TRACKING A WINNER

With Northern Afleet to his left, Track Gal to his right and a small fellow on his back, Elmhurst gazed out of the starting gate up at the thousands of hopeful fans and prepared to prove to the world that he is a legitimate sprinter.

Saturday’s $1-million Breeders’ Cup Sprint, the biggest race in the life of a 7-year-old gelding more accustomed to running longer races, was what he had been preparing for all week.

It was something he seemed intent on doing, especially in the suspenseful hours before the six-furlong race.

“Oh, he knows he’s racing today. He probably knew the minute we start putting the braids on him [Friday],” said Elmhurst’s trainer and co-owner, Jenine Sahadi.

Doing her horses’ hair is a trademark of Sahadi’s. She wants them to look nice as they walk around the paddock and onto the track.

But little did any of Elmhurst’s people know for sure--he is co-owned by C.N. and Carol Ray of Evergreen Farm--that the only horse sporting braids would look much nicer after the Sprint. Despite going off at 16-1, Elmhurst was holding his head high in the winner’s circle after another dramatic come-from-behind finish, covering six furlongs in a race-record 1:08 and earning his handlers $613,600.

And while Breeders’ Cup Saturday may be just another day at the office for a thoroughbred, it is much more for the trainer.

“I just want it to be over with,” Sahadi said, looking as though she had spent a sleepless night in her jeans and sweatshirt. “I’m so tired, I don’t know if I’m coming or going.”

When she arrived at her barn in the predawn darkness, Elmhurst had already taken his morning jog and was cooling off with a walk, looking spry as a kitten as Sahadi watched from a platform above the track.

“That’s the way you want a horse to look . . . happy, bouncing around and full of life,” she said.

Sahadi then retired to her office--a dank rectangular cubicle with white brick walls, an old wooden desk, a worn-out chair and a glass container full of gum balls--while assistant trainer Isaias Morfin and groom Octavio Camargo tended to Elmhurst, leading him back to his stall where he would rest for a few hours before making the walk to the paddock and, eventually, onto the track and into the starting gate.

Other horses--Sahadi cares for about two dozen--peered from their hay-laden stalls. El Angelo, Sahadi’s other Breeders’ Cup entry (he finished sixth in the Mile) wore a muzzle to keep him from munching on hay.

Elmhurst stood almost perfectly still, as if in a trance, changing his mood only briefly when Sahadi came along, expecting a peppermint but getting only an apology because Sahadi had no candy.

Sahadi, 34, is a relative newcomer to training, having taken out her trainer’s license in 1993. But she has learned fast, becoming the first woman to train a Breeders’ Cup winner last year with Lit de Justice and winning more than $2 1/2 million before Saturday.

She drove back to the hotel to change and returned at 9 a.m. with sandwiches for her crew. Post time was about two hours away. She wasn’t eating. She said she was so nervous she couldn’t keep anything down, that she discovered that back at the hotel--twice.

John Sadler, trainer of Track Gal, another Sprint competitor who would finish 10th, wandered over from his barn and wished Sahadi luck. She wished him then same, then asked how he was holding up.

“It helps being at home [he lives in Pasadena]. It’s much easier to relax here,” he said, taking gum balls and stuffing them into his mouth.

Sahadi laughed and shot back: “You’re relaxed? That’s why you have 15 gum balls in your mouth?”

It was almost showtime, and Elmhurst, looking more determined by the minute, seemed to know it. He reared his head, lifting Camargo off the ground, and was led out of his stall to join the other horses on the walk to the paddock.

Owners and their families waited there in a festive mood befitting of a Breeders’ Cup Saturday, eager to show off their horses.

Elmhurst soon arrived and took his position before a sizable Evergreen contingent.

“I’m excited, but I’m a little worried about the track because it’s so fast,” Carol Ray said. Others nodded in agreement.

Corey Nakatani, sporting green and white silks, walked up alongside his mount and Carol Ray offered him some advice that sounded more like an order: “Don’t get too far out of it [the lead]. It’s like concrete out there.”

As if Nakatani had much choice. Once the gate opened, they were off all right. But Elmhurst, as expected, quickly dropped to last and lingered near the back of the pack until making his move just before the stretch run.

Nakatani guided Elmhurst skillfully through traffic and then let the horse take over. Elmhurst gained momentum until ultimately passing Hesabull in the final stride, amid cheers and jeers of thousands.

A smiling C.N. Ray said at the post-race news conference: “It doesn’t get much better than this.”

An obviously relieved Sahadi told reporters that credit should go to “all the guys and girls back there [at the barn] that helped make this happen.”

As for Elmhurst, who had just run his biggest race, he was led back to the barn, feeling whatever it is horses feel after winning a race, having earned a peppermint or two, a little affection and a lot of time to do nothing but lounge around the barn.

“He’ll get more than just a couple of days off,” Sahadi said. “He can just walk around for two weeks as far as I’m concerned.”