Byrne Is Everywhere Except Where Expected

At the Eclipse Awards dinner in Rancho Mirage on Tuesday night, Pat Byrne was everywhere, and well he should have been, having trained Favorite Trick, both horse of the year and 2-year-old champion.

On the big screens in the front of the ballroom, Byrne’s face appeared as he tightened the girth on Favorite Trick before his win in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Hollywood Park. Then Byrne was in the paddock again, before one of the wins by Countess Diana, who completed a sweep of 2-year-old honors for the fourth-generation trainer when she was voted top filly for 1997.

In the dinner program, there were a few lines about Byrne and his wife Jill, his No. 1 assistant. “They rated Favorite Trick their pick of the [Calder] sale and recommended him to [owner] Joseph LaCombe,” the sketch said.

On another page, Norfields Farm took out a full-color ad, showing Byrne standing between his two champion juveniles. “Thanks for using Norfields,” the ad said. Trading cards were also left at each place setting, the one about Favorite Trick acknowledging Byrne’s training job as the colt won all eight of his races last year.

But if dinner guests wanted Byrne to autograph their program or a trading card, they were out of luck. Byrne spent Tuesday in Florida, where his horses are stabled at Gulfstream Park.

This may have been an Eclipse Awards dinner first: The trainer of the horse of the year was not invited. Before the dinner, minutes after it was announced on ESPN that Favorite Trick had beaten out Skip Away for horse of the year, Joe LaCombe, the 60% owner of the new champion, was asked if Byrne was around.

“I don’t know,” LaCombe said. “I haven’t talked to him.”

It’s customary that the owner of the horse of the year invites his trainer to the dinner. Two years ago, when the affair was held in San Diego, Allen Paulson flew in Bill Mott from Florida on his private plane, so both of them could celebrate Cigar’s coronation.

Byrne apparently forfeited his dinner invitation in late December, the day he accepted a lucrative offer to train exclusively for Frank Stronach, the Canadian industrialist who races dozens of horses all over North America. Byrne promptly called LaCombe to tell him that he would keep Favorite Trick for up to 30 days--a reasonable amount of time--while LaCombe found a new trainer.

Later, after LaCombe turned Favorite Trick over to Mott, both the new trainer and the owner suggested that Byrne had undertrained the colt, making it difficult for him to be ready for the Kentucky Derby on May 2. Byrne has said that all he did was give Favorite Trick the rest he needed, adding that the horse already had begun light training by the time Mott got him.

The last time a horse-of-the-year trainer fell into a situation comparable to Byrne’s was more than 20 years ago, when Billy Turner was sacked by his owners after Seattle Slew swept the 1977 Triple Crown and won the title. But at least the embroiled Turner did attend the Eclipse dinner.

Byrne told the Lexington Herald-Leader last week that he was thinking about attending the dinner in Rancho Mirage. His dilemma would have been worse had he been voted trainer of the year, but Bob Baffert, the trainer of Silver Charm, won that Eclipse. The United Thoroughbred Trainers of America, which honored Byrne with its version of trainer of the year, invited him to attend the dinner. But apparently Byrne decided it would be too awkward, glued to a table in the big banquet room while LaCombe accepted the gold-plated horse-of-the-year bronze.

“The horse did it all,” LaCombe said from the stage, making no reference to Byrne. Earlier, talking with a few reporters, LaCombe had cited Byrne for his handling of Favorite Trick.

Byrne said last week he would contact the Thoroughbred Racing Assn., which supplies the trophies, and order his own Favorite Trick bronze.

Horse Racing Notes

The Thoroughbred Owners of California, who have veto power over increasing stakes purses, have nixed Santa Anita’s attempt to hike the pot for the Santa Anita Handicap from $1 million to $1.4 million.

Johnny Longden, the Hall of Fame jockey, turns 91 today. . . . Rick Baedeker, vice president of marketing at Hollywood Park, is leaving to take a similar post with the newly formed National Thoroughbred Racing Assn. in Lexington, Ky.