"Don't know a thing about his family and I don't really care," Headley said. "I probably looked at 200, maybe 250 horses the day I bought Surf Cat. But I only picked three.

"He met all my requirements, even though each one will be a little bit different," Headley continued. "He was a little flatter muscled, a little longer-legged, a little more elegant. But yet he had all the bone, all the girth, the straight leg. The horses I like all have a real nice look to their top line. To see that is hard to do, and to explain it is even harder."

As a racehorse, with three wins and three close seconds in six starts, Surf Cat has yet to waste an afternoon. His Swaps effort was thrilling, especially since he blew a shoe in the paddock then hit the first turn so fast he fishtailed.

"I don't think he saw the rail," Headley said of that turn. "His vision was blocked by the horse inside him, and he wears those semi-cups, so he just probably thought he was supposed to run straight. As for the lost shoe, I think that affected his trainer a lot more than it did him."

Surf Cat might not be quite ready to go hunting for Afleet Alex, but he has put the rest of the active West Coast 3-year-olds neatly behind him.

"I'm already way ahead of where I thought I'd be with this horse," Headley said. "So I'll stay cool. I won't be forced into running anywhere."

Even so, Headley will consult his various oracles before moving to the next step.

"I had an advantage," Headley said. "I got to watch champions, and I've taken something from every one - guys like Red McDaniel, Bill Molter, Frank Childs, Carl Roles, Buster Millerick, Charlie Whittingham.

"There are a lot of trainers who think they're geniuses in their own mind," Headley added. "I prefer to put as many geniuses as I could in my mind."

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