Horse trainer to end long reign.(Chicago Tribune)

Byline: Neil Milbert

CHICAGO _ The Hawthorne Race Course meeting that ends Saturday appears to be trainer-owner-breeder Noel Hickey's Chicago racing swan song.

"I've been doing too much traveling for too many years," said Hickey, who has been one of the Chicago circuit's accomplished horsemen since moving his stable here from Canada in the 1970s. "I'm going to open a breaking and training center (in Ocala, Fla.) _ a prep school for young horses."

"I'm downsizing my stable by a half or two-thirds. I can stable at the farm and still race a few horses in Miami, and maybe send some back to Chicago for major grass races. But I will be building a new farm and training center, so that will preclude much traveling in the near future. I'm going to be staying home in Ocala.

"I don't want to retire under any circumstances, but the breaking and training center will henceforth be the focus of my racing endeavors. I would like to accomplish for my clients what I've accomplished for myself."

Hickey has the distinction of being the breeder and trainer of the only Illinois-bred winner in the 20-year history of the Breeders' Cup, Buck's Boy, who carried the colors of Illinois owner George Bunn in winning the $2 million Turf in 1998.

Buck's Boy was voted North America's 1998 champion male grass horse and was selected Illinois-bred Horse of the Year for three straight years, 1997-99. Hickey also trained Lady Shirl, the mare who was the 1991 Illinois-bred Horse of the Year.