Word: reineman
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Thoroughbred trainer Bob Baffert, whose horses won the Kentucky Derby in 1997 and '98, didn't have a steed good enough to enter this year's Run for the Roses. Neither did Russell Reineman, a Chicago businessman and stable owner who had been trying to unload a Derby hopeless called War Emblem--a 3-year-old with a small chip in each ankle and a big chip on his shoulder. "He's a mean-spirited horse," notes Baffert...
...Baffert saw something in War Emblem that Reineman didn't--a nasty competitor begging to get loose on a big track. So did Prince Ahmed bin Salman, an American-educated, Saudi Arabian stable owner who had charged Baffert with finding him a Derby runner, and the two hoped their hunch would pay off. Did it ever. War Emblem won the Derby in style, going off as a 20-to-1 shot and leading wire to wire. Two weeks later, in the Preakness, the "speed" horses were supposed to drain War Emblem like a cheap battery. He won going away. "Baffert...
...horse-racing game. Back at the barn, though, Baffert is getting a whiff of some sour oats from other trainers. The notion is that he "bought" the Derby for nearly $1 million, using his Middle Eastern ATM to pry War Emblem loose from a struggling Chicago businessman, since Reineman's company, Crown Steel Sales, was losing money. This, in a sport in which multimillion prices are routinely paid for animals in the hopes of winning big races. "There's been a lot of horses bought at the 11th hour that people don't talk about," says Baffert. Usually because they...
...Emblem is the most unlikely Triple Crown hopeful since Seattle Slew in 1977. Reineman couldn't get the $20,000 he asked for the horse as a yearling, so War Emblem went to work at places like Sportsman's Park in Illinois, a course known as a bullring. It's a short track with tight turns and bumper car tactics that tend to limit long-striding horses like War Emblem. The horse did well enough so that over the winter Reineman reportedly tried to dump him for $300,000 but again found no takers. Then War Emblem won the Illinois...