Captain Steve will watch Captain Steve run in the world's richest race, the $US6 million Dubai World Cup in Dubai tomorrow morning (NZ time).
And the tab for the head of the Louisville Criminal Investigation unit is being picked up by the owner of the top American galloper Captain Steve, Mike Pegram.
Pegram, a former NBA player, was leaving Louisville airport four years ago after winning the Kentucky Derby with Silver Charm carrying an unopened package handed to him minutes earlier by a friend.
When Pegram went through the security check the beeper went off and he was arrested when an unloaded gun was found.
Pegram contacted his trainer Bob Baffert, who was unable to secure a release for Pegram via the governor's office. Baffert then contacted criminal investigator Captain Steve Thompson, who not only had Pegram released, he picked him up from jail and dropped him at Baffert's barn.
Pegram and Thompson are now close friends, and the top policeman will be in the grandstand watching the horse who carries his name.
Captain Steve is raging $2.50 favourite to win the world's richest race after finishing third to Tiznow and Giant's Causeway in the Breeders Cup Classic.
World champion jockey Frankie Dettori rated his best chance of winning a race on the programme as Captain Steve's main rival, the Godolphin-trained Best Of The Best.
"He's no Dubai Millennium, who won last year's cup for us so easily, but he is a good horse who is coming to his form nicely."
America's second runner Aptitude is regarded as a strong chance even though his form since finishing second in the Kentucky Derby last year has been mixed.
Racing: Namesake watching favourite in Dubai
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