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Thursday Evening-7:00pm-April 26th-2007
DELRAY DRAWS POST #3 WITH YANNICK FOR SATURDAY NIGHT!!
REDSTONE RUCKUS DRAWS POST #5 WITH CAMPBELL FOR SATURDAY NIGHT!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST TRAINS IN 2.23-BLOOD REPORT LOOKING BETTER!!
CARLSPUR FEELING BETTER-TO TRAIN ON SATURDAY!!
PARTNERSHIP #37 LOOKING TO REPLACE AUSTIN'S BEST!!
We've been a little spoiled having 3 horses going on Saturday night at the BIGM-and while we have 2 hot colts racing-we're hoping to get our new horse and Oragami Artist back in action as soon as possible. It will be quite difficult getting back to back wins again-but we'll see if we can put ourselves in a position to bring home some nice checks again.
Redstone Ruckus goes first-in race #9-post #5 with John Campbell back in the bike. We made the decision to jump to the $50,000 class-based on his last race and the fact that he might be claimed this week. Tony and I thought to give this class a shot for a week or two-and I see that the horse that finished 2nd to us also jumped-along with a few horses we raced against a few weeks ago. Austin's Best is back in this class-he's got post #9. Even though he's off his game-former $100k claimer-Armbro Acquire is one of the horses to beat if he's right. This will be a great test to see we can step up and compete at this higher level. His quarter crack is expanding-looks like a stone came thru wall of the hoof-some infection is coming out-and this might have been waiting to pop for a while now. He jogged good-so for now-Tony is not going to put a bar shoe on-as long as he's jogging ok-we'll be racing on Saturday night. My hope is to float out of there-get position around 5th or 6th-and pick up 2nd over cover and grind our way into the race.
Delray goes next-race #12-post #3-with Yannick Gingras back in the bike. I asked for post #3 for both colts and we got it with Delray. Virgil Morgan has a horse shipping in from Ohio and Sears shocked us by opting off a winning drive-go figure-but at least we got the other driver who's won with him and has raced well every time his been behind the horse. I don't have the program yet-it will be another tough assignment-they probably will try and challenge us harder-but I still believe we're the horse to beat in this race-especially from post #3 and Yannick. The colt is feeling great-but he's getting a little too wound up when he gets on the track-so look for the outrider to stay with Delray before the gate closes.
Oragami Artist had his 2nd training mile today-Tony wanted to go around the same time-he did-went in 2.23-was good-got a quick report back from our vet-who was on the run-that said that his numbers were a lot better. Tony will sit down with the vet tomorrow and look over the report-but the plan is to train on Saturday-maybe around 2.16. If he does that well-and his blood seems that it's holding up-we'll be on a fast track to trying to qualify within a short amount of time.
Carlspur is showing continued signs of returning to his old self-so we'll get a slow mile in on Saturday-and then go from there. If he passes this test and doesn't have any setbacks-acts good-and seems like he's still having fun and it's not hard work-we'll get back to our schedule-which was closing in on 2.10.
Partnership #37 might be a little quiet this week-even though I don't have the program-nothing is jumping off the page to me. We have around $54,000-so we'll be looking in the $40's and $50's and privately as well. I think things might be a little tougher finding a horse-with so many tracks opening up right now-but we'll be patient and keep our eyes and ears open.
Delray and Redstone Ruckus partnership will be giving back dividends again this week. We'll keep the extra monies in #37 in case we need it.
Don't know if we'll update before Saturday night. Let's hope for good checks by both horses-and if we can be on the front end again-with Delray-without heavy pressure-well-I think we might be waving again in the winner's circle again. Good Luck!
Tom
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Tuesday Morning-9:00am-April 24th-2007
DELRAY WINS IN ANOTHER IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCE-PULLS AWAY IN 1.50.1!!
REDSTONE RUCKUS SWEEPS HOME WITH CAMPBELL TO WIN IN 1.51.1!!
AUSTIN'S BEST FLAT IN THE POCKET-GETS CLAIMED AWAY!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST TRAINS AN IMPRESSIVE MILE ON SATURDAY-GOES IN 2.20!!
CARLSPUR FEELING BETTER-LOOKING FOR A SLOW TRAINING MILE ON WEDNESDAY!!
Once in a while-you hit a moment that brings smiles to your face-that almost everything lines up perfectly and the results are what you were hoping for. Saturday night was one of those moments-a real highlight to our 20 years in the business-including a first ever. We were knocking on the door-looking for a breakthru weekend-and on Saturday night-we got it. Let's enjoy the moment-it was a good one.
The weekend started with the good news that Oragami Artist trained a great mile on Saturday afternoon. The plan was for a real slow and easy mile-around 2.35-and then pull the blood on Monday-get the results back on Tuesday. With how OA was feeling-Tony is very confident that his blood report will be positive-if not-we'll all be disappointed-but noone more than Tony. Well-Tony went the 1st quarter in 40 seconds flat-but then it was too difficult to continue at that slow pace. He had everything to do-to keep him only at 2.20-finishing strong-and looking to go another 1/2 mile-all good signs. He's cooled out good-ate well-rested well-then got turned out the next day and had his tail over his back. OA jogged good on Monday-and his next training mile was due today-but Tony will be in Delaware so we'll train again on Wed-by then-we'll have his blood report back too. Perfect situation-we train slow on Wed-he does that well-and we come back with a mile in the mid teens over the weekend-all with a good report back on his blood-let's keep thinking positive-we desperately need OA back in the mix here-we miss him on Saturday night.
Austin's Best was the 1st of the 3 colts to go on Saturday night. With about 5 minutes to post-we learned that he was being claimed-so this would be his last race for us. We got better news a few minutes later-when the horse to beat-Extender N refused to pace and never made the gate-so our plan of leaving for the front-got a real boost. Jonathan Roberts-left for the lead-yielded to nutty LaChance on a 70-1 shot-retook and then sat the perfect pocket trip that we mapped out-oh so simple. In the stretch-it looked great for us-but AB came up flat-not being able to sprint with the other horses to the wire-which was disappointing. Maybe Sears was right-the horse is getting tired-we lost the 5th place check by a small nose. Our claiming price was $54,700. Since we were still about $700-$800 in the red-we'll start with $54,000 to purchase/claim our next horse-so I'll start the shopping and research right now.
Delray went next-going in race #2-and with Sears back in the bike-we were excited about this race. After yielding to another LaChance longshot-Sears quickly followed a brush by another challenger-ending up cutting the mile-which is where we wanted to be. With Campbell breathing down his neck and putting a head in front-Sears waited for the straight away-just like I had hoped-and then asked Delray for speed-and the gutty performer kicked in-sprinting away beating a nice field in 1.50.1 on his own at the end. For a moment-I thought we might have a 1.49 mile here-but we missed again.
Redstone Ruckus went immediately following Delray-and although our stable really hasn't had any luck over the years with John Campbell-I felt that RR was a perfect fit for him and us. Plus-I feel like it's an honor to get this role model and hall of famer on our horses. John took RR back-a little further back than I thought-and then angled out quickly outside on his own. I was worried here-but the only good news with this move-was that Pierce-with Too Much Gun was sitting in front of us-and instead of following him-he was now-pinned on the rail forever. 2 weeks ago-Pierce pinned us in the stretch-this time-JC made him a non factor-now we needed to become a factor-but Sears wasn't helping us any when his colt was stalled in 5th-on the outside-not bringing us closer than 7 lengths from the lead. Well-JC gave RR his head in the stretch-swung 5 wide and kicked in with a nice close to win in an extremely exciting race in 1.51.2. Only bad news is that RR popped a quarter crack the next day-which he was sore on-but our blacksmith did some work and if we need a bar shoe to race-we may have to do that-more later in the week.
Back to Back Salerno, Back to Back wins for the stable at The Meadowlands-a first for us. We've had 2 winds before in the same night/day when Card ST Partners and Jazzz ST Partners swept their divisions of the Forest Skipper Series a few years ago-doing it 3 weeks in a row-but never back to back races. The announcers noticed-the BIGM show noticed-and some people in the stands that we know noticed. With Larry Baron-VIP and our stable winning about 5 races in a row-it was a good feeling that the little guys can make a little noise as well-plus take home some dough.
Carlspur jogged better on Monday-turned out and seemed a lot more like himself-so Tony is planning a slow training mile on Wed-that will determine our next move-hopefully back on schedule with this weekend for another training mile-putting us on schedule again.
Last Thoughts:
The great thing about Harness Racing is the fact that you're back racing within a week. The bad news is that we don't get a lot of time to enjoy the moment-but please-please-let's take a few days to relive and discuss the success here-it's more than the money-it's the fact that we won at the Premier racetrack in the business against the biggest and best stables.
Financially-these last 3 weekends-have really helped us a lot. Next email will discuss where we are with the full stable-but needless to say-we're in the black and so is my race account as well-all good for the future.
After receiving the checks-I plan on not only giving another dividend-but also taking care of our 2nd trainer-Bernie. I send a $100 bonus to the grooms with each win-but not Bernie. What I plan on doing is taking $100 from the 3 horse accounts that are racing and sending Bernie a $300 bonus. Also-Standardbred Retirement Foundation will get another $200-bringing us to a $500 total-my goal was $1k-so we'll be halfway home. I also plan to pay a little of our accountant balance down with these 3 colts.
I updated the website to include the first Delray and RR wins-hopefully-I'll be able to get this weeks races up there soon-website is www.trezzapartners.com under videos.
Plans for this weekend-Delray back in NW4-and we're moving RR up to the $50k's. I've already made some calls about horses-hoping that we'll see some new horses come to the BIGM.
Congratulations to all-thank you all for the kind emails-let's get good posts tonight-I'm predicting post #3 for both colts
Tom
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Saturday Morning-7:30am-April 21st-2007
ANOTHER EXCITING NIGHT AT THE MEADOWLANDS FOR STABLE!!
If someone would guarantee me that we could have 3 of our horses in action at the Meadowlands every Saturday night-racing for between $23,500-$30,000-I would sign up for that right now. Nothing is easy at the BIGM-because you have the best horses and drivers competing here-despite the great purses at the other tracks. You can see that the really good 3 yr. olds and stakes colts are returning and qualifying back-so I expect better racing from top to bottom-starting at the top-and then pushing it's way downward.
Austin's Best goes first-and although we do have Jonathan Roberts in the bike-the initial thought was to take back and try and get a trip and a nice check and maybe wait for next week-in hopes of dropping into the NW$15k. But-after looking at the program-I know the #9-Extender N is the one to beat with Pierce-but I only see one other real speed in here-#3-Anthony's Bliss. After talking to Tony-I think we're going to instruct JR to take a shot leaving out of there-in hopes of clearing without trouble and maybe sitting the trip behind Extender N. Wish us and JR luck. Tony did report that he had a good week-and was acting better than the week before.
Delray goes next with our favorite driver back in the bike. Hard to believe that Sears can do a better job that Gingras over the last 3 weeks. Tough race here-but I like our chances. Only trip I don't want to see is a one where we have the lead early and Tiger Tinch with Brennan comes at us early and Sears decides to not let him clear. If we can reserve a little energy until he gets clean gaited-which is when he gets into the stretch-I'll take my chances with his speed and the master in the bike. I do believe we're the one to beat.
Redstone Ruckus goes next with John Campbell in the bike. Now-we never have had any luck with Campbell-probably because he knows we don't use him a lot-but I think he's going to fit RR quite nicely. Too Much Gun is definitely the one to beat-but he needs a trip and I think we can follow him. I think the closers will be closer tonight. I'm looking for a good performance tonight. I do think there is a 25% chance that we'll be claimed-just a gut feel off of some decent efforts recently.
Oragami Artist will have his blood taken today-but Tony is going to train a slow mile today anyway-he's feeling that good. Will have the report back on Monday-so we'll know more then whether we can start our return. Tony and everyone will be real disappointed if the report doesn't show that we're improving and ready to train down. Option then will be to do another round of the immune shots-let's keep our fingers crossed.
Carlspur had been turned out and Tony jogged him yesterday-but he just doesn't seem like the old Carl this week-so we'll turn him out until Monday-figuring that the medications that he took for his colic scare last week has had an effect on him-he's earned a week off.
Attached a cover of a Michigan Horse Magazine with Shark ST Partners on the cover. This year is an important year for his 2 year olds in Michigan.
Gave back dividends this week for Delray and Redstone Ruckus. Another round coming with any decent check this weekend. Need a 4th place finish with Austin's Best to finally be even with the additional monies that we used to claim him. We did receive the extra bonus on RR for him being NJ sired-came out to about $500-and that was with a 3rd. Too bad the others aren't NJ sired right now.
Good Luck to friend and former partner-Rusty Nash-who will be at the BIGM competing and trying to take home the $50k 1st prize tonight. After he collects with Delray and RR-we'll ask for our cut on the winnings-lol.
Good Luck tonight. Would like to see if we can top our $11k in checks last weekend. One win does that-that's our goal. I would take 2-2nd's. Let's get good trips and safe drives-and great performances. I hope to salute from the winner's circle.
Tom
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Thursday Afternoon-2:00pm-April 19th-2007
AUSTIN'S BEST DRAWS POST #7 FOR SATURDAY NIGHT!!
DELRAY DRAWS POST #2 FOR SATURDAY NIGHT!!
REDSTONE RUCKUS DRAWS POST #6 FOR SATURDAY NIGHT!!
This weekend-we drew into the first 3 races on the Meadowlands card-which is a first for us-usually our races are divided between 10 races. The problem we face is with the drivers-3 of the major drivers will be leaving for races out of town-and this will become a huge problem with the Meadowlands. They needed to make some calls to Delaware just to have enough drivers to drive the horses on Saturday night-wow-what will happen when the big races in Canada start for the 3 yr. olds.
For Austin's Best-we had no choice-Jonathan Roberts was about the only choice-since Sears was taking Extender N and everyone else was taken. We're probably going to ask him to take him off the pace-in hopes of drawing into the NW$15k next week-if we don't pick up a good check.
For Delray-since Yannick Gingras is going out of town and almost everyone else was taken-we were thinking that our best shot might be Andy Miller-or Mike LaChance. But something happened-something I toyed with before the substitutions were named-but I decided not to do it-but it happened anyway. I wish I could credit for it. Sears was named on Kaskakan. I thought about giving Sears as a choice-but we didn't. But what I think he did-being the great driver and competitor he is-is that he went to the judges knowing that Yannick is going out of town and knowing that Delray is in career form and he wants another shot at winning a race. So-we ended up with Sears!!
For Redstone Ruckus-John Campbell was available and I think he'll fit RR well.
Oragami Artist is feeling good-looking to get his blood taken tomorrow and possibly having a slow mile on Saturday.
Carlspur is looking to go a real slow mile if everything is ok with him too this week.
Will update before we race.
Tom
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Sunday Afternoon-2:00pm-April 15th-2007
CARLSPUR RUSHED TO CLINIC LATE FRIDAY THE 13TH-EVERYTHING SEEMS FINE NOW!!
EXCITING NIGHT OF RACING FOR DELRAY-REDSTONE RUCKUS AND AUSTIN'S BEST!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST FEELING GOOD-GETS LAST SHOT ON TUESDAY!!
Friday the 13th seem to come on pass-without any problems-as I checked with Tony as 6pm before heading to my last NJ Nets Game. We both made those comments. I told Tony to make sure he gets some needed rest-and try and get to sleep early-but that never happened.
Just like on November 1st-when I was at my first Nets game-I got a frantic call from Tony saying that Carlspur seemed very colicy again-and that he was heading to our local Mid Atlantic Clinic with Dr. Doran. He seemed to be in distress again-but two things were different. He passed manure not a 1/2 hour before and that he was very gassy. It seemed touch and go-whether he was going to need surgery again-but then a filly passed him and Bernie walked in. Both made Carlspur holler and he seem to take a turn for the better. Dr. Doran did a rectal exam and everything seemed ok-and his gut sounds started to sound better. After about 3 hours-he seemed to be out of danger-but we decided to leave him there over the weekend-to receive fluids and be at the clinic just in case he took a turn for the worst. Tony is due to pick him up later today and our hope is after a few days-we'll be able to get back to the track. Hopefully-we dodge a bullet on Friday the 13th.
Our partnership had another exciting evening of racing last night-picking up some good checks-and being in position to win or finish 2nd in all 3 races. Delray was ultra impressive in his race-being used hard-stuck behind the 2nd horse-then angling along the rail and coming out to challenge Natural Talent-to miss by about a 1/2 length in 1.50.1. Wow-what a great performance again for Delray-bring home a great 2nd place check-to a horse that is in the Fox Sports Net Final this Thursday and who now fits this tough condition for a little while.
We had some bad racing luck for the 2nd straight week with Redstone Ruckus-when David Miller took back to 5th-which I thought was perfect-sitting behind two live horses including Sears. Before the half-Miller came out looking to flush cover and even Ken W.-the announcer was shocked when Sears sat in-forcing RR to grind it first over all the way. Miller took his time-and kept coming-but we were about a length too short-but just like Delray-a great performance-and a good check. What a shame-for the 2nd week in a row-not to get 2nd-with that check that doubles to almost $6k. I believe that RR might qualified for the 20% bonus for NJ sired horses-which would be another $500-$600-but we don't know yet.
Austin's Best completed the night-with Sears blasting out of there-getting shuffled to 3rd-always on his toes-looked like he tons of pace entering the stretch-but when he angled inside-he seems a little flat-but still passed a few horses-getting a 5th place check. Hey-they add up.
Oragami Artist jogged good-Tony is hoping that his next immune shot is his last-that's on Tuesday-then we train some slow miles-get the report and hope for the best. Can you imagine if we had OA in the mix here too.
A good night of racing. Hoping that everyone came out of their races in good shape. Hope they have a good day of rest with this rain. Hoping that Carlspur returns tonight and is ok-and that Oragami starts a new week returning to his own self. One week at a time-trying to make small progress-while the others pick up the stable. This week-it was a group effort-led by Delray.
Tom
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Friday Evening-6:30pm-April 13th-2007
DELRAY-REDSTONE RUCKUS AND AUSTIN'S BEST IN ACTION ON SATURDAY NIGHT AT BIGM!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST SHOWS IMPROVEMENT WITH WHITE BLOOD COUNT!!
CARLSPUR TO FINALLY TRAIN ON SATURDAY!!
A quick update on the stable-looks like another night of action pack fun and excitement on Saturday. Three tough races-but I think we have a shot in all 3 races-especially to cash a nice check. Plus-the purses are quite higher this weekend-being the first weekend of the increases that the Meadowlands put in place.
Delray jogged good all week-has the tough colt-Natural Talent on the inside-rail position. A few other nice colts are a little further outside. I would think that Yannick will be leaving again from post #4-if he can get around that first turn in good order-and maybe let NT retake the lead-we could be sitting in a good spot tomorrow. If not-if they leave us alone-we could be dangerous. NT is without the horse to beat.
Redstone Ruckus jogged real good all week long-comes into this race off a nice troubled 3rd-although noone saw it that way-which means that we just might get 10/1 or more again. Would like another trip like last week-I'll take my chances again with that pocket trip. 2nd over wouldn't be bad either.
Austin's Best has the toughest race-with $75k drop downs and a ton of speed on the inside. Would love to see Sears take back again and this time get active cover-which I think he'll get. Extender N is the horse to beat-if he gets the lead easy-coming from the outside-it's lights out-but I don't think it will be that easy. I'll take a 2nd in this race for $30k.
Oragami Artist got his blood taken and then had his 4th in a series of 5 shots to boost his white blood count and immune system. His numbers looked a lot better-his white blood count increase-not to where it needs to be-but a lot better. His numbers for tying up are about normal and his red blood count is real good. The vet wants us to finish the last shot before training a slow mile-his shot is due on Tuesday-so fingers crossed-we get started back on Wednesday and then pray for no setbacks.
Carlspur got his training mile pushed back again-due to weather-blacksmith problems and track conditions. His training mile is definitely planned for tomorrow morning-probably now in 2.12. He's acting good.
If I don't speak or update before tomorrow night-Good Luck. Goal is three competitive and good races. Next goal is three good or great checks. Next goal-get 1 win out of the three. Hopefully-we'll get more
Tom
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Monday Morning-10:00am-April 9th-2007
DELRAY IN QUALITY MILE-ALMOST GETS THE JOB DONE!!
REDSTONE RUCKUS GETS BLOCK IN FOR THE WIN!!
AUSTIN'S BEST SHOWS NEW CLOSING RACING STYLE!!
Part of our mission for our racing partnerships is to be competitive and race on Saturday night at The Meadowlands-and while we missed in some great opportunities this weekend-we had some exciting races and I believe did real well with our 3 colts.
Delray was stepping up big time-going against major stakes winners like Royal Man-Tiger Tinch and top 2 & 3 yr. old star-$750k winner Palone Ranger. While we got screwed in the adjusted conditions to this race-it was a test to see how far Delray could step up in class. In defeat-I think Delray stepped up to the plate and swung hard and connected-the problem was-the ball was caught against the fence for an out. PR left hard for the lead-and Gingras followed for what looked like a perfect pocket trip-but a 65-1 shot decided he wanted the lead and caused a big problem for this race for both PR and Delray. RM then sprinted to the lead-and Gingras decided to now use Delray hard and try and brush to the top-which he did after a brief fight. This would have been a winning move-if TT with Brennan didn't decided to brush 3 wide and try and get the lead before the stretch-going head to head with Delray right to the top of the stretch.
Delray showed incredible guts-fighting off this 1st over move-and watching RM losing ground in the pocket and seeing PR shuffled to dead last-and with no real closers coming-OMG-it looked like we had a shot to pull off this upset. Gingras got into Delray and push away for a 2 length lead-but was getting a little tired towards the last 1/8 of a mile-and with the closers coming-it was whether we could hold on-which we didn't. PR with an incredible late rush on the outside-brushed by everyone for the win-but what was disappointing was that 3 other closers got us late-after we did all the work. WOW-what an exciting race-almost winning this minor little stakes race. Going from 1st to 5th in the last few strides hurt financially-but after thinking the race thru-how can we be disappointed. Delray showed heart and guts and Gingras said that he had to used him hard-and he thought that he raced even better this week.
Austin's Best went next-and both Tony and I wanted to race off the pace-but didn't want to tell Sears what to do-so when Sears went into the bike and asked Tony whether it was ok to race off the pace tonight-it brought smiles to our faces. It's just so difficult to continue to race hard on the front end-and with our outside posts all the time-this will be the case. So-Sears took off the pace and when the #10 left hard-we were dead last. Unfortunately there was no flow on the outside until late-so we were 4th over from a very tough spot-but AB closed nicely-ducked in at a critical time-but came again to only lose by 1 1/2 lengths with a last quarter in 27.1. Tough that we only finished 5th-just like Delray-we were so close to a significant check-but just like Delray-we were real pleased with this performance.
Redstone Ruckus went last and to be honest-we didn't have the same expectation as our first 2 colts racing-I thought if everything developed just right-with a great outside trip-with some fact fractions-then maybe. But-we had another new driver in David Miller-so there were questions. Little did we know-RR had our best shot this night of winning. One of our partners-Perry Lin commented whether I thought RR could leave and said it would be good one day to see that happen-which I replied no tonight with a new driver-well I was wrong and Perry got what he wished for. DM left with RR and sat before Dube and his horse thru decent opening fractions to the 1st quarter and half. With the field stretched out and with RR pacing so smoothly-we turned to each other and said-this is a perfect trip-just keep the pace strong and we're winning this race for fun. When Pierce came first over with his horse-Too Much Gun-and stalled on the outside right before the stretch-we were licking our chops knowing that we only needed room to squeeze out and jump on the lead-but Pierce is a Hall Of Famer for a good reason-he knows how to drive 2 races. Pierce kept us locked in-forcing Miller to consider his only option-wait until the rail opens up-if it even does. Pierce then sprinted to the wire-Miller skimmed the pillons and cleared late and was flying-but couldn't catch TMG or late closing Enemy At The Gate-losing the race by a long 1/2 length. Again-we missed a significant check by a small margin.
While we collected some decent checks-which are always important-we had an opportunity to really cash in here-but even more important-all of our colts raced extremely well. In my mind-Delray belongs in this class-which is a nice step up. AB showed he can close when needed. And RR showed he figures in the $40k's and has early speed if necessary. The other thing that I liked about this night-while I love Brian Sears-I think we found some new drivers that fit our horses with both Yannick Gingras and David Miller.
Let's hope that all the colts came out of their races in good shape. Let's hope that Oragami Artist gets a positive blood report early this week and let's hope that Carlspur trains a strong mile on Tuesday.
The conditions are basically the same for this weekend-I'm thinking that everyone will go back in these same classes-which they all will have an increase in their purses.
I'm heading down to DC-be back on Wednesday-good luck with the draw on Tuesday night
Tom
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Friday Afternoon-1:00pm-April 6th-2007
GETTING READY FOR A TOUGH BUT EXCITING NIGHT OF RACING AT THE MEADOWLANDS THIS SATURDAY-DELRAY-AUSTIN'S BEST AND REDSTONE RUCKUS TO DO BATTLE!!
A quick email to say that we are preparing for another evening of exciting action at the Meadowlands. All 3 of our colts are doing well. Tony is doing some acupuncture on all 3 colts-he's been doing that with good success-mostly to have them reduce their tightness since all 3 are extremely stocky colts.
Carlspur will probably wait until Tuesday to train-since we did have some rain-and wind-making the track a little harder-plus the blacksmith won't be able to come this week until Monday. So-Tony and I decided to wait for the new shoes-and a little better and hopefully softer track. If all goes well-he still trains around 2.10 on Tuesday and then goes back on Saturday-same schedule.
Oragami Artist got his 2nd of 5 shots (Monday-Wed.)-next one is scheduled for Sunday. Believe Tony will take blood to see how we're doing on Monday-if we see improvement-he'll train a slow trip on Tuesday. If not-we'll finish the 2 other shots-and take his blood again. I know it's frustrating-but we need to have him close to 100%. Tony says that he looks and feels 100%-but that's not what the report tells us.
Redstone Ruckus loses Sears-but we did pick up David Miller. There is already 1 scratch-so we're down to 7 horses in his race. Delray has a big test against a stakes colt-Royal Man-and Austin's Best has a tough 10 horse-competitive field-with Sears. My fear in this race-is that there will be the same speed-inside of us again-and we could be parked out or stung once again. Would love to see Sears take a little back and work out a trip. Without speed burner-EASEONDOWNTHEROAD in this race-from post #10-I think we have a shot to do that this week. Would not be disappointed with a 3rd over-off the pace race tomorrow night.
This will be the last report before we race-so I'm wishing everyone-Good Luck. Let's bring home some real nice checks.
On the financial side of things-I went ahead and paid the balance-which was just about another $1k per horse (RR & Delray)-to New Jersey Partnership Fee. Now we just owe a good balance to the accountant-which I'll keep paying month by month.
On the personal side-made another $100 contribution to the Standandbred Retirement Foundation from Delray and me-making that $300 for the year-targeting a minimum amount of $1,000 for the year. Trying to get T-Shirts from SRF for each $100-will be sending them out to partners as we go-sent 2 out last week. Thank you all for allowing me to support this important cause for our industry.
The driver colony will grow slightly-with John Campbell coming back and probably Eric Ledford-that's another story. But-based on his drive with Delray and some improvement overall-Yannick Gingras is moving up on our list of preferred drivers. We may try him more often-if we can't get Sears-Pierce. Here's my new list of preferred drivers:
Brian Sears
Ron Pierce
David Miller
Andy Miller
Yannick Gingras
George Brennan
Dan Dube
Good news on the purse side of things-The Meadowlands is increasing all their purses next week-going up around 10% for each class-which is a way to stay competitive with Yonkers-Pocono and Chester Downs.
We're racing for $21,500, $23,500 and $26,500. Next week-these same races are: $23,500-$25,500 and $30,000. Plus-if any of the colts are NJ Bred-that's another 20% bonus. I believe only RR is right now.
My big Kentucky Derby Futures bet I made earlier this year was on one of the favorites-NoBizLikeShowBiz. He goes in the Wood Memorial on Saturday. Have an average of 8-1 on him-verses the 20-1/30-1 I had last year on Barbaro. Wide open KD this year-but root for NoBiz to give me 2 shots at the Derby. I also played a longshot-Notional-who is still alive as well.
Tom
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Sunday Evening-7:00pm-April 1st-2007
DELRAY GOES WIRE TO WIRE IN IMPRESSIVE MILE-WINS BY 4 IN 1.50 FLAT!!
AUSTIN'S BEST CLOSES FOR DECENT 4TH!!
REDSTONE RUCKUS IN TROUBLED MILE-COMES 6TH!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST STILL BATTLING INTERNAL ISSUES!!
CARLSPUR TRAINS WELL IN 2.15!!
Our night wasn't going as well as we would have liked-but it ended on a high note-when Delray exploded back to form-taking a new lifetime mark in 1.50 flat.
We started the day-with some not so good news-in that Oragami Artist's blood report did not come back as good as we needed. His red blood count were back to normal-but his white blood count were still quite low-while showing that he tied up with him just jogging. It's been a frustrating time for everyone-including 4 top vets-but we believe we might have gotten back some answers late in the evening from a top vet at the Meadowlands-Dr. Palmer. We ruled out a few things-including Lyme Disease. The vets believe that he might have gotten a bacterial infection-which would explain his blood report-so they are recommending that we boost his immune system thru a systems of injections. I'll have more information after Tony speaks to the vet from New Bolton-but Dr. Doran and Dr. Borthwick think this is the most likely evaluation. They said that we can continue to job every day. The good news is that OA continues to act so good-looks great-is sound and is eating great.
Carlspur trained on Saturday and the report is good. 2.15-easy-with good pace at the end of the mile. Tony was real pleased-said that he could have gone a lot faster. He did say that his feet are still bothering him a bit-probably will need his coffin joints done-maybe in the next week or two. His plan this week is for a mile later in the week at around 2.10. If he does that well-we'll map our his schedule-which would probably give him a 2.07 mile the following week. Should be an exciting week waiting for his training mile on Saturday.
Austin's Best raced first last night-and while he finished 4th-I think he raced good. He was used a long way-to finally get that lead-before giving it up. After gapping a bit-he came back on the inside and almost got 3rd. The horses that won-got great trips-while Sears used AB real hard early. We did pick up another $2k-which isn't bad when things don't got your way. This class will be tough for us-especially since he's going to get the outside for now. I think Sears is thinking that maybe he doesn't have to use him as hard next time.
Redstone Ruckus went next-and he just got the worst of it-from the very start. Looked like when Sears was taking back to get position on the inside-he hooked wheels with Pierce and that really knocked us off our game. Looked like we took bad steps-and got knocked back to last and gapped a bit-before picking up some pace and coming back on the inside. Sears then searched for room the rest of the way-and I think he probably didn't give us the best drive in the stretch-that happens. Shame we missed 5th place and a check. I'll just throw this race out last night and start over next week. I think the fact that he missed last week probably didn't help as well.
Delray ended the evening for us and racing at the Meadowlands-and we couldn't ask for anything better from him. With new driver Yannick Gingras-and the rail-and a tightner under his belt-we knew he be better than last week. He got the lead-had a bit of a breather during the 2nd quarter-then just sprinted the rest of the way-including a 27 flat last quarter to win in 1.50 flat-almost giving us our 3rd sub-1.50 mile. What a performance-hope he leaves a little in the tank for next week. As Ken W. said-Delray-What A Display!!
Tom
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