And here comes Elttaes Slew!

WASHINGTON'S HORSE-RACING community awaits the birth of the first Washington-bred foal of Triple Crown winner Seattle Slew. The Ken Alahadeff-owned mother is named Lady of the Mile, and her offspring will be called Elttaes (Seattle spelled backward) Slew.

From an economic perspective, it makes no sense.

Love affairs rarely do.

Ken Alhadeff let his feelings about his family's roots, where he lives and the sport of Thoroughbred racing get the best of him.

He has combined that passion with financial stability and made an investment that could stimulate the state's Thoroughbred breeding industry on behalf of a 26-year-old horse, Seattle Slew, who has had a remarkable impact on Washington sports because of his name, ownership and accomplishments.

And even though Seattle Slew, winner of the 1977 Triple Crown, has sired more than 800 foals, he never has had an offspring bred in Washington. It is a void that, if all goes well, will be rectified in about three weeks at the Griffin Place breeding farm in Buckley, where an Alhadeff-owned mare, Lady of the Mile, will deliver a Slew-sired foal.

For the opportunity to breed 6-year-old Lady of the Mile to Seattle Slew at Three Chimneys Farm near Lexington, Ky., Alhadeff agreed to pay last year's rate of $125,000 for a live foal. He also will cover all the expenses associated with bringing the newcomer to racing age and condition.

By doing it in Washington, Alhadeff is sacrificing the potential for greater financial return that would result from breeding Lady of the Mile in horse-rich Kentucky, where the offspring likely would be a big seller.

"If one wanted to look at the economics - the pros and cons of whether he should have or shouldn't - he shouldn't have," said Ralph Vacca, executive director of the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders Association.

"But it's something that he could afford to do and he wanted to do it, and that's just a marvelous thing. It shows that he really does have a great deal of love and interest and support for the whole Washington Thoroughbred industry."

Mary Lou Griffin, who as proprietor of Griffin Place is caring for Lady of the Mile, said a Washington-bred offspring of Seattle Slew will give a "tremendous boost" to the state's breeding industry.

"It will be a feather in our cap," Griffin said. "It will be something we can all rally around . . . something we can all be proud and excited about."

Impact nationally will depend on how the foal fares as a racer, said John Sparkman, editor of Thoroughbred Times in Lexington.

"If he or she is a good racer, it will generate publicity that possibly could result in more mares being brought to the state," Sparkman said. "Just having the foal born there will not have much impact."

Alhadeff and his brother, Michael, still are considered bad guys by some because, as proprietors of Longacres, they sold the Renton racetrack to the Boeing Co. in 1990.

Since then, through direct financial contributions - a $100,000 purse supplement to Yakima Meadows during the years there was no racing in Western Washington, $50,000 annually to Emerald Downs for enhancement of the Longacres Mile purse, $500,000 for construction of the new WTBA facility - and through their continued ownership and racing of horses, they have helped revive racing in Western Washington.

"We could have walked away from the game, but we stayed in it because we love the game and it's part of who we are," Ken Alhadeff said.

Be it a colt or filly, the foal by Seattle Slew already has a name - Elttaes Slew. Because of the source, there might not have been a better choice.

Spelled backward, Elttaes is Seattle.

Alhadeff's late grandfather, Joe Gottstein, is considered the father of the state's Thoroughbred industry. It was a label he derived as the builder and owner/operator of Longacres, where the Longacres Mile became a major fixture on the Northwest's sporting calendar, and as the owner of Thoroughbreds who raced bearing the silks of Elttaes Stable.

Elttaes Stable was handed down to Gottstein's son-in-law, the late Morrie Alhadeff. As president of the Washington Jockey Club, Morrie Alhadeff was responsible for Seattle Slew's only appearances in Washington, during two days of "Golden Gallops" at Longacres in 1977.

Now, Elttaes Stable is the umbrella under which Morrie's son, Ken, races his horses.

Lady of the Mile, who is a daughter of Skywalker (winner of the 1985 Longacres Mile), also is related to Steel Blade, winner of the 1968 Longacres Mile on behalf of Elttaes Stable.

Lady of the Mile was named by Alhadeff after he purchased her for $55,000 at the Washington Thoroughbred Breeders Association summer yearling sale in 1995. She raced just three times, with one second-place finish and earnings of $1,660, before she suffered a career-ending injury.

Family history was a factor that led Alhadeff to breed Lady of the Mile to Seattle Slew, an arrangement worked out with two of Slew's original owners, Mickey and Karen Taylor, who hold 55 percent of the shares in the breeding syndicate.

Mickey Taylor said Lady of the Mile's smaller size, her history of having some speed and the fact this will be her first foal made her a good match for Seattle Slew.

"You don't want to breed a big, old gangly mare to him," Taylor said by telephone from Kentucky. "Lady of the Mile is very compact . . . very correct. Plus, Slew was a first foal himself, so Karen and I are very fond of first foals.

"This business is not an exact science when it comes to breeding, and I don't know what exactly fits him (Slew). He's been a stud for 21 years. But I have a pretty good idea of what does not fit him. And that mare (Lady of the Mile) fits."

Lady of the Mile was shipped to Kentucky in December 1998. A first attempt at pregnancy failed in April, but the alliance "took" in May. After two months, she was returned to Buckley by van.

Since arriving, everything has gone well. That was obvious the other day when Lady of the Mile, eyes bright and brown coat flawless, frolicked with Alhadeff in the Griffin's front yard.

"She's doing great," Griffin said. "She looks just wonderful."

Alhadeff said his determination to raise the breeding level in the state will not end with the birth of Elttaes Slew.

"Our next step is to go to Kentucky and buy a major broodmare in foal," Alhadeff said. "Our goal is to have three or four very special broodmares in the state of Washington.

"I have one goal: to breed horses from the state of Washington capable of competing on the national stage. I want to see in my lifetime a Washington-bred compete in the Santa Anita Handicap, in the Kentucky Derby and Oaks."

The mating of Lady of the Mile to Seattle Slew is only the second breeding experience for Alhadeff. After his first one, it would not have been surprising if he chose not to be involved in breeding again.

It started with the purchase of a grey filly that his 12-year-old daughter, Allison, named Ali's Pearl after her name and the horse's color.

When it was determined that a chronic knee problem would prevent Ali's Pearl from racing, Alhadeff planned to give her away.

But his daughter had developed an emotional attachment to the horse, and begged him to keep Ali's Pearl.

"She said, `Daddy, please don't sell Ali.' I said, `I'll make you a deal. If I agree to keep Ali, you have to agree not to come to me about this in the future . . . that you accept what this industry and this game is.'

"She made that deal."

Later, Alhadeff decided to breed Ali's Pearl to Silver Buck, a stallion in Florida who is the father of Silver Charm, winner of the Kentucky Derby. Shipped to Florida in 1998, Ali's Pearl became pregnant quickly and was brought back to Griffin Place.

Months of waiting ended Jan. 26, when Alhadeff got a telephone call from Griffin. The message: "`She's going into labor. Get out here,' " Alhadeff recalled.

But by the time the family - Ken; his wife, Marleen; and their children, Allison and Andrea - could get to Buckley, it was too late. The foal had become stuck in the birth canal and died.

"Now I've got to explain to these 11- and 12-year-old children of mine that the baby has died and we're going to fight for the mother's life . . . for the life of Ali's Pearl," Alhadeff said.

"There's tears in everybody's eyes and I'm feeling like, `Why did I do this?' This was very painful and sad."

When Ali's Pearl lived, some of the pain was eased. More has been eased since then.

A few days after Ali's Pearl delivered a dead foal, a mare died a few hours after giving birth to a filly at Debbie and Rick Pabst's Blue Ribbon Farm, which is close to Griffin Place.

"Now they're sitting there with this little baby on the ground that must get horse milk within a few hours or not live," Alhadeff said. "So, they carry the filly up the road and they put her in the stall with Ali's Pearl."

Added Griffin: "As soon as we put the two together, Ali's Pearl just picked up tremendously. That was what she needed."

A little more than two months later, the relationship of the gray mother and the still unnamed chestunt foal couldn't be more touching. When Ali's Pearl chooses to stretch her legs and run around a field, the foal, still a little tentative, follows. When Ali's Pearl stops and leans down to nibble at some grass, the foal stops, leans down and nibbles, too.

"It's just amazing," Griffin said.

The unusual relationship has helped the Alhadeffs get over the disappointment associated with the events of that dark and rainy January night. Now, their focus is on the immediate future and the birth of Elttaes Slew.

A Washington-bred.