Cloud hangs over Halo
By ROB LONGLEY -- Toronto Sun
LOUISVILLE, Ky. -- For the Kentucky Derby champion, there is a garland of roses and a silver mint julep cup filled to the brim with the syrupy, bourbon-based cocktail.
There is a celebration under the Twin Spires of Churchill Downs and ascension to the throne in the sport of kings.
And there is supposed to be fame to last a lifetime.
Count David Cross Jr. as a skeptic regarding the latter.
It was 20 years ago this week when Sunny's Halo, a chestnut trained by Cross, joined Northern Dancer as the second and only Canadian-bred to win racing's most cherished prize.
The years since have not always been kind to Cross, now 68. The man who claims "I have been a millionaire twice" during his racing years, hasn't ran a horse since 2000.
Six months ago, he made headlines in the racing world when he sold his Derby trophy on eBay for $8,928 US.
Cross is not destitute, insisting he sold the bauble because he was tired of carting it around.
He is, however, terribly bitter over what he perceives to be a lack of respect Sunny's Halo has received at Woodbine Racetrack, where he won three stakes races in his champion two-year-old season.
It is Cross' contention that his former pupil should be remembered and celebrated at the Rexdale track, where the trainer claims he "was a horse of the people."
Woodbine names many of its stakes races after former stars. But until last year, when a nondescript event was run in his honour, Sunny's Halo seemed to be forgotten.
Cross is convinced the lack of recognition stems from the fact that Sunny's Halo's late owner, David (Pud) Foster, was not a beloved member of "the club."
In other words, his last name wasn't Taylor, Willmot or Samuel to name a few of the kingpins of Canadian racing.
"This was one of the greatest accomplishments -- to breed and own a Derby winner and he was treated so poorly," Cross said in a telephone interview. "It really made me bitter. If Sunny's Halo would have belonged to E.P. Taylor we would have been treated royally and he would have had all the attention in the world."
Taylor, of course, was the legend of Canadian racing who owned and bred Northern Dancer, the 1964 Derby winner.
While there is no stakes race named after him either, Woodbine nicely has enshrined the Dancer. One of the swanky dining rooms is named in his honour and a handsome statue in his likeness overlooks the walking ring.
For Sunny's Halo, however, there is little. In 1986, he was inducted into the Canadian Horse Racing Hall of Fame, which is based at Woodbine but run independently.
"That's a good question and I don't have an answer," Woodbine's senior vice-president of racing, Hugh Mitchell, said on Tuesday when asked why there is no permanent stakes race named in honour of Sunny's Halo.
"When we do the next stakes schedule, I will make a note of it. Obviously (Sunny's Halo) accomplished a lot. Sometimes you get so focused you lose sight of what is in front of you."
Oversight or afterthought, yesterday Woodbine officials assured that there would be another race named after the '83 Derby champ later this year.
Don't make reservations in the turf club just yet, however, because date, distance and details are TBA.
These days, Cross spends most of his time in Mexico. A year ago, he said he pondered returning to Woodbine, where he trained for 12 years in the late 1970s and early 1980s.
He also has reportedly worked as a race official in Virginia, tried a stint as a professional handicapper in Las Vegas and hung around the fringes of the racing world.
Cross said he realizes Sunny's Halo couldn't match Northern Dancer in pedigree or prominence. In fact, he was a rags-to-riches story in which Foster took a cheap mare, Mostly Sunny, bred her to Halo and ended up with a horse who ran away with the roses.
Cross just wishes the feat would be better remembered at the place it all began.
"Maybe after 20 years I should let it go ..."
