By JEFF MILLER — Orange County Register

CYPRESS, CA—JUNE 18, 201—He has one of the favorites, an entry that loves to get out and run, that swept to the finals faster than all the rest.

What else would you expect for someone with close ties to the Golden State Warriors? Terry Knight has trained some 900 winners in a career more than 40 years and 4,200 starts old, his latest star, Platki, a big-time contender in the marque event Sunday at Los Alamitos Race Course.

There's a story about a guy once asking jockey agent Harry Hacek where he could find Knight.

"Whenever I need Terry Knight," Hacek reportedly answered, "I look in the winner's circle."

I'm not sure if that story's true. I am certain it doesn't matter.

See, either way, the exchange is awfully convenient for purposes of this column and also believable since Hacek is a well-known character who once was a bellhop and goes by the nickname "The Hat."

And, yet, Knight isn't even the most acknowledged champion in his own family.

His daughter, Shari, is the executive assistant to Warriors owner Joe Lacob and president Rick Welts.

At the exact moment I was talking to Knight, Shari was participating in a parade celebrating Golden State's second NBA title in three years, the team turning the city of Oakland into a giant winner's circle.

"You don't like to think you're name-dropping," Knight said, "but the people she does business with every day and talks to on the phone every day, I'm going, ‘Oh, wow, are you kidding me?' As a sports fan, it's unbelievable."

One of those people is Jerry West. Or, at least, was Jerry West, the longtime basketball legend having just left the Warriors for a job with the Clippers.

Knight, who often attends Golden State games and watches from the owner's box, had the occasion to meet West once, an opportunity not unlike a fan of horse racing shaking the hoof of Secretariat.

"As a kid growing up in this area, he was a childhood idol," said Knight, a graduate of Estancia High. "I think every kid shooting basketballs in the backyard wanted to be Jerry West or thought they were Jerry West. I know I did."

Instead, Knight followed his father, Chay, into the horse training business. And, here, I mean he literally followed his dad.

As a kid in the 1960s, Knight would tag along and do odd jobs around Chay's barn at Los Alamitos.

Then, at night, he would tell his mother, Imogene, that he was going down the street to the nearby Little League field when really he was riding his bike back to the track.

Knight would stand outside the facility, near the clubhouse and, through a chain-link fence, catch as much of the racing as he could.

"I was trying to be real sneaky about it," he said. "My dad might have known what I was doing, but he never let on that he did. You look back on it now and it was just priceless times."

In high school, Knight became something of an accomplished golfer. He regularly played against Scott Simpson and Craig Stadler, who were emerging stars from San Diego.

He was the best player at Estancia and might have had the talent necessary to pursue the sport further.

He'll never know, though, because he found himself drawn more to one giant oval than 18 tiny holes, the racetrack a place where a successful long shot can lead to something more meaningful than a birdie putt.

In Platki, Knight hardly has an outsider in the race here Sunday. The trials for the $1 million Ed Burke Million Futurity attracted 99 contenders and Knight's colt was the fastest.

"He just has a beautiful, fluid way of moving," Knight said. "When you're around athletes, whether it's human athletes or animals, you can see certain ones have a way of doing things the average ones don't."

That ability to really see what you're watching becomes sharper over time, and Knight has invested only an entire lifetime in this sport.

Nearly half a century ago, in 1968, Chay Knight won the Ed Burke Million Futurity with a horse named Kaweah Bar.

Now, on Father's Day no less, Chay's son has a chance to honor the man who died two summers ago.

"He could have grown his barn to be one of the (Bob) Bafferts or (D. Wayne) Lukases," said Knight, who also counts among his support group wife Dru and daughter Shayna. "He had that ability, that star power with horses and owners. But I think he would have been a little uncomfortable in that situation."

Of course, for this particular father, winning Sunday would have even more meaning than just connecting to the past, Knight holding a ticket for the most special of daily doubles.

A championship would allow him to keep up with daughter Shari, this being one family that knows the importance for having a good fast break.

Courtesy Orange County Register