DELBERT EFFORT
  
    Debuts Effort has won a couple of stakes races that past few years, perhaps thanks to the all-you-can eat alfalfa menu he enjoys during the off-season. The sprinter spends his off time at owner Delbert Reed's alfalfa ranch in Apple Valley, California, enjoying life in the huge paddock the lifelong horsemen has built on the land. It was there that the sorrel gelding rehabilitated after having season-ending knee surgery last summer.
    "He has not been the luckiest horse in the world but (trainer) Connie Hall gets all the credit for this horse," said Delbert, whose uncle C.L. Madden owned 1949 and 1951 World Champion Quarter Horse Maddon Bright Eyes."She has done a great job with him. At the ranch, Debuts Effort doesn't really have a lot of grass to play on. We use the water at the ranch more for the alfalfa than grass but he does get to eat all the alfalfa that he can. He actually loves being at the racetrack and really likes his job."
   In addition to Debuts Effort, Reed owns several young racehorses, three broodmares at his ranch and a pair of yearlings for 2001. One of the yearlings is a half-brother to Debuts Effort.