Word: pleasants
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...horse is Pleasant Colony, winner of the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness. The big race is Saturday's Belmont Stakes, final jewel in the Triple Crown of American Thoroughbred racing. Pleasant Colony occupies a stall midway down the shed row, his needs tenderly ministered to by a groom, his well-being protected by a round-the-clock guard detail. But Barn No. 48 is more than the home of Pleasant Colony. It is the domain of Johnny Campo, the controversial trainer who violated one of the conventions of the racing world by brashly predicting victory for his once obscure...
...Johnny Campo is saying that Pleasant Colony is no fluke...
...Pleasant Colony is an unlikely Triple Crown candidate (he had never won an important stakes race until Aqueduct's Wood Memorial two weeks before the Derby), his trainer is more improbable still. Campo was born 43 years ago in Manhattan, the son of Italian immigrants. His destiny was sealed when his father, a tailor, moved the family to the relatively greener pasture of Ozone Park, Queens. From his classroom window at P.S. 108, young Johnny stared at Aqueduct across the street, dreams of flying hoofs and flowing silks dancing in his head. At 15 he showed...
...doors closed.") But Campo is equally -and justifiably-haughty about his accomplishments. Says he: "I'll put myself and my record up against anybody in this country, in the world, head-to-head. I'm a good trainer. I know what I can do. This horse (Pleasant Colony] leaves at the end of the year, but I'll get another one like him and another one after that. I know where to get them and how to get them because I'm good...
Still, a colt like Pleasant Colony is a once-in-a-lifetime creature, a rare congruence of speed, stamina and heart. The racing world was surprised when the relatively unknown son of His Majesty took the Derby (1¼ miles). Horsemen conceded him the shorter Preakness (1 3/16 miles) but are now murmuring that he will fade in a race as long as the Belmont (1½ miles). Not Johnny Campo. He has no doubt that Pleasant Colony will become history's twelfth Triple Crown winner. The rapid-fire, near-shout Noo Yawk accent softens only when he speaks...