Dixie Dot Com Trainer Morey Keeps On Going

Shortly after Dixie Dot Com worked half a mile at Del Mar on Wednesday morning, trainer Bill Morey Jr. was struck by an eerie quiet at Barn RR.

The phone wasn’t ringing.

“I miss Bart Heller’s soft voice at the other end,” Morey said. “He was a hands-on guy. On a day like today, he’d be calling and asking, ‘How did Dixie do?’ ”

Earlier in the week, Morey had been a pallbearer at Heller’s funeral. The day before Dixie Dot Com’s final workout for Sunday’s $1-million Pacific Classic, Morey and about 1,000 other friends and racing figures had attended a memorial service for Heller, the horse’s co-owner, who died a week ago of a massive heart attack during what had been described to Morey as a “simple operation.”

Heller, who was 63, had been diagnosed with colon cancer a few years ago, had recently learned that his frequent coughing had been caused by tumors on his lungs.

“Losing Bart was a major blow,” Morey said. “It’s a blow to me and it’s a blow to horse racing. We had been together with horses for 17 years and were friends before that. He was family. He was a guy who loved life. He once told me that the three most important things, in order, were his family, his [jewelry] business and his horses. He had a lot to do with picking out Dixie Dot Com when we bought him.”

When entries were drawn Thursday at Del Mar for the 11th running of the Pacific Classic, Dixie Dot Com was listed as the 8-1 fifth choice in a six-horse field. But Bobby Frankel, who trains Skimming, the 8-5 favorite trying to repeat as the winner of the Classic, said that he fears Futural and Dixie Dot Com the most. Skimming and Futural have been virtually inseparable this year--Futural has out-finished Skimming in half of their four meetings--but Dixie Dot Com and Skimming are new rivals.

“Dixie Dot Com’s a new face,” Frankel said. “I’m worried about him.”

Until Sundown, the only 3-year-old in the field, drew the rail for the 11/4-mile Pacific Classic and was installed at 6-1. Gary Stevens will ride. The lineup outside Until Sundown will be Futural, with Chris McCarron, at 9-5; Skimming, Garrett Gomez, 8-5; Dig For It, Alex Solis, 30-1; Dixie Dot Com, David Flores, 8-1, and Captain Steve, Victor Espinoza, 3-1. They’ll all carry 124 pounds except Until Sundown, who, because of his age, will shoulder 117. The Classic will be the fifth race on the card, with a post time of 2:42 p.m.

Bart Heller left behind his wife Ronelle and two sons, two daughters and two stepsons. Dixie Dot Com, who will run in the name of Heller’s estate and his other owners, Don and Carol Chaiken, is a well-traveled 6-year-old who has won eight of 21 starts and earned $1.1 million. No horse has ever earned more for the San Francisco-born Morey, 60, a 30-year veteran trainer.

The Classic will be only the second race at 11/4 miles for Dixie Dot Com. The last time the son of Dixie Brass and Sky Meadows ran this far, he suffered a cannon bone injury while finishing last in last year’s Santa Anita Handicap.

“The only way to win it is, you gotta be in it,” said Morey, waxing poetic. “The distance is on my mind, sure, but on any given day, Dixie Dot Com can be any kind of horse. I’m a Dixie Dot Com fan. He’s made a believer out of me a long time ago.”

Morey said that Flores rode his horse improperly last month in Iowa, where Dixie Dot Com found himself on the lead before a Frankel horse, Euchre, out-legged them in the stretch of the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker Handicap.

Even so, Dixie Dot Com might have been beaten even before leaving Bay Meadows. Because of plane complications out of San Jose, it took 30 hours for him to be transported to the Midwest. In the two starts before the Cornhusker, Dixie Dot Com traveled in a different direction to win the Texas Mile and the Lone Star Park Handicap.

As an unraced 2-year-old, and already carrying his trendy name, Dixie Dot Com was bought at auction for $21,000 in 1997.

“He was tall and gangling and back in the knee,” Morey said. “We bought another colt, who was by Gulch [the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner]. The Gulch colt’s legs were straight, and we thought that if one of them made it, it would be him.”

The son of Gulch was named Lifeguard, and he and Dixie Dot Com were sent to a training center at Pleasanton. Because of Dixie Dot Com’s lack of stature, Morey and Heller began referring to him as “the other guy.”

In workouts, however, Dixie Dot Com beat Lifeguard every time. One day Morey called Heller.

“You know,” the trainer said, “I think we’ve been looking at the wrong horse. It’s about time we started paying attention to the other guy.”

Dixie Dot Com got to the races on Oct. 26, 1997, at Bay Meadows. He won that maiden race by 11/2 lengths, running six furlongs in 1:09 3/5. He then moved immediately to stakes company, where he has been ever since.

“Bart Heller was there for every one of his races,” Morey said. “No, I think he did miss one, for business reasons. And in between he’d call for his daily updates. I’ll sure miss all those calls.”

The smallest field for a Pacific Classic was when Gentlemen beat four opponents in 1997. This will be the third time the race has had a six-horse field. . . . Gentlemen has been the only favorite to win the stake. The biggest favorite to fall was Cigar, who was 1-10 when Dare And Go, at 39-1, won in 1996. . . . Innit, winner of the Honeymoon Handicap on July 1 at Hollywood Park, is one of two hopefuls for trainer Ron McAnally in Saturday’s Del Mar Oaks. McAnally will also saddle Affluent. Others in the field include Reine De Romance, Live Your Dreams, Blushing Ballarina, Golden Apples, Voodoo Dancer and Desiraes My Candy.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

Pacific Classic Field

Post position order for the $1 million Pacific Classic, which will be run as the fifth race Sunday at Del Mar with an approximate post time of 2:40:

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Horse Jockey Trainer Odds Until Sundown Gary Stevens Laura De Seroux 6-1 Futural Chris McCarron Craig Dollase 9-5 Skimming Garrett Gomez Robert Frankel 8-5 Dig For It Alex Solis Bruce Headley 30-1 Dixie Dot Com David Flores Bill Morey Jr. 8-1 Captain Steve Victor Espinoza Bob Baffert 3-1

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Weights: All carry 124 pounds except Until Sundown, who will carry 117 pounds.