Phil Marino, introduce yourself.

"I'm a third-generation horseman," Marino said at his Pimlico barn. "I grew up on the backside of the Fair Grounds in New Orleans."

Lately, Marino has made a splash in Maryland, appearing out of the blue with nearly 50 horses, luring employees from other trainers by paying higher wages and winning races at a regular clip for an owner no one has seen.

At Laurel Park last weekend, two of his top 3-year-olds finished second in stakes -- Lead Em Home on Saturday in the Herat and Po in Sunday's Landaura.

"I don't know why I should be such a mystery man," Marino said. "I've been around a long time."

His father, Joe, trained horses in New Orleans and Chicago. His grandfather, Philip, trained in New Orleans, Chicago and Detroit. Marino remembers going to the racetrack when he was 5 or 6.

"I used to be tied to the tack box on the corner," he said.

He began galloping horses at 16, rode briefly as a jockey, learned how to make saddles and began training full time in 1975 at the Fair Grounds.

"My claim to fame is that I was John Henry's first trainer," Marino said. "I broke his maiden with him, and I won his first major stakes with him."

Marino trained and galloped the legendary gelding, now the star attraction at the Kentucky Horse Park, for his first 16 races -- 11 at 2 in 1977 and the first five of his 3-year-old season.

But John Henry never liked the Fair Grounds' surface, Marino said. "When he came off that track he'd be blowing like he'd run 500 miles," the trainer said.

So John Henry's owner sold the horse, who resurfaced in Kentucky and eventually landed in the California barn of Ron McAnally. John Henry became one of the most popular horses of all time, winning seven Eclipse Awards including Horse of the Year at 6 and again at 9. He retired in 1985 as the then-richest thoroughbred in history, earning nearly $6.6 million after winning 39 of 83 races.

"Six and a half million dollars later," Marino said, smiling, "here I am."

He is 49 and settled down for the first time in years. After traveling from track to track and from coast to coast, he wound up last year splitting his large stable among three tracks: Aqueduct, Calder and Hialeah.

"It was hard operating on three fronts," Marino said. "The frequent flier miles, I stopped cashing them in long ago."

He ventured to Maryland in September for the year-round racing and proximity to other tracks in the mid-Atlantic region and New York. He trains 47 horses in Maryland and has 73 more at training centers.

They're all owned by Sandi L. Kleemann. Marino said she lives in Chicago, owns a national marketing company and shuns publicity. He said he preferred not giving out her telephone number.

"If we had more owners like her, this would be one of the best gigs going," Marino said. "She's like my best friend more than a client."

She watches her horses race at an OTB, he said. She lets him call the shots. "She hasn't even seen these horses since March," he said.

But she lets him pay his employees more than the going rate.

He's aware that a few trainers became miffed at his hiring their workers.

"This is just the way I've operated since Day One in the business," Marino said. "I grew up on the backside. I know what it's like to work back here. We should pay these people what they're worth."

He's still living in a hotel but has begun looking for a place to buy, he said. He praised the racing office, remarked upon the competitiveness of Maryland racing and even marveled at the crowds for live racing -- larger than at other year-round tracks where he's run.

"I'm happy here," he said. "It's really a nice spot to be in."

Pub Date: 3/10/99