More Than Just a Name for Run for Retts

What's in a name?



It can be an amusing racetrack activity to ponder what Thoroughbred names might mean to those who chose them. Hardened handicappers may shrug them off, but names are an integral part of the game—from the regal, to the comical, to the misspelled (see: American Pharoah), to the sentimental.



More than a few fall into that last category, representing a beloved child or a lost loved one—like Warren's Veneda, who owner Benjamin Warren named after his late wife.



The name of one horse who runs in the Generous Portion Stakes Aug. 28 at Del Mar, however, isn't named after someone as much as it is named for someone.

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Liz Fairfield has known Tom and Debi Stull, the owners of Tommy Town Thoroughbreds, for a little while now. Fairfield works in a private area at Ontario International Airport, about 30 miles east of Santa Anita Park, where the Stulls park their private jet.



Debi often sets up shop in the terminal to get work done, and one day Fairfield noticed she appeared frustrated.



"Part of my job is making sure everyone is OK," Fairfield said. "We'll chat and I'll make sure she's OK, but she's typically the only one in the lobby and I'll give her some space. One day, I approached her to see if I could get a coffee (for her) or something—because she was doing some work."



"I've got to name these horses," Debi said.



A thought came to Fairfield's mind, though she was initially apprehensive. She doesn't share her personal life with just anyone, but she eventually decided to offer up a suggestion.



"How about Run for Retts?" Fairfield asked.



Debi didn't understand. Then Fairfield told Tiffani's story.

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Liz's daughter Tiffani is now 27 years old, and looks like a young teenager. She has Rett Syndrome, a developmental brain disorder caused by a mutation in the X chromosome. Estimates on its prevalence range anywhere from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 23,000 girls. It's even rarer in boys, and because they only have one X chromosome, they don't live longer than a couple years, at most.



Her daughter's early days seemed normal until Liz began noticing changes around 18 months to 2 years old. Tiffani was walking and imitating her parents' words early on, but she eventually lost the ability to communicate and was unable to use her arms and hands.



She's confined to a wheelchair now, but Tiffani's eyes are still alive. They follow conversation and she looks at people when they are speaking. Liz feels her daughter is "trapped inside" her disabled body.



"I'm 50 years old," Liz said. "All I want is to meet my daughter. How much more time do I have on this earth? They think they're close to a cure. Who doesn't want to run with that?"

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That's where the inspiration for Run for Retts came from. The phrase "Run for Rett" is often used for fundraising runs associated with the disorder. Maybe, if you named a horse after those fundraisers, someone might take notice and ask what the name was about, and the word would spread.



It's not unprecedented to associate a horse's name with a cause. Johnny Taboada's Autism Awareness raced from 2007 to 2013 and won two grade III races at Golden Gate Fields.



The process of naming a horse was more complicated than Liz imagined, but Debi was all for it. It just took a little while to get the name confirmed, and when Tom or Debi would show up at the airport Liz would be eagerly awaiting.



"How's my horse?" she would ask.



After all the naming boxes were checked, training time for the 2-year-old dark bay filly by Ministers Wild Cat   began. A homebred for Tommy Town, she was sent to trainer Steve Miyadi at Santa Anita. Her works at Santa Anita and then Del Mar were fine, but nothing groundbreaking.



Still, when Run for Retts was entered to debut in a 5 1/2-furlong maiden special weight event restricted to California-breds at Del Mar Aug. 15, there was no doubt Liz and Tiffani would be there.



They took the train south from their home in Yorba Linda, Calif. for the Saturday Del Mar card. Even regular Del Mar weekends draw substantial crowds and Aug. 15 stayed true to form. More than 20,000 piled into the seaside racetrack that day, and Tiffani doesn't normally handle crowds or the heat well.



But in the party atmosphere of what Liz calls the "bar car" on the train ride down, a group of good-looking young men surrounded Tiffani, and a somewhat rare wide smile appeared on her face. Adorned with a gold butterfly necklace, just like one her grandmother used to wear (she also loved the track), Tiffani wore that smile for the rest of the day.



"She went from a slumpy rag doll to this," Liz said, proudly displaying an iPhone video of her daughter on the train beaming with that smile. "That was her demeanor the entire day—in the sun, where she would typically melt. I don't know if it was the energy in the train and at the racetrack, but it was just so positive. We had a purpose to get to the racetrack."



Little things like that kept happening. A skeptic might call them happenstance, but to Liz, it all came together.



A horse racing neophyte, Liz had asked if jockey Corey Nakatani could wear purple, the designated color for Rett Syndrom, when he rode Run for Retts. After the Stulls explained that they could not change their Tommy Town silks, Liz was somewhat disappointed, but found her chosen color anyway. As she and Tiffani made their way to the paddock, Liz discovered the filly would be wearing purple on her saddle cloth anyway, breaking from post 10. The filly also shot the onlookers an extended look in the paddock, which caught them off guard.



"There were so many things that seemed meaningless, but were just like, 'Wow. Why today?'" Liz said. "Nothing could possibly go wrong that day."



Liz had touted Run for Retts and passed out fliers about Rett Syndrome to anyone who would listen on the train, but did even more at the track. She was 100% sure the filly would win. So what if she was the second-longest shot on the board at 27-1?



The Stulls and even Miyadi tried to temper her expectations. They've been involved with racing too long to get their hopes up.



"They were certain they were going to win," Miyadi remembered. "There was no question. Who am I to tell them no?"



Right before Liz went to the window to put down her wagers for herself and for a number of her friends and family, Tom cautioned her.



"Don't spend too much money on the horse," he said. "We don't want to get your hopes up."



It's the same sentiment Liz's two sons express to her when she gets excited about a possible cure for Tiffani—things don't always work out and if they do, it isn't always quickly. But Liz will not have it, even if she knows it's meant to shield her from disappointment.



"I told Tom, 'She's running for Rett Syndrome. She's running for my girls and our family. She's going to do amazing things,'" Liz said. "Nobody can tell me any different. She's the underdog and so are our girls. There's not a lot of hope and I think they're both going to be on top. She fits. If you're going to tell me this horse is not going to do well—don't mess with us."

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After tossing Nakatani to the ground in the paddock, Run for Retts made her way to the gate and broke well in her first start. She sat just off early leader Plane Lucky and blew by the frontrunner coming out of the turn. She pulled away and led by as many 3 1/2 lengths in the stretch, and held off a late closing drive by Patriotic Diamond to win by three-quarters of a length. You can hear the loud cheers vividly watching the replay of the race, probably from the people who took Liz's hot tip to the betting window.



Liz collected more than $1,400 in winnings from the various tickets she cashed for herself and the others who asked her to place bets on Run for Retts.



"Everybody was screaming and crying," Liz recalled. "It must have been divine intervention, because I don't know anything about horse racing."



Tom and Debi brought Liz and Tiffani down to the winner's circle with them, along with another girl who has Retts and group of their friends (and even some new ones from the train) to get their picture taken.

"She was talking to everybody and their brother on the train, so there were more people than we've ever had in the winner's circle," Debi said.



The emotion of the result even struck Miyadi, a seasoned horseman who began his training career in 1987, right around the time Tiffani was born.



"I'm a horse trainer—I'm a caveman," Miyadi said. "I don't know a lot about these things, but it really hit me. It was tough getting the saddle on her and I come down to talk to Tom and Debi, and here are these girls. I've been doing this for 30 years, but from the 15 minutes I met them to the time I won—it was special."

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When the Generous Portion Stakes goes off Friday, expect Tiffani and Liz to be right back at Del Mar, ready to watch their favorite filly run. At 8-1 odds on the morning line, Run for Retts won't be sneaking up on anyone this time, but don't be surprised if her odds drop a tick or two.



Liz will undoubtedly be giving the word out again, telling anyone within earshot about just how important a horse's name can be.

"The job that came along with that name was instilled in the horse," she said.

For more information on Rett Syndrome or do donate, please visit rettsyndrome.org.