If Calvin Nguyen had been able to buy a ticket to a California Angels game back in 1989, he might never have bought Breeders' Cup Classic contender Freedom Crest, the 39-1 upset winner over Tiznow and Skimming in the Oct. 7 Goodwood Handicap.

Nguyen and his friends had made the short trip from his Orange County home hoping to see Nolan Ryan pitch. But the game was a sell-out and even scalped tickets couldn't be had. Driving home, someone noticed the lights of Los Alamitos and suggested that since they were already out and had some money in their pockets, the group take in the Quarter Horse races.

So began the serendipitous road that eventually led to the now 28-year-old Nguyen buying his first Thoroughbred -- Freedom Crest -- two years ago.

That night at Los Al was the first time he'd seen live horse racing of any kind. He liked it.

"Then I started watching Thoroughbreds run on TV and that was the year of the Sunday Silence/Easy Goer rivalry and that got me hooked on the sport," Nguyen enthusiastically says, "I said then that I want to feel what it's like to be in the winner's circle. I knew if I ever had enough money, I was going to buy a racehorse."

Ten years later he had the cash, making enough on some tech stocks. Nguyen works for his brother, Joey Tran, selling nutritional supplements, mostly to Asia. He cut Joey in on 10 percent of Freedom Crest because "I work for him and he is my brother."

By chance, Nguyen had met 40-year-old trainer Richard Baltas one day at the track. He picked his brain about what it would take to buy and maintain a racehorse. Baltas, who after working for Thomas Skiffington, Darrell Vienna and Richard Mandella, had gone out on his own in 1991, but had only one horse in training at the time he met up with Nguyen.

"There had been some up and down times. I actually went back to work for Mandella for a while when things got tough," says Baltas, "It's been a hard road so that's what makes all this a dream come true. Calvin is a great owner and God willing who knows what can happen next?"

For Nguyen, the feeling is mutual: "Richie was sincere from the get-go and I felt comfortable with him. He told me my horse will get all his attention but he also explained everything about the game -- didn't hide anything. He knows the business but it's tough to train and win in Southern California, but he's succeeded now."

Baltas plan was to go the claiming route. "I thought it would get Calvin a better return."

But again, fate touched Nguyen: "We went to a farm to look at this Pleasant Tap colt -- Play Tap -- and I liked him. But Richie saw another horse and said it looked better. Freedom Crest had caught his eye immediately, so I agreed that we should go after him."

When 3-year old Freedom Crest ran for a $32,000 tag at Hollywood Park in 1999, the wanna-be-owner and hoping-to-get-back-in-business trainer made their claim. But so had trainer Nick Canani which meant the winning claim would be decided with a box shake -- the equivalent of a coin toss -- to draw out the name of either Baltas or Canani. Nguyen was blessed with another stroke of fortune and finally had his racehorse albeit, a maiden claimer.

"Some people would say, 'Well it's only $32,000,' but for me that was a lot of money. I mean I hadn't made a killing in the stock market," explains Nguyen. "I was worried we'd overpaid, but he's really muscular and Richie kept telling me there's a big engine inside. And we had won the box shake, so I thought it could work out."

Baltas, who started out in the sport as a groom, moved to Lexington in the 1980's to be at the center of the horse industry and quickly found jobs at Spendthrift Farm and then at the Keeneland sales. He was confident in what to look for: "Freedom Crest has a big barrel, strong build. And his pedigree suggested he could go long. I had seen him run twice before our claim at Bay Meadows and felt he might be worth the money."

He also found out quickly there was an ornery streak along with the strength. "He was a little goof-off to train." And he ran that way, getting clobbered in his first two starts with the new owner and trainer.

"There wasn't a great pedigree for a potential sire there, so we gelded him," adds Nguyen. "He then focused and started to respond to Richie's training."

Freedom Crest won four of his eight starts last year and won his stakes debut in January with a three-length victory in the Grade II San Pasqual Handicap at Santa Anita. But he almost didn't run that race for Nguyen. A buyer tentatively offered $250,000 for him but "didn't quite like the way he looked from behind," according to Baltas, so the deal was off. Yet another twist of luck for Nguyen.

"Everything has kind of aligned for us with this horse. And being in the winner's circle of a stakes race -- wow, it was such a great joy -- what an experience." Nguyen says.

He almost got there again in the Grade II Bel Air Handicap in June, finishing second by a neck. A disappointing sixth followed in the San Diego Handicap in July, then the amazing win in the $500,000 Goodwood. And there was the ebullient Nguyen in his biggest winner's circle, looking so ecstatic that it enhanced his already youthful appearance.

"I was like a kid after that one. And this horse has earned it (the Breeders' Cup) with that win. Richie deserves the shot, too. The $80,000 entry is close to three times what I paid for him, but it all seems so right," says the UCLA grad. "Even his name, which I didn't think about at the time when I bought him is perfect. It's again kind of an alignment with this horse. It goes with everything that's happened."

In 1983, 9-year-old Calvin, along with his brother Joey and their uncle and aunt, left Vietnam on a boat bound for freedom. His father, Khai Tran was a POW in a North Vietnamese labor camp for 10 years. His mother, Vau Nguyen, stayed behind hoping for his release, which came in 1985. It would be another five years before father and mother joined their sons in the United States.

"I've seen both sides of the poverty and persecution in the world. I've traveled to Europe and Asia since I came to the United States and I couldn't imagine trading places with anyone," Nguyen says. "The opportunities here and the generosity of the people maybe can't be appreciated as much for someone who's always lived here.

"And look at everything that's happened to me. I'm going to New York for my first time. I have a Breeders' Cup horse. He's a long shot but we will be there."

But his parents may not join him at Belmont Park. "They get nervous when Freedom Crest runs," Nuguyen explains. "They were at the San Diego when he didn't run well and they thought they'd brought him bad luck, so they stayed home and watched him win the Goodwood on ESPN."

All of this because he missed a baseball game. Nguyen did later see Nolan Ryan in action, but he's glad he missed that game in 1989. It would've thrown a curve into his destiny with racing.