby winner Fly So Free."Sooner or later, we'll catch up to him," Zito promised.Strike the Gold was a surprise runner-up in Saturday's Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. He rallied from last through the final turn and closed within a length of Fly So Free early in the stretch, but the horses ran even the final 70 yards."I wasn't worried," said Fly So Free trainer Scotty Schulhofer, whose colt is the Kentucky Derby favorite.

Tim Kelly, Jimmy Toner and Dick Delp -- trainers of the top three contenders in today's Grade II $200,000 Barbara Fritchie Handicap at Laurel Park -- all concede one point.If any of them is going to pocket the trainer's share of $12,000 for saddling today's winner, each of their horses must catch Queen Suite.The daughter of Bates Motel, trained at Laurel by Ron Benshoff, is the target for the connections of the three highweights.Kelly jokes about slipping into Laurel under the cloak of darkness and carrying off the Fritchie spoils.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Trainer Nick Zito named Angel Cordero Jr. as the new rider of Kentucky Derby winner Strike the Gold yesterday, a day after his colt finished a disappointing third in the Jim Dandy at Saratoga.Cordero will be aboard the Alydar colt in his next scheduled race, the Aug. 17 Travers. Chris Antley, who rode Strike the Gold to victory in the Kentucky Derby, has been fired."It's Saratoga -- and Cordero always seems to do well here," Zito said. "We think he fits this horse.