Fate has embraced Cajun in Minnesota

Tracy Hebert started his riding career three decades ago and has avoided serious injury. That almost changed in the first race at Canterbury Park on Thursday night.

"I was riding a filly for [trainer] Troy Bethke," Hebert said. "I had so much horse left ... I wanted to get going. She's a small filly, and Scott Stevens was there closing the hole, so I gave a little push.

"Scott says, 'No, you don't,' and pushed back with his horse. The rear ends started swerving and I thought we were going down. It could've been real bad."

Hebert shook his head and said: "She was a tough little filly, though. We got in stride and she win for me."

The filly was Advice to Sinners. Hebert had another win on Friday night, putting his total at 18 in this Canterbury meeting and at 3,259 for his career.

Hebert was 0-for-3 on Saturday -- one of his lightest workdays so far at Canterbury. The last of his horses was Lil Crafty, a long shot that fell back early on the turf course and didn't move much.

"If it ain't there, it ain't there," Hebert said. "You got to take care of the horse."

"When I was kid on the bush tracks, I would just get on a horse and try to hold on," he said. "I didn't even try to steer 'em.

"One day, there was a 'Anything Goes' race. I'm on the rail and the horse next to me doesn't have a rider. Then, a guy walks up and puts a chicken on its back ... fastens the chicken to the saddle.

"Bang! The race starts, the chicken squawks, that horse goes straight left into mine, mine jumps right through the rail and I get thrown. Well, they have cars parked right along the fence at the bush tracks, so I bounced off three, four cars and my horse is running cross country.

"And the horse with the chicken won the race."

Hebert's wife, Angie, was standing a few feet away and said, "That's a true story."

"I started at Evangeline at 16-year-old in '79, but didn't really make a mark for myself until the next year," he said.

Hebert rode mostly Louisiana tracks through the '80s. One trainer employing him regularly was Cecil Borel.

"One day Cecil told me he had a kid brother who wanted to be a rider," Hebert said. "I said, 'I'll bet that puts me on the outside,' and that's what happened. Cecil started using his brother, Calvin."

Hebert left Louisiana in 1990 and started riding in Kentucky: Churchill Downs, Keeneland, Turfway, Ellis Park. He won races and kept busy, until Churchill flattened him for failing several alcohol screenings.

"Churchill gave me a five-year suspension for alcohol in 2000," he said. "I had a lawyer and tried to fight it, but they overwhelmed us. And other tracks honored the suspension.

Three years later, he set a record for wins at the track. "Tracy won 141 races ... tore 'em up," Angie said.

Hebert returned to Kentucky in 2008. Business was mediocre. He tried Mountaineer Park in West Virginia and Presque Isle, a new track in Pennsylvania. Business was worse.

"My career was going down," he said. "I needed a change, and [agent] Chuck Costanzo called and said he could keep me busy at Canterbury. He was telling the truth."

Hardcore racing followers say that Hebert, now 46, had as much riding ability as more famous Cajun jockeys. And one of those, Calvin Borel, has become a celebrity with three Triple Crown victories in three years.

Any that-could-be-me thoughts for Hebert?