Jerry,
Your story about Julie riding a Forbes horse that you were advising on reminds me of another similar Julie story. In 1987 Forty Niner had just lost a heartbreaking stretch duel by a neck to Alysheba in the old Marlboro Cup. A race that was run in track record time. Laffit Pincay was the rider and after the race he told the connections, Woody Stephens and Claiborne Farm, that the horse needed blinkers. The next race out for Forty Niner was not the traditional step of the Jockey Club Gold Cup, back then run at 1-1/2 miles, but the NYRA mile(now the Cigar Mile). However Pincay was not the rider because there was a jockey strike or walkout, whatever you want to call it. There had been a lot sabre rattling going back and forth that if Pincay did'nt ride the horse in the NYRA then he would not ride the horse in the Breeders Cup. Pincay being President of the Jockey's Guild at the time stated there was no way he would cross the picket line and he did'nt. The rider of record that afternoon in the NYRA was none other than "Billy Fox". He managed to hold on tight enough for the entire eight furlongs and Forty Niner won.
Now we get to Julie. Somehow she landed the ride on Forty Niner despite having little or no experience in a race of this magnitude. Seth Hancock of Claiborne Farm said he had seen Julie ride at Monmouth that summer and he was impressed with her. The Breeders Cup was at Churchill Downs that year and the field was "loaded" with the likes of Alysheba, Seeking the Gold, Personal Flag, Waquoit, Cutlass Reality, etc. As they reached the half-mile pole things got a little tight and suddenly Forty Niner was pulled-up, a la Thunderello, but then inexplicably restarted once he was last in the field.
As the field neared the wire Alysheba once again proved his greatness by holding off a late charge from Seeking the Gold to win. However, the image of Forty Niner flying down the middle of the racetrack to finish fourth still makes me sick to my stomach. When Julie was questioned later on why she pulled the horse up, her explanation was, "she thought she felt the horse take a bad step and that he was breaking down".