Ford Has Reason to Smile

Gil Moutray, onetime commissioner of the New Mexico Racing Commission, gets credit for bringing Gerald J. Ford into the horse business. Ten years ago, Moutray invited his friend to join him at the Breeders’ Cup. Now Ford, smitten by the game from the start, is on the edge of a rare feat: winning the Breeders’ Cup Classic for the second time.

Ford’s horse is Pleasantly Perfect, who won the Classic last year at Santa Anita and is the early 3-1 favorite for Saturday, when the $4-million race and seven other Breeders’ Cup stakes will be run at Lone Star Park for the first time. The only other horse to win the Classic twice has been Tiznow, another California-based runner, who prevailed at Churchill Downs in 2000 and repeated at Belmont Park in 2001.

Ghostzapper, undefeated this year and winner of seven of nine overall, is 7-2, according to the Daily Racing Form, and may be the public favorite, based on his victory in the Woodward last month. A field of 12 or 13 is expected, depending on Azeri, the 2002 horse of the year, who will run in either the Classic or stay in her own division and compete in the $2-million Distaff.

A 6-year-old such as Pleasantly Perfect has never won the Classic. Five 5-year-olds, including Pleasantly Perfect, have won in the 20 runnings. A second win, though, would be even more satisfying for Ford, who’s chairman of a Dallas investment firm and lives about half an hour’s drive from Lone Star. He’ll be surrounded by friends, family and business associates this time.

“I’m glad I went into racing,” Ford said. “I came from an agricultural background, on a ranch in New Mexico, and I’ve been around horses all my life. We used quarter horses to ride and for work back there. Racing is just an extension of that.”

After Ford’s first Breeders’ Cup, he attended his first Kentucky Derby the next year, 1995, and a few months later bought his first horse at a Keeneland auction. Ford remembers paying $130,000 for a colt that didn’t amount to much.

He paid $750,000 for Pleasantly Perfect, a son of Pleasant Colony, the winner of the 1981 Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and Regal State, a mare whose sire was Affirmed, the 1978 Triple Crown champion.

Ford, 60, is listed by Forbes magazine as the 203rd-richest American, with wealth totaling $1.4 billion. His friend Moutray not only whetted Ford’s racing appetite, he helped introduce him to Richard Mandella, the Hall of Famer who has been Ford’s only trainer. Pleasantly Perfect’s victory at Santa Anita was Mandella’s fourth on the card, a Breeders’ Cup record.

“It still doesn’t seem real,” Mandella said.

Pleasantly Perfect, who has earned $7.3 million with nine wins in 17 starts, hasn’t run since his win in the Pacific Classic at Del Mar on Aug. 22. No horse has ever won the Breeders’ Cup Classic off this long of a layoff, but Ford has unwavering confidence in Mandella.

“We have a great working relationship,” Ford said. “There’s a chemistry between us. He has all the right qualities -- he’s thorough, he’s dedicated, and his integrity is impeccable. He loves horses. They’re all individual personalities to him, which is something I don’t always see as a relative newcomer to the game.”

This Jerry Ford has gone through life being confused with Gerald R. Ford, the 38th president. The two have never met.

“We were members of the same country club at one time, and there would be billing mix-ups,” Gerald J. Ford said. “Then occasionally I’ll show up at a restaurant to claim my reservation, and they’re surprised to see that it’s not someone else.”

President Ford has an airport named after him, in Grand Rapids, Mich. Horse racing’s Ford has a stadium named after him at Southern Methodist, where he earned a law degree. Ford, who’s chairman of the Dallas school’s board of trustees, kicked in $20 million to build the facility.

“When the man met me,” Mandella said, “he had never had a racehorse and he told me to take some money and do whatever I wanted with it. I spent it on horses. I didn’t have enough time to take the money and run.”

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Breeders’ Cup defections are Sarafan in the Turf and Stay Forever in the Filly & Mare Turf. Both would have been longshots and as 7-year-olds would have been the oldest runners in their races. Sarafan rapped a leg in his stall at Santa Anita, and Stay Forever came up lame at Calder.

Afleet Alex, second in the Champagne, worked five furlongs in a sharp :58 2/5 , a few hours before Lone Star was hit by an afternoon downpour. There’s no racing at the track until Thursday. A new forecast calls for mostly cloudy skies and temperatures in the low 70s on Saturday, but the area is expecting more rain through Friday.

Ouija Board’s camp reportedly is leaning toward running in the Filly & Mare Turf instead of against males in the Turf. A decision must be made by entry time on Wednesday.

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The Facts

The 21st running of the Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships consists of eight Grade I races with purses and awards totaling $14 million guaranteed.

* When -- Saturday.

* Where -- Lone Star Park, Grand Prairie, Texas.

* TV -- Channel 4. Coverage begins at 10 a.m. PDT.

* Races -- $2-million Distaff; $1-million Juvenile Fillies; $1.5-million Mile; $1-million Sprint; $1-million Filly & Mare Turf; $1.5-million Juvenile; $2-million Turf; $4-million Classic.