Charismatic jockey Chris Antley was "caught up in an
unintentional tug-of-war" between the NTRA and Triple Crown
sponsor Visa after the Preakness Stakes last Saturday, as he
"found himself with two baseball caps" -- one with the
NTRA's "Go Baby Go" slogan and the other with the Visa
Triple Crown Challenge logo, according to Matt Hegarty of
the DAILY RACING FORM. Antley, who wore both: "I put on the
NTRA hat and rode around with it while I was being circled,
then that hat was replaced by the Visa hat when I went up
for the television interview. I felt like, shoot, I don't
know what I'm supposed to be doing here." NTRA and Visa
officials said that there were "no lingering hard feelings"
between the two. Visa consultant Loren Hebel-Osborne said
that after the race, "when the NTRA hat went up, the
officials from Pimlico thought they should honor their
corporate sponsor, so the Visa hat went up." NTRA VP/
Communications Chip Tuttle called the effort to have Antley
wear an NTRA hat a "miscommunication." Hebel-Osborne, on
the June 5 Belmont Stakes: "We don't want there to be any
more dueling hats. We've agreed that we need to coordinate
better with each other" (DAILY RACING FORM, 5/19).
