TEXARKANA, Ark., (AP)--For East Coast thoroughbred trainer Elaine Ferri, a small patch of farmland off Genoa Road just east of Texarkana is a special place.

It's where she grew up and raced ponies with her friends.

And it's now the spot where she's traveled with a small band of current racers and retired winners to spend some quality downtime in between meets.

Ferri is stabling 10 horses at the farm, which is named Forbidden Valley Farm after one of her favorite horses.

While Forbidden Valley relaxes with her in his retirement, some of his offspring cavort nearby.

"They're just wonderful friends to me," said Ferri, who lived in New York for 20 years and has raced on the New Jersey-area circuit at tracks like Meadowlands, Garden State Park, Monmouth Park and Delaware Park.

One of Forbidden Valley's runners is Forbidden John, a winner of two of six at Louisiana Downs, Ferri said.

"Forbidden Valley is really throwing some horses with big hearts," Ferri said.

From what she's seen, it takes both heart and talent to make it in the racing world.

Now done with the Louisiana meet, Ferri and her band of thoroughbreds are targeting the beginning of the Oaklawn Park at Hot Springs meet this month. She has three horses in training right now with one filly already at the track.

Ferri said part of the reason to come back to Arkansas and race at Oaklawn and Louisiana Downs was to see family.

Her parents bought her first horse, Kodiak. She would race the Shetland with her girlfriends on the then-secluded farm where she lived with her family.

"We were the only ones here," she said.

It was an older trainer in DeKalb, Texas, that gave her a shot riding horses.

"He heard about what a good rider I was," Ferri said. "That was it. I traded in the ponies and it was thoroughbreds ever since."

From there, Ferri went to Oaklawn to be an exercise rider and eventually got her own horses to train. She made her way to Monmouth Park, which was home base for many years.

She said patience, believing in yourself and know-how are the attributes a trainer must cultivate to succeed. There's also having an eye for talent.

"If you have nothing to work with, there is no race horse," she said.

The horses, she added, come first.

"They tell you how you're feeling anyway," Ferri said. "Sometimes when you hang out with horses, it's nice and peaceful."

But the horse business can have its ups and downs.

"Racing is just so tough, you never know," Ferri said, reflecting on the tough luck that comes around the track and referring to Kentucky Derby winner Smarty Jones, the 3-year-old superstar that narrowly missed winning the Triple Crown with a loss in the Belmont Stakes.

And for every Smarty Jones who achieves success and makes the fans thrill in his wake, there are thousands of claimers, allowance and little-known stakes horses at tracks across the country.

To their trainers and owners, they're just as important.

"The love of the horse business is what keeps us going," Ferri said. "Everybody has dreams (and) I've just tried to live mine."

Date: 1/27/05

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