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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Opening day at Saratoga didnt get off to a good start for trainer Todd Pletcher. But it certainly ended well.Sweet Loretta, away slowly, took advantage of a hot pace and a good ride by John Velazquez to win the Grade 3, $150,000 Schuylerville Stakes by 4-1/4 lengths on a hot opening afternoon at Saratoga. Fun, a 22-1 shot, rallied from seventh to get second by 1-1/2 lengths over Harlands Thunder.Made Me Shiver, the 8-5 favorite, stumbled at the start and finished fourth. She was followed, in order, by Olive Branch, Summer Sally, Lighting Dove, and Inspired Flight. Platinum Spark scratched.It was the sixth victory in the Schuylerville for Pletcher, equaling the number of wins in this race recorded by Pletchers mentor, D. Wayne Lukas.For Pletcher, the Schuylerville helped ease a rough day. Stradivari, one of Pletchers better 3-year-old males, sustained a career-ending injury, fracturing a leg at the end of a morning workout. As of Friday, veterinarians were optimistic Stradivari could be saved for potential stallion duty.Pletcher, a 12-time leading trainer here, went winless in his four races with five horses. He had a second, two thirds, a fourth, and a fifth.Its nice to have a win in the Schuylerville, Pletcher said. This morning we lost what we projected was going to be one of our Travers starters. Hopefully, hes going to be okay. Its the nature of the business; theres good and bad and you got to try and stay level and keep working at it.Sweet Loretta, a daughter of Tapit, had galloped home a seven-length winner in a maiden race at Monmouth Park.Friday, she was taking on some other smart-looking maiden winners, including Made Me Shiver.Sweet Loretta, under John Velazquez, broke slowly and was sixth early. But the pace was swift as Inspired Flight, gunned to the front by Edgar Prado, set fractions of 21.68 seconds for the quarter-mile and 44.79 for the half, chased by Made Me Shiver, who bobbled at the break, and Olive Branch.Velazquez guided Sweet Loretta to the inside down the backstretch and tipped her into the clear on the turn. After Made Me Shiver took the lead in upper stretch, Sweet Loretta cruised by her inside the eighth pole and widened her advantage through the lane.Sweet Loretta, a $750,000 yearling purchase by Vinnie Violas St. Elias Stable, covered the six furlongs in 1:10.89 and returned $10.80 as the third choice.Velazquez said when his filly broke slow he made it a point to save ground until the middle of the turn.At the three-eighths pole I started easing out and she got to the clear and at the quarter pole she responded right away, Velazquez said. They went fast enough, the track is not speed favoring so it worked out very good. Craig Biggio Astros Jersey . 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Many athletes simply retire after theyre done competing in gymnastics and other similar sports. Others go into the stunt world and continue doing flips -- with a side of hanging out of windows.The women behind the leading ladies of Ghostbusters took the second option. Luci Romberg, Jessi Fisher, Meredith Richardson and Alyma Dorsey stunt double for Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Kate McKinnon and Leslie Jones, respectively, in the movie, which premieres in theaters Friday. And not surprisingly, each has a background in sports.We are the athletes of the entertainment industry, said Dorsey, the stunt double for Jones.Dorsey grew up in Florida, playing every sport she possibly could. Eventually she focused on volleyball and was a member of Florida State Universitys varsity team. After a modeling stint, she got into stunts through personal training. One of her clients, Quentin Tarantino, brought her along to the Django Unchained shoot, where she fell in love with the industry.Dorsey landed the Ghostbusters gig because they needed someone who could double Leslie Jones, she said. Dorsey is 5-foot-10. Since Jones is 6-foot-1, its often tough to find women who are of a passable height to double for her, and fewer still are also women of color.Dorseys path into stunts may seem uncommon, but theres not one direct route into the industry -- though knowing the right people can certainly help.There really is not a set way of getting into stunts, said Jessi Fisher, double for Kristen Wiig. Everyone does have their own journey, but you see a lot of similarities. A lot of people train at the same gyms, and run in the same circles.Originally from Michigan, Fisher trained in gymnastics but never thought she was good enough to make her college team at Central Michigan University. It wasnt until she saw a show at the now-defunct SeaWorld Ohio that she became interested in performing.After bopping around shows for years, she eventually settled in at O, a Cirque du Soleil water show at the Bellagio in Las Vegas, where she stayed for four years.It wasnt until the stunt team from The Hangover 3 came to the show and she gave them a backstage tour that she realized stunts could be for her. But they told her that in order to pursue stunts, shed have to move to Los Angeles. So, half a year later, Fisher packed her things and headed for California.Ive always been one of those people who just goes for it, she said.The entry point to stunts often comes through being a great athlete with specific training -- gymnastics, acrobatics, martial arts or even motorcycle driving. The bulk of preparing for roles and jobs becomes diversifying ones skill set, and for many former athletes, that means adding fight skills.Fighting is a big part of it, said Meredith Richardson, who doubled Kate McKinnon, When I got into [stunts] I had never done any of that, it was all gymnastics. So during my first six months, I took a lot of fight seminars, signed up for boxing at school, and trained with my martial arts friends. I think fighting is my new favorite thing.Richardson grew up in the South -- born and raised in Alabama, she said. She competed as a gymnast throughout her childhood and into college. When she was 10, her father said that hed always wanted to work on movies as a stuntman. His words planted a seed that bloomed while she was at the University of Alabama.After undergoing knee and ankle surgery just before nationals of her first year, Richardson decided to retire from competitive gymnastics and instead worked her way through school. Well, until she dropped out halfway through her junior year and moved to New Orleans.I took my exams and said, Mom, Dad, Im moving to New Orleans to pursue my dream of becoming a stuntwoman, Richardson said.dddddddddddd The movie industry, though thought of as being focused in Los Angeles, films all over the country (and in Vancouver) depending on tax breaks. For stunt performers looking for work, Los Angeles continues to provide the most consistent revenue stream, but there are additional hubs where TV shows and movies film. New Orleans became a hotbed for a few years, and Atlanta is one now.It was in New Orleans that Richardson met stunt coordinator Walter Garcia, who was working on Ghostbusters. Stunt coordinators put the stunts together and wrangle stunt performer talent, but more than that, they create a vision for the choreography of the stunts themselves and the ways in which action can be incorporated into a film. Ghostbusters doesnt have a ton of fighting in it, but the battle scene in Times Square is something each of the stuntwomen mentioned as one of the most enjoyable moments for them, among some of the other, more run-of-the-mill stunts.Getting dropped on a car was fun, Melissa McCarthys double, Luci Romberg, said. The fight where Melissa gets possessed was fun too. Its all fun.Romberg, a world champion free runner, also played soccer and did gymnastics growing up. She was the 2003 USA Gymnastics Collegiate All-Around champion while at Texas Womans University. Romberg was recruited into stunts by a former gymnastics teammate, Natascha Hopkins.After working at Chilis for four years to make ends meet, Romberg began to find enough stunt work to focus on that full-time. She doubled McCarthy for the fourth time on Ghostbusters, -- she was also her full-time double on The Boss and Spy, and doubled her for one scene in Identity Thief.Ghostbusters shot for four months in Boston, and the stuntwomen trained even while on location. Most days on set, the women challenged one another to handstand contests. They worked out between rehearsals, went to a Parkour gym on days off, and hit mitts in the park.The life of a stuntwoman is to always be training. I always do gymnastics to keep up my body awareness, Richardson said of her weekly training habits. I also do judo and Kung Fu and then sometimes driving stuff with one of my friends who is great on motorcycles.As doubles they spend a significant amount of time with the actresses, and said McCarthy and Wiig were as funny as expected. They would do the same scene over and over again and just ad lib it, Fisher said. It was hilarious. They were fantastic.Looking the part of the actresses is essential, down to their movements and body language. A fan actually confused Fisher with Wiig while they filmed in Boston one day. Thats good, Fisher said. If people cant tell us apart, that means Im doing my job right.We act with our bodies, Romberg agreed. I watch the way that [McCarthy] moves, and how she does it. If I need her to make it a little more badass, then I help her with that. You coach them and help them do it the best they can and then you mimic their movements.Working with the actresses is key to a film being successful in selling the action as authentic. And for the stuntwomen, the collaboration on Ghostbusters was as good as it gets. As stunt people we have more athletic backgrounds, and were used to doing more physical things, but some actresses are not, Fisher said. Being able to work with them and teach them was an empowering thing too.Getting to be a Ghostbuster in a way is above and beyond any dream I could have come up with, said Romberg. ' ' '