surprised her by jumping a 4-foot fence while nine

surprised her by jumping a 4-foot fence while nine months pregnant. She laughed: "No one had ever asked her to jump before.

"All our homebreds can jump. Early on we realized that our horses were not exactly fast, but when they hit one mile, they're just warming up, so we thought of steeplechasing." Collette said. The trouble is, she added, there's not a lot of money in breeding steeplechasers. "Point-to-points are the most fun of all, and there's absolutely no money in that."

Collette categorizes her homebreds as athletic and well-behaved. She sells the majority as show horses — not her original intent as a breeder — but she can't afford to say no.

Rasbora, a horse with an "I'll try" attitude about racing but not blinding success, is now making it big as a show hunter. Hear No Evil (renamed) was a children's hunter champion at Upperville.

And in the end, what gives Collette the most pleasure as a breeder is seeing her foals go on in life and be good at their job, whatever that may be. What she tries to determine with each of her babies is what they can do most easily. She said, "I also hope to find out fast — training costs a lot."

Homebreds with racing potential are sent to steeplechase trainer Dot Smithwick or flat track trainer Jean Rofe. Collette expects to have her first 2-year-old starter this year. Smithwick currently trains Maurier, a 17-hand homebred that was originally being trained as a show jumper.

“Maurier was progressing too slowly. The trainer kept saying he just needs more time,' " Collette said. “I thought that was a sign he wasn't doing what he wanted to do and sent him to Dot. To my astonishment, he won easily his first time out at Bull Run, the last point-topoint this past spring.”

Collette said to look for Maurier this fall on the National Steeplechase Association sanctioned circuit. He'll be carrying the distinctive Pageland Farm silks — green with a dolphin emblem (What else?) You might just catch yourself a winner.