For two days in May, steeplechasing was the only game in town at the Atlantic City Race Course in Atlantic City, N.J. And for those two days–May 5 and May 19-he home of salt water taffy and casinos galore became the battleground of two horses, Linda Brown`s veteran hurdler
Shahrahere and Kenneth Avanzino`s homebred Tallow.

Though Tom Voss trainees dominated the maiden and flat ranks on May 5, it was Shahrahere–conditioned by his owner and ridden by her husband Gus Brown–who stole the featured 2 1/8-mile, $30,000 allowance.

Winless since the 2001 Saratoga (N.Y.) meet, where he impressively took a $44,000 allowance, Shahrahere is now on the comeback from a bowed tendon and is looking sharper than ever. The 9-year-old son of Caveat emerged from mid-pack to beat the highly regarded Tallow (Chip Miller) to the wire by a neck, despite breaking on the rail and being forced to remain there for the entire race. Although an inside trip is sometimes preferable because it saves ground, Shahrahere was not happy.

“He actually hates being stuck down in there, but Gus had to ride him from where he broke, and he sort of got pinned there,” said Linda, of Oxford, Pa. “He jumped fine and he never missed any fences, so it didn`t hurt him too much. But Gus said he could tell that the horse was not 100 percent happy.”

When the time came to fend off Tallow, Shahrahere did only as much as he had to. “He`s kind of a stinker, that horse–it has to be all fun for him,” Gus said. “It has to be all Shahrahere`s idea, or he just won`t play the game–with his training, with everything!”
Shahrahere (Brown) and Tallow (Miller) showed up for a rematch on May 19, in the inaugural $50,000 Don Levine Memorial grade III open hurdle stakes, run in memory of a longtime track steward.

With 2004 Iroquois (Tenn.) winner Tres Touche (David Bentley) the only legitimate spoiler, Tallow turned the tables on a game Shahrahere, outrunning him by 1 ½ lengths. Mrs. S.K. Johnston Jr.`s Najjm (Robbie Walsh) got up for third, with Tres Touche fourth.

“Tallow gave weight to Shahrahere last time, and the weight [146 pounds] was equal this time,” said Tallow`s trainer Bruce Miller. “But he has been improving over a long period. I believe this was his seventh start over two-plus years of training, which included time off for re-bowing, and running.

“[It] has been difficult to get his jumping [secure] because he has such a long stride,” Bruce added. “But Chip [the trainer`s son] did a great job.”

The younger Miller called Tallow a “very quiet, classy” horse. “We had a perfect trip down the inside and never put a foot wrong,” Chip said. “It had gotten a little soft, but he didn`t mind it at all–it might have even been a benefit to him, compared to some others in the race.”

Unlike his father, Chip didn`t consider the weight issue a factor. “There are so many more important things that affect your horse–a lot of variables, like how you ride and how other people in the race ride,” he said, adding that Tallow was simply in better form, and he was more in synch with the horse.

On May 5, Chip thought they made a couple of mistakes at fences because he and the horse weren`t yet familiar with each other. “He is a huge horse with an enormous stride, and you ride horses like that a little differently than you would a compact horse,” he said. “I think I just wasn`t quite as in tune to that the last time I rode him.”

As a busy trainer, Chip didn`t have time to school Tallow in between the two races. “I certainly went over it in my mind, the way I had ridden him [in the first race] and the few issues I wanted to figure out,” he said. “But the adjustments that I made were made mostly because Tallow was just in better form. He was just a much easier ride this time; he just improved enough between races that I had very little influence on the race.”

The Atlantic City meet seemed a marriage made in heaven for steeplechasers, who appreciated the race course`s manicured turf, and track officials. “Atlantic City hosts five live racing days a year to satisfy a state law governing pari-mutuel wagering sites,” said the National Steeplechase Association`s director of communications, Joe Clancy Jr. “They can`t operate as a simulcast center all year unless they have five days of live racing, with a certain amount of revenue set aside all year for those purses.

“Steeplechasing comes in because we offer a ready-made racing product without some of the extra burdens that come with flat racing (filling races, officials, starting gate, etc.),” he added.