David Cassidy on the Web
'Partridge Family' star David Cassidy coming to Altoona
Former 'Partridge Family' star David Cassidy owns horse racing at Meadows.
By DAN JOHNSON
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
www.desmoinesregister.com
June 20, 2006
C'mon get happy, "Partridge Family" fans.
David Cassidy is coming to Prairie Meadows, but it will be his horse doing the performing.
Cassidy is co-owner of Mayan King, who will run in the July 1 Cornhusker Breeders' Cup, the marquee race of the track's stakes festival.
Trainer Gary Contessa said Mayan King is one of as many as four horses he will be sending from New York for the Iowa Festival of Racing, which consists of six stakes races worth at least $100,000 on June 30 and July 1. He said he and Cassidy will be arriving June 30 for the Cornhusker.
Cassidy, 56, forever Keith Partridge to some from the 1970s TV series, has gone from teen idol to nightclub singer and horse owner. He is a fixture in the New York breeding program, where he breeds eight to 10 horses a year. He remains a bigger celebrity than his horses.
"No matter where he goes, everybody wants to have a picture taken with him, everyone wants to meet him," Contessa said. "He's the consummate gentleman. He's happy to shake everybody's hand."
Mayan King, 4, is lightly raced because of injuries. He was on the Kentucky Derby trail after winning his first two career starts in 2005, but his year ended in March when he fractured a leg while racing.
He has returned to win two of three allowance races this year while getting speed figures equal to high-level stakes horses. He won a 1seconds, fast time for that track.
"He's ready to step up, and that's why he's coming for the Cornhusker," Contessa said. "It's a great spot for us. This is a horse that, as a 2-year-old, they turned down $1.8 million for him."
Cassidy bought Mayan King for $210,000 in a training auction in 2004. The colt dumped his rider before his workout and ran in the opposite direction, eventually crashing through a fence and running into the parking lot.
But while he was running, Contessa and Cassidy timed him in 1:09 to 1:10 for 6 furlongs, which is exceptionally fast for a 2-year-old.
"He was a horse I had to have," Cassidy said before last year's Lane's End Stakes. "I thought he'd bring between $300,000 and $400,000. The day I bought him I thought he was a Derby horse."
Contessa could send up to four horses for the Iowa Festival of Racing.
No Sleep will run in the $125,000 Iowa Distaff Breeders' Cup. Magnolia Jackson is a possible starter for the $100,000 Saylorville Handicap for female sprinters.
Contessa said that either Forest Phantom or Harborage could come for the $250,000 Iowa Derby on June 30.
No Sleep and Forest Phantom are owned by Des Moines' Maggi Moss. Contessa has trained for Moss for years, but has met her only twice.
"She never comes to New York," Contessa said. "I actually 100 percent understand, she wants to see her horses run in Iowa. I'm part of a team, and that's what the whole Moss system is, a team system."
