It was evident to Carol Seefeldt, a professor of early childhood education who has written 17 books on the subject, that her daughter, Andrea, loved horses, almost from the beginning.
"The children had show horses, and it was a really nice hobby," Carol Seefeldt said. "Everything you could want for children. They are up at 5 a.m. They muck the stalls and they tend to the animals as well as ride them. It's great for adolescents. But I failed to get them off those horses."
Andrea went on to become a jockey, and her older brother, Paul, is now a trainer. Neither completed college.
"To this day, I don't go to the races," Carol Seefeldt said. "I just don't enjoy it. But as a baby, when she could barely talk, I remember [Andrea] saying, 'Horsey Seefeldt, Horsey Seefeldt.' "
Andrea Seefeldt, 30, is about to ride three horses, collectively worth a couple of million dollars, in a series of three races that includes the Pimlico Special Saturday, possibly the Preakness next Saturday and the Metropolitan Mile at Belmont Park on Memorial Day.
Seefeldt graduated from South River High in Anne Arundel County with straight A's in 3 1/2 years, said her mother, who thought Andrea was taking an accelerated course load in preparation for college. However, Andrea wanted to speed through high school and start working at the track.
She has been a jockey on the Maryland-Delaware-Pennsylvania circuit for 13 years. But her early years in the business were a bust. It was a serious spill, when she fell and broke her pelvis in three places in 1988, that changed her career.
"I was pretty naive when I started," Seefeldt said. "I thought I would be this great jockey and that would be it. But I had trouble catching on in Maryland. I moved to Penn National, and there I pretty much accepted defeat.
"But then I broke my pelvis. During the three or four months I was off, I had this big talk with myself. It made no sense going back to riding if I was going to have that same kind of career. I thought I had been giving 100 percent. But I wasn't. So, when I did come back, I really applied myself."
About a year later, trainer Dick Small noticed her. Now, she rides the powerful string of stakes horses trained by Small, most of them owned by Baltimore County philanthropist Robert Meyerhoff. In 1993, Seefeldt had her best year, winning 10 stakes races and more than $1.3 million in purses.
That success is carrying into 1994. Through the first third of the year, most of it spent with a division of the Small stable in Hot Springs, Ark., Seefeldt won six stakes, and her mounts have earned more than $400,000.
She credits Small and Meyerhoff, "who have confidence in me and allow me to ride these wonderful horses." She is the barn's principal rider, but Small spreads out assignments among several jockeys.
"I don't ever assume that I am going to ride a horse back in its next race," said Seefeldt, who has been taken off horses in favor of better-known, male riders. "But it's an arrangement that I've come to accept. I feel it's just a gift to be able to ride these horses."
Small, in turn, gives credit to Seefeldt. "She concentrates well and is focused," he said. "She knows all the horses and is with us in the mornings. Every horse is a puzzle, and she helps me figure them out.
"Andrea and I bounce ideas off each other and try to keep an open mind about each horse. We talk about the horses and evaluate them every morning. A lot of people think that a flashier rider could do better. But that's not true. Andrea is a good rider. She's smart and knows when a horse is ready for a hard race.
"She's not afraid to tell me what she thinks about a horse after a race," Small said. "She's not some jockey making up a story to try to stay on the horse. A lot of times, she perceives things during a race, and we can translate that into some action to help the horse."
One example of Seefeldt's prowess is her handling of the filly Star Minister, a temperamental type who hated to be saddled, BTC hated the whip and "didn't want to be messed with at all," Seefeldt said. She wound up winning seven stakes, six of them for Seefeldt, and $458,600.
"Andrea is very talented and rides with an awful lot of finesse," said Jimmy Edwards, regional director of the Jockeys' Guild. "Star Minister is the classic example of what she can do with a horse. This was a very difficult animal to ride, and Andrea got as much run out of her as anyone possibly could."
Seefeldt's mount in Saturday's Pimlico Special is Valley Crossing. He is "so comfortable, riding him feels like sitting on a sofa," she said. "He's big and wide and tall and moves real smooth."
She could also ride in the Preakness if Meyerhoff and Small decide to run Looming. Looming turned in a sharp workout at Pimlico yesterday -- he breezed five furlongs in 59 seconds and galloped out six furlongs in 1:12.
Punch Line, Seefeldt's third top stakes mount, finished second Saturday in the Carter Handicap at Belmont Park. Punch Line's next start is planned for the $500,000 Metropolitan Mile at Belmont on May 30.
Seefeldt met her husband, builder Larry Knight Jr., at the Pimlico stables, and they were married two years ago. Knight said he doesn't expect her to retire and start to raise a family any time soon.
"It would be tough for someone to quit and walk away from riding these types of horses," he said.
Even Carol Seefeldt has come to accept her daughter's occupation.
"I'm terribly proud of her," she said. "I think she's survived in a very tough business with good humor and a strong compass of values. I'd rather she had a Ph.D. than a Derby ride. But her father and I are academic types and are really pretty dull. Her life has added a lot of excitement to it."
SEEFELDT AT A GLANCE
Born: May 31, 1963, Elmhurst, Ill.
Lives: Reisterstown
Height: 5-6 1/2
Weight: 110 pounds
Family: Married to Larry Knight Jr.
First victory: Aboard Mesa Springs, June 28, 1981, at Delaware Park
Career highlights
* Enjoyed best year in 1993, highlighted by 10 stakes victories and more than $1.3 million in purses.
* In 1991, became the third woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby (finished 16th on Forty Something).
* Only woman to ride in Pimlico Special. She rode Templar Hill (ninth in 1989) and Reputed Testamony (seventh in 1991).
* Her 1991 victory in the Pennsylvania Derby was the first for a woman in any derby.
* Rode in 1991 International Queen Jockey Series in Japan, winning seven races while representing the United States.
SEEFELDT'S STAKES
1994 stakes victories
Silano Stakes (Laurel) on Looming
Herat Stakes (Laurel) on Looming
King Cotton Stakes (Oaklawn) on Sticks and Bricks
Centennial Handicap (RemingtonPark) on Punch Line
Private Terms Stakes (Pimlico) on Looming
Smart Halo Stakes (Pimlico) on Platinum Punch
Important career stakes victories
1993: Martha Washington Stakes (Laurel) on Tennis Lady
1993: Maryland Million Distaff (Laurel) on Star Minister
1992: Twixt Stakes (Laurel) on Star Minister
1991: Pennsylvania Derby (Phila. Park) on Valley Crossing
1991: Jennings Handicap (Pimlico) on Reputed Testamony
1990: Chrysanthemum Handicap (Laurel) on Star Field
1990: Goss L. Stryker Stakes (Laurel) on Smart 'Nuff