THOROUGHBRED RACING : Pop Goes East, Mom Stays West When Mayberrys Are Bicoastal

Just after training hours one recent morning at Brian Mayberry’s barn, the crew broke out cake and champagne. Ignatio (Nachos) Castro, 75 years old, 50 years in racing and one of their own, was having a birthday.

It was a good thing the celebration started early. Even before she got her cake, Jeanne Mayberry, the trainer’s wife and No. 1 assistant, took a phone call in the stable office that said Zealous Connection, their prized 2-year-old filly, was running a 102-degree fever. She told Martin Pedroza, Zealous Connection’s jockey, that their flight that night to New Jersey for a stakes race the next day was going to be canceled.

This is the time of year when the Mayberrys, one of the most successful mom-and-pop training operations in racing, go their separate ways. Brian Mayberry and his daughter, April, are at Saratoga with seven head, trying to win some races at the toughest meeting in the country. Jeanne Mayberry, with their other daughter, Summer, is at Del Mar supervising 37 horses.

The Mayberrys’ principal clients, Mace and Jan Siegel of Beverly Hills and their daughter, Samantha, who bred and own Zealous Connection, have been with them for 16 years. The Siegels breed their own runners and buy them at public auction, dipping into the lower-middle or low side of the market. Last year, the Siegels won 100 races and ranked 10th nationally with $2.3 million in purses. At the midpoint this year, the Siegels were in seventh place with 59 victories and $1.2 million in purses.

Samantha Siegel, not yet 30, grew up in New York and said she can remember the legendary Forego, whose career ended in 1978. She accompanies her trainers to the sales, where Brian and Jeanne Mayberry provide point and counterpoint for the horses they see.

“Our ideas can be different, but we respect each other and talk about it,” Jeanne Mayberry said. “The ones we agree on are the ones we buy.”

The Mayberrys are as bred to the game as the horses they train. J.P. Mayberry, Brian’s grandfather, won the 1903 Kentucky Derby with Judge Himes, a 10-1 shot. After the race, a Louisville newspaper said: “Mayberry has shown remarkable ability in fitting horses not considered to have much class. . . . Many of his most spectacular killings have been possible because Mayberry sent an ordinary colt to the post in better condition.”

Buddy Mayberry, Brian’s father, still trains in Florida at 85. He introduced Brian, now 54, to Saratoga in 1946.

Jeanne Mayberry was born in Ohio, the daughter of trainer Sam Saunderson. “He trained in the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s,” she said. “He might not have been that much of a trainer, but he knew horses and he was an innovator.”

By the time Jeanne Saunderson met Brian Mayberry in 1964, she had been galloping saddlebreds and showing champion hackney ponies in Texas and training thoroughbreds in Ohio. Growing up on the backstretch at Florida tracks, Mayberry had just taken out his first trainer’s license. A blacksmith introduced them, saying to Jeanne ahead of time: “I’ve got the perfect man for you.”

Two years later, they were married.

Based in Florida, the Mayberrys flirted with moving to California in 1980-81 before relocating in earnest in ’85. “This was where the best racing was,” Jeanne Mayberry said, “and this was where the Siegels lived.”

The Mayberrys were hot at the recent Hollywood Park meeting. They won 25 races, clicking with one of every three horses they ran and finishing in the money at a 63% clip. Almost half of the winners were 2-year-olds. Their stakes winners included Forest Fealty, Zealous Connection and Altazarr, who won the Hollywood Juvenile on closing day. Altazarr is owned by Ann and Jerry Moss, new clients, and the Mayberrys also train a horse for Bob Levy, the owner of Atlantic City Race Course, where Brian Mayberry twice was the leading trainer early in his career.

As Del Mar began, however, the Mayberrys were in need of fresh momentum. They ran 11 horses here before they had a winner. Then there was that nagging fever that Zealous Connection had in New Jersey; and Fluttery Danseur, whom the barn thought had only one horse to beat in the Test Stakes at Saratoga, wilted under an unrealistic pace and finished sixth.

The only thing to do is keep firing until the target comes into focus. Zealous Connection is back at Saratoga, her fever down, and probably will run in the Spinaway Stakes on Aug. 31.

Sunday, in Saratoga’s Ballerina Stakes, Brian Mayberry will saddle Ifyoucouldseemenow. She is not to be confused with Doyouseewhatisee, Babyitscoldoutside or Likeanexpresstrain--an expression track announcer Trevor Denman likes to use.

Jockey David Flores was sent to the hospital, and Glow Brightly, a 3-year-old maiden filly, was destroyed after a two-horse spill at the top of the stretch in Friday’s third race.

A spokeswoman for Scripps Hospital in La Jolla reported that Flores had no fractures but suffered a severe sprain of the right neck and shoulder. He was fitted with a cervical collar and released, and it is estimated that he will miss three or four riding days.

Corey Nakatani, who also went down in the spill, suffered bruises on his face and left leg and canceled the rest of his mounts on Friday’s card.

Glow Brightly, Flores’ mount, was in fifth place on the rail when she clipped the heels of Chipeta Springs, a filly ridden by Gary Stevens. Nakatani and his mount, Corpus Christi, were unable to avoid the fallen Glow Brightly.

Glow Brightly broke her shoulder and right front leg.

Flores will miss a busy stakes weekend as a result of his injuries. Today, he was scheduled to ride Missionary Ridge in the San Diego Handicap and Royale Bobbe in the San Clemente Handicap. Sunday, Flores was supposed to ride Prospect for Four in the La Jolla Handicap.

Horse Racing Notes

Sunday’s $100,000 La Jolla Handicap, at 1 1/16 miles on grass for 3-year-olds, drew 12 horses, including Rare Cat and Gold Desert, who are on the also-eligible list. The field, from the rail out: consists of Fax News, Blacksburg, Prospect for Four, Hudlam’s Sidekick, Top Reality, Ocean Dawn, Treekster, Phone Roberto, Saintry and Free at Last. . . . The high weights, at 121 pounds apiece, are Treekster, who has never run on grass, and Free at Last, who has run seven times at six Eastern tracks this year. His two victories came in the Hill Prince Stakes at Belmont Park on a disqualification and in the Forerunner at Keeneland. . . . Blacksburg, next in the weights at 121 pounds, won a division of the Oceanside Stakes by five lengths on opening day at Del Mar. . . . Just Sid, who was third, 7 1/2 lengths behind Altazarr, in the Hollywood Juvenile, beat Barrett’s Bullet Friday in a photo finish in the I’m Smokin’ Stakes for California-breds. Barrett’s Bullet was disqualified by the stewards for bumping Boating Pleasure in the stretch and dropped to last place.