Cerin and Follow Me Crev Take Shot at Big 'Cap

Others might have been disappointed when Follow Me Crev missed his opportunity to run in the 2016 Santa Anita Handicap (G1).

The Quality Road   gelding was ripping through the conditional optional-claiming allowance ranks, crying out for a shot against top competition, but a quarter crack dashed his chances of running in Santa Anita Park's premier race for older horses.

But through the lens that Vladimir Cerin views life and his chosen occupation, a setback in horse racing doesn't qualify as a disappointment.

About 10 years ago, the trainer's wife, Kellie, died suddenly from a heart attack during a family vacation in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. An event that would make others jaded has emphasized the appreciation of the moment to the 62-year-old trainer.

"Three thousand, six hundred and ninety one days ago, not that I count," Cerin said March 10 on the Santa Anita apron, between wrestling sessions with his 2-year-old golden retriever Delilah. "We were playing Monopoly and she died 20 feet from us. I can't come to terms with it, still.

"That's something you can't recover from. That's the hard part (of life). When you have a chance to appreciate something, please do."

In that light, the day-to-day drama of training horses pales in comparison, and very little rattles the veteran conditioner. So, regarding Follow Me Crev's renewed shot at Big 'Cap glory in the 2017 edition March 11, Cerin is just happy to be a part of the West Coast's top handicap race. He undoubtedly wants to spring the upset with the six-time allowance winner, but if the horse doesn't win, that's OK too.

"What do I have to lose? We claimed him for $50,000 to win a starter allowance race, and we did, so everything else after that is a bonus," Cerin said of the claim made in May of 2015, when he and owners Holly and David Wilson teamed up to buy Follow Me Crev, who has paid off that investment on the track.

The Wilsons, who have had horses with Cerin since the mid 1990s, own the house in Puerto Vallarta where Cerin's wife died at age 51 a decade ago. They have been loyal friends with the trainer and his family for more than 20 years.

"He's a very sweet man and has a good outlook on life," David Wilson said of the Cerin, who grew up on a farm in Croatia before he relocated to North America as a teen. "He's a man of character. He's passionate but not absurdly so. My wife always says, 'We'll never change trainers. We'd rather get out of the game.'"

The owner/trainer combo has also successfully turned claimers to grade 1 winners in the past.

The first was Early Pioneer, a $62,500 claim in 1998 that went on to win the 2000 Sempra Energy Hollywood Gold Cup (G1). The second was Designed for Luck, who won the 2004 Shoemaker Breeders' Cup Mile (G1T) after Cerin and the Wilsons claimed the son of Rahy for $62,500 in 1999.

"His theory is to follow rich people around and buy horses they no longer want," Cerin jokingly said of David Wilson's claiming strategy. "Sometimes they're still good."

David Wilson, who owns a number of car dealerships in the West, knew of Follow Me Crev by proximity early in the horse's career. His neighbor, fellow car dealer Donnie Crevier, lives just three doors down from the Wilsons in Laguna Beach, Calif., and owned Follow Me Crev (hence the name) through the first three races of his career in 2014-15. The Wilsons weren't going to claim a horse away from their friend, so when trainer Alfredo Marquez bought the horse out of a January 2015 maiden claimer and ran him back in the claiming ranks after three allowance losses, Cerin and Co. pounced.

Five losses came after the claim, then Follow Me Crev finally found his stride. The strapping bay, who Cerin says might be the most massive horse on the Santa Anita backstretch, won a starter allowance on turf at Del Mar in October of 2015 and rattled off three straight dirt allowance victories after that.

Then came the quarter crack that knocked him out of the Big 'Cap, and a mysterious sickness later in the year at Del Mar further knocked him out of competition and caused him to lose hair. He finished far back in two grade 2 events to close out his 2016 campaign, but came back a winner off a six-month layoff Feb. 20 at Santa Anita, where he won another allowance, closing up the rail under jockey Kent Desormeaux. Cerin was more than encouraged after the race because Follow Me Crev used to hate being inside and on the rail during races, and because he didn't feel the horse was fit enough to win.

"I thought he was short for his last race," Cerin said. "I didn't think he could win. I hadn't trained him very hard. It just shows that training is overrated, as is our opinion of ourselves training."

The self-deprecating jab goes hand-in-hand with Cerin's overall outlook. He'd rather be optimistic than pessimistic, not because it's more noble, but because it leads to more enjoyment. And enjoyment, through his lens of appreciation, is paramount in a game that can provide seemingly crushing blows to others.

"Back when the stall limit was 32 (horses), Mel Stute told me, 'Every morning is a chance for 32 disappointments.'" Cerin said. "Things seldom go according to plan, so when they do, you really should enjoy it.

"You can have the expectation of a best-case scenario, but I think it's better to be an optimist, because you can enjoy what's about to happen for a lot longer than being a pessimist and being pleasantly surprised. Expect the best from the time we nominate to the time we run—and maybe after. Look at how long I've been happy."