And last year was no different when Aiken turned out two Kentucky Derby contenders and a filly that missed the Eclipse Award by just a few paces.
But in a city where horses have the right of way and dirt roads are left that way to protect the animals' hooves, whetting a winner's spirit here seems easy. Just ask Cot Campbell, owner of Dogwood Stables. He'd say that having a colt in the Kentucky Derby is any horseman's dream, and having two is heaven. Trippi and Impeachment taught him that last year.
Until the 126th running of the Derby, Trippi was undefeated - four wins in four starts. And Impeachment had the stuff of a champion, too, taking second in the Tampa Bay Derby and third in the Arkansas Derby. But winning in Kentucky would be to catch ``lightning in a jar,'' a phrase Mr. Campbell is so fond of that he used it as the title of the book he wrote last year. It's part how-to manual, part memoir and a large part love story about the sport Mr. Campbell has courted all his life.
Mr. Campbell didn't catch the lightning in 2000, but he had the thrill of trying.
Impeachment improved 10 spots in the final two furlongs to finish third, the best finish for the Aiken-based syndicate since Summer Squall's second in 1990. Trippi, Dogwood's second horse, lit up the track with lightning speed in the race's early stages, but later faded to finish 11th in the field of 19.
``Getting horses to run in the Derby is a great accomplishment in itself,'' he said. ``To win, you've got to put everything together for two minutes.''
He never thought he would be two minutes away from thoroughbred racing glory. Raised in Iowa, Mr. Campbell's introduction to horses came when his father, a Coca-Cola bottler, invested in show horses and tried his hand at race horses.
But he went broke. ``He didn't know very much about the thoroughbred business,'' Mr. Campbell said.``And with (World War II), you couldn't give race horses away. Let's just say my father's timing was not good'' - a family trait that apparently missed his son.
Aiken also is the starting ground for three fillies that are considered among America's best - Raging Fever, Gold Mover and With Ability. And this year they could be big moneymakers in the Kentucky Oaks, held each May for 3-year-old fillies. But they probably won't make it to the Derby because fillies usually don't run against colts.
Only one of the three fillies who left the Training Track last April made it to the $1 million Breeders' Cup at Churchill Downs. Raging Fever was an early 3-to-1 favorite to win the November race, and a victory there would have made the filly the surefire winner of the 2000 Eclipse Award, the Oscar of horse racing. Going in she was a perfect six for six, including triumphs in four stakes races.
But Raging Fever was not on form and finished sixth, the only loss of her young career.
Owned by Edward P. Evans, Raging Fever was shipped to Aiken as a yearling, and trainer Ron Stevens taught her how to be a racehorse. In the same crop of fillies were Gold Mover and With Ability. They aren't related, but spent last winter in the same barn, Stevens Race Stable. Between them the fillies have crossed the finish line first in 14 of the 17 races they've entered since April.
All three are healthy and heading toward major stakes races this spring.
Assistant Trainer Ellee Diamond, speaking last month from Gulfstream Park near Miami, said Raging Fever was in good form and raring to start this year's season in a stakes race at Aqueduct on March 25.
Gold Mover already has pranced around the winner's circle twice this year and came in second in February's Davona Dale Stakes at Gulfstream.
The chances of the fillies running against each other in the Kentucky Oaks are slim, Mr. Stevens said. ``But right now these are three of the top 3-year-old fillies in America. To have one of them come out of your barn is a big deal. To have three of them at once is really special.''
Overcast, 57 ° Humidity: 93%
Have a thought? Go to the 
