'DANCING' WITH REBECCA MAKER A WINNER AT ARLINGTON

Dancing With Me, an improving 4-year-old filly owned by Ted Taylor, surprised Thoroughbred racing fans with a $67.20 win payoff for a $2 wager at Arlington Park Saturday. However, trainer Rebecca Maker, a developing star on her own, expected the chestnut daughter of Mt. Livermore to run well if she got the chance.

When Barr Three LLC's Kate the Great was scratched from the body of Saturday's featured Reluctant Guest Handicap, Dancing With Me drew in off the also eligible list.

"I was so happy to draw in," said Ms. Maker Sunday morning as she assured that Dancing With Me came out of Saturday's effort in good order. " We went about our business preparing her as if she was going to run and I prayed that something good would happen. When they told me Saturday morning that she had gotten in the race we were ready.

"I expected her to run well," said Maker, who was recording the first stakes victory of her career. "She carried quite a bit of weight in her last race (a winning effort at Churchill Apr. 27). It was good to get in lighter Saturday (113). It worked out well for us. I was especially pleased to win that race for Ted Taylor. He is an attorney from Birmingham, Alabama, and was the first owner to send me horses on my own. He has shown me complete support. I've got four horses here for him."

Maker, 30, an attractive blonde from rural Michigan, began her career as an assistant to Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas but has also worked for Dallas Stewart and Todd Pletcher before striking out on her own a little over a year ago.

"I grew up around show horses," she said, "switched to race horses while I was in college and was hooked right away. When I started on my own a year ago last April most of the horses I got were 'project' horses or horses that were going to take some time to develop and needed a year or so to come around the right way. I've waited patiently with them, and now they are starting to shine. We finished third (beaten a neck and a nose at 12-1) in the seventh race at Churchill Saturday with a horse named Captain Nicholas.

"We'll see how Dancing With Me comes out of her race yesterday and make plans from there," said Maker. "Running her back here at a mile on the grass would be my first choice."

(Interestingly enough, the Maker-trained General Lee, owned by Dogwood Stable, draws into Sunday's ninth race of the day, also to be run over the Arlington turf course.)