Adair a woman of many talents

DEL MAR, Calif. - At various times of the year, Julie Adair can be found working as a movie stuntwoman, buying or selling racing prospects, or breaking yearlings.

Each August, her schedule is dedicated to the Del Mar yearling sale, where she has successfully offered a small consignment in recent years.

In 2000, Adair sold a Distinctive Cat filly for $150,000, the highest-priced female at the sale. Named Distinctive Wish, the filly won twice at Turf Paradise before suffering a career-ending injury. She was later bred to Benchmark.

In 2001, Adair sold Run Rebecca Run for $85,000, having purchased the Swiss Yodeler filly for $13,500 the previous year.

Last year, Adair sold a Swiss Yodeler filly for $100,000 after paying $9,000 for her as a weanling at the 2001 Barretts October mixed sale.

"I knew they were outstanding horses, but I couldn't guess the price," Adair said. "So much depends on how the market is."

This year, Adair's consignment includes two colts by Swiss Yodeler, a colt by Trail City and a filly by Event of the Year.

"I feel like I've been especially lucky," she said. "That doesn't happen all the time. I don't have false perceptions."

Predictions were far from her mind late last week as she set up her barn.

"I would like to think with all the California-bred incentives and the Sunshine Millions, it will get stronger every year," she said. "I know the economy is not as good."

Adair submitted 10 yearlings for the sale, but only five were accepted. One, an In Excess colt, has been withdrawn and sent to Utah. His owners intend to keep him for racing, Adair said.

She bought the Event of the Year filly last November for $11,000, but admits the young stallion remains unproven.

"He's more of a route horse and we haven't seen what his first crop will be like yet," Adair said.

A daughter of champion Quarter Horse jockey Bobby Adair, Julie spent three months earlier this year in Santa Fe, N.M., working as a stuntwoman for "The Missing," a Western set in the 1800's starring Tommy Lee Jones and Cate Blanchett that is due for a Christmas release.

Adair, who stands 5-foot-1 and weights 100 pounds, did horse and water stunt work in the place of a young girl. For "Seabiscuit," Adair worked as a horse handler.

During the rest of the year, she arranges consignments to Southern California sales and spends each fall breaking yearlings on her parents three-acre home in Rowland Heights, Calif.

"It keeps me real busy," she said.