Saturday Afternoon-4:45pm-January 31st-2009
FOUR STARZ AFFAIR GOES SUNDAY IN 1ST LEG OF ARTY UNGER SERIES-DRAWS POST #4!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST DRAWS POST #8 ON WEDNESDAY IN NW$6,000!!
TAMMIBEST DROPS IN FOR THURSDAY IN NW2!!
KATHRYN DANCER AIMS TO QUALIFY ON THURSDAY MORNING!!
It's been a bit of a slow week-as we prepare to get all 4 horses back racing at the same time. Four Starz Affair starts us off tomorrow afternoon at the Meadowlands-followed by Oragami Artist on Wednesday night. We're dropping in this afternoon for Tammibest for Thursday night-I'm praying that they use this condition again-otherwise we'll be forced to miss another week. Lastly-Kathryn Dancer's blood was terribly bad-so we hope that we can qualify soon and get him back on the track and in rotation with the other horses.
Partnership #34-Oragami Artist
Did get back in for Wednesday night-but don't know why we didn't draw into the 2nd division which was for NJ owned. Glad to be racing back within 10 days-wasn't happy to draw post #8. We named Yannick Gingras-but he's on a few horses. Doesn't look like Tetrick is around-Sears is already taken-so if Yannick doesn't go with us-look for George Brennan.
Partnership #35-Tammibest
Dropped in this afternoon for the NW2 condition on Thursday night. The NW2 late closer on Wednesday for 3 year olds-The Tender Loving Care only had 2 divisions-so I'm hopeful that they will use this condition. Problem is the 3 yr. colt-Trendsetter Series could have a lot of divisions and they won't need our race-which is only carded for this one day-which is crazy. Keeping fingers crossed-and then hoping for a post from #5 and inside. Tony didn't train today-because of cold and the track is frozen. Sunday should warm up to 45-so she'll train then-if we draw in. If we do-I think she'll have a great shot.
Partnership #36-Four Starz Affair
Goes tomorrow afternoon on Super Bowl Sunday at the Meadowlands. 4 Divisions of the Arty Unger Stakes. We drew into the 1st division and the rail horse is extremely strong-finishing well in the more experienced Clyde Hirt Series-he'll probably go off at 3/5. But-Dave Brower has us listed as 2nd choice-so while I don't have the program-we must figure. I would be thrilled to race for 2nd in this race-would help us towards making the finals. David Miller was listed on us and a 15/1 shot-we gave 2-3 backups-but thought we looked good. Also-Andy Miller-Brian Sears and a few other drivers won't be here. Tony and I were shocked when Miller selected the other horse-and our backups were all gone. We could not believe that they gave us Cat Manzi-OMG. OK-looks like Miller's horse raced 2 days ago-and raced well-so he probably waited till that race was over-and selected him-which means-we got screwed-losing out on our backups. No More Loyalty for these drivers. My hope is to get good position behind the #1 horse-but this could be tricky. Let's keep our fingers crossed that Manzi drives him well.
Partnership #37-Kathryn Dancer
Been jogging and will train a slow mile tomorrow. Plans call for us to qualify-hopefully this Thursday morning-if everything goes well-if not-another week-the horse will tell us whether he's ready. Right now-he acts good.
Final Thoughts
Taxes are done-and have arrived today-the earliest ever in all my years-so I'm sorting out all the K1's and will send out on Monday.
Looks like NY State has caught Tim Case-the current trainer of Redstone Ruckus-using illegal medications and has suspended him for 5 years. I just wish the Meadowlands did more testing-because I think we would rid ourselves of some other suspicious trainers.
Received Tammibest's check-will deposit-pay Erv Miller's bill-the vet bill and new equipment-and then see what we have in reserves. My thoughts are to keep this in reserves thru her next race-if she wins or comes 2nd-then I'll give back a dividend-1st of the year.
Tom
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Tuesday Morning-11:00am-January 27th-2009
ORAGAMI ARTIST GETS A BAD DRIVE-FINISHES A DISAPPOINTING 5TH!!
FOUR STARZ AFFAIR TO ENTER FOR 1ST LEG OF ARTY UNGER SERIES ON SUNDAY!!
TAMMIBEST DOESN'T GET IN THURSDAY-MIGHT HAVE TO WAIT TILL FOLLOWING THURSDAY!!
KATHRYN DANCER's NUMBERS NOT TOO BAD-MIGHT MISS A WEEK!!
Sunday was definitely a disappointing end to the week-thought we were in a great spot for a very competitive race-with good potential to earn a great check-but I think we received a dead drive-never giving us a chance to be in the mix. Looks like we'll have a quiet week-with Super Bowl Sunday afternoon being our first opportunity to race-so we'll use this week to get a little healthier and ready to go this Sunday and next week.
Partnership #34-Oragami Artist
Ron Pierce-for whatever reason-decided not to leave from post #4-instead-taking back for the 2nd straight week-really frustrating us-because I thought we had a heck of a shot-but only if he left out of the gate-getting close up position-which was the plan. But-instead-Pierce sat-didn't brush when the #3 brushed-then moved 1st over-getting stuck with 2 dead brief-covers-and then didn't have enough when they sprinted home-finishing an ok 5th. No need to discuss this further-we'll make our change in driver-hope to get right back in-which is the difficult part-Sunday-Wed.-Thursday are the chances for us. Tim Tetrick and Yannick Gingras will get first call.
Partnership #35-Tammibest
Tried to get in NW2 on Thursday-they went 2 divisions-and we didn't draw in-so there are no other NW2 until the following Thursday-so she'll have a week off instead.
Partnership #36-Four Starz Affair
Will train a few times this week-aiming for Sunday afternoon-in the 1st leg of the Arty Unger Series. I expect a lot of division-hope we avoid the monsters and draw well-would like post #1-or #2-with David Miller.
Partnership #37-Kathryn Dancer
His blood tests came back-not terrible-2,000 and 1,000-they both should be under 1,000. Tony has jogged him 2 days already and he seems fine. The choices might be to try and drop in for NW$8,000 for Sunday or wait till next week to qualify-which he's 30 days will be up. Probably the smartest thing is to qualify and then try and race-maybe even at Yonkers.
Final Thoughts
Looks like most people are in favor for us getting the horses insurance-so when I get back from DC-will look at doing that.
A lot of claiming has been going on-since the BIGM sale-which is good-gets the tax monies out of those horses-which helps the price when we'll be back in the market. I'm definitely keeping a list of horses I'm watching-and will edit that from week to week. Eventually-when we can get a couple of good races under KD and OA's belt-I'm going to aggressively try and move them-maybe even thru On Gait-so we can get younger fast.
Tom
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Saturday Evening-5:00pm-January 24th-2009
TAMMIBEST JUST MISSES IN $53,000 WHITE RUFFLES FINAL!!
FOUR STARZ AFFAIR GUTTED OUT IN MILE-TIRES TO 6TH!!
KATHRYN DANCER A TIES UP RIGHT BEFORE RACE-SCRATCHED!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST DRAWS POST #4 FOR SUNDAY AT BIGM!!
It's been a real challenge getting our horses entered in to race every week-so having 3 of our 4 horses in to go on Thursday night was exciting-especially with our brand new acquisition-Tammibest-in to race in the 4 yr. old mare-White Ruffles Final which was going for $53,000. It also feels good to have our stable at full strength-although I will still be focused on getting younger and eventually trying to move out of both Oragami Artist and Kathryn Dancer. Let's hope that we now can get into the right conditions-and earning some good checks-because I would like to start writing some dividend checks again.
Partnership #34-Oragami Artist
Goes tomorrow-Sunday afternoon-at the BIGM-race #4-post #4-Ron Pierce back in the bike. Good news was that I told a partner that I wanted post #4-and was hoping that we get back in within 2 weeks. Both things happened. Tony Salerno trained OA a good mile today-and claimed that we have no excuses for tomorrow. Last week-was his 1st race in like 24 days-he closed real late for a quality 3rd-with a troubled trip. I think the pace of the race hurt us-Pierce was waiting too long to make his move-he did looked like he briefly hung-before closing to also get up. The same horse that screw up that race-Tireman-is back in our race-on the outside-but I fully expect Pierce to be much more aggressive leaving tomorrow. Let's hope that we can end our week on a good note tomorrow.
Partnership #35-Tammibest
Our new purchase on Monday afternoon-was in to go on Thursday-since she had made the final of the White Ruffles Series. Tammibest-had to ship back to race out of the Erv Miller stable-but I did make all the changes on Tuesday morning-at the very last minute-so she raced in the name of our partnership. I had noticed that almost every horse in this race liked to close late-except 1 or 2 horses including Orphan Annie-who had swept her 2 divisions. Our entry mate-Thong Song-also won her 2 divisions-but her style was a late closing one. George Brennan thought about this too-and on his own-left hard to secure a loose 2nd pocket position-perfect. The pace slowed thru 3/4's and when dull flow forced Thong Song extremely wide-I thought we had a shot. When Brennan swung out of the pocket at the top of the stretch-things got real interesting. Orphan Annie sprinted home-and so did Tammibest-who kept coming and coming-but just couldn't reach her-losing by a 1/2 length-with a last quarter in 27.2-and final time of 1.53.2-a career best-holding off Thong Song by another gutty 1/2 length. What a nice race out of the box for us-and yes-a nice big check of $13,250 (before driver/trainer fees).
Tammibest shipped home to the Salerno's farm and she seems to be adjusting well to life in Flemington. She's eating well-seems real sound-and jogged great today. The great thing about her right now-is that she has some short term options for us-including still being eligible for NW2 races. So-we did enter her tonight for Thursday's NW2. Don't know if we'll get in-and what might be interesting in-she may meet up with the filly that was #1 on my list for the sale-3 yr. Pebble Run-who won again on the same night in 1.55. Her next series is late February-and I have till February 15th to consider making her eligible for a late closer at Yonkers in late March.
We will be getting a trainers bill-vet bill from Erv Miller-and we'll need to buy new equipment for her-so we'll be taking this amount off the top of our combined check-before splitting with Tony Salerno.
Partnership #36-Four Starz Affair
Was going 2 races after Tammibest-so we were looking forward to another good race-2nd time back-with an eye on the Art Unger Series that starts next Sunday. Going off as the co-2/1 favorite with the #7-David Miller left hard when noone stepped out of the gate-but the #7 was rank and too hard to control-so he was brushing hard to the lead. Miller stepped on the gas-made him work for the lead-getting there just after the quarter in 27.4-and then blazing a half in 54.4. FSA sat a loose pocket-but was working hard the whole time to stay close-not getting a breather. This hurt us in the stretch-Miller kept him close-but then we were all done late in the mile-getting caught for 3rd-4th-&-5th-so we walked away with no check-in a race that I thought we could be right there at the wire-but instead-went a blazing 1.51.4!! The tough part-is that this is not the way I wanted to go into the series-2nd start back-I was hoping for an easy-late closing mile just like last week. But the conditions of the race-didn't allow that-and I don't blame Miller-it just happened-disappointing but understandable.
We did scope him-to be safe-to see if he was sick or bled-neither happened-which is good. We have a few extra days to get ready-since his race is next Sunday. There are many good colts in this series-including the winner of our race last week.
Partnership #37-Kathryn Dancer A
Was scheduled to race right after Tammibest-giving us 3 races in a row-but after warming up good-KD cramped up/tied up and had to be scratched. Tough luck here-it's been a while since we raced-so I think that hurt us here-just hoping that his numbers aren't too high. We drew blood yesterday-and are waiting for the results. We're going to miss time-it all depends on the results of his blood test. We may have to qualify-since we were out so long-and if we're out for 2+ weeks-we're passed our 30 days. Let's hope that it's not that bad-I was hoping to get him and OA back on track to help the stable and get closing to transitioning to a younger horse down the road.
Final Thoughts
Now that we are at full strength-I had our friend-Billy Haughton Jr. give me an umbrella quote for insuring all our horses-at a value of $30,000 each horse-plus-$5,000 surgical coverage for colic. It's about $1,400 per year-payable by quarter. I am seriously thinking about buying this coverage for our stable-would like to hear thoughts from all our partners.
Our schedule might look like this:
Sunday-Oragami Artist-race #4-post #4
Thursday-Tammibest
Sunday-Four Starz Affair
Kathyrn Dancer will be on the sidelines this week
Wishing us Good Luck tomorrow with Oragami Artist!!
Tom
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Monday Evening-7:00pm-January 19th-2009
TAMMIBEST (4 YR. OLD FILLY) JOINS THE STABLE-GOES IN THE $53,000 WHITE RUFFLES FINAL ON THURSDAY NIGHT!!
Partnership #35 finally got it's replacement for Redstone Ruckus-in lightly raced-4 yr. old filly-Tammibest-who has been racing out of the Erv Miller barn. I know the main owners of Tammibest-Myrin Bell and John Fodera-and had asked them about her about 10 days ago-after her fast closing 2nd in the opening leg of the White Ruffles. They race only top horses-and have the best horse in this series-Thong Song-so she was selling along with some of their other top horses today.
Since she was Hip #164-the challenge was going to be whether to wait for the 3 yr. old fillies (which I would have done-don't know if that would have worked out)-if pull the trigger on this nice filly. When she finished a good 4th in the 2nd leg-making the final on Thursday-I knew her price would rise-even though I don't think any horse can beat Thong Song.
She's a long legged-well built filly-who has to ship back to Erv Miller's barn-since she is already entered on Thursday. She drew post #7-and has George Brennan in the bike. She'll race as an entry-but we own the filly for this race-so any check will be a good one.
I jumped in the bidding when they paused at $37k. It was between us and 2 people until it got to $45k-with my big at $47k the winning one-which I was happy about. Even though we are based in NJ-I can usually avoid the sales tax-but since the filly is going back to Erv's barn-there was nothing we could do-and we tried real hard-not to pay this $3,290-making the final price-a little over $50k.
So-we now have 3 horses racing on Thursday night:
Race #6-Tammibest-White Ruffles Final(Brennan)--$53,000
Race #7-Kathryn Dancer-NW$10,000-(Gingras) -$17,000
Race #8-Four Starz Affair-NW3 (D. Miller)-$13,000
Now-I'm hoping that Yannick and David Miller stay with our horses-we gave Tim Tetrick/A. Miller-& Brian Sears as back ups.
I'll be heading down to DC late tomorrow night-due back late Wednesday night-so I'll try and have an update for us before we race.
Oragami Artist will try and get into the NW$6,000 for Sunday-so we could have all 4 horses racing this week.
OK-I feel a little better than this morning
Tom
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Monday Morning-10:00am-January 19th-2009
PEBBLE RUN AND MOONLITE DELITE PULLED FROM SALE LAST NIGHT!!
I'm getting ready to leave for the Meadowlands sale-and all weekend-I was extremely pumped and excited about the potential to purchase one or both of the above young 2 year old fillies. I have good feelings about both-and thought there was tremendous upside-so I didn't try to talk this up too much in my last stable update.
Last night-I checked on the outs-and saw some of the same horses that we saw last week-at least 3-4 of our colts were withdrawn-and a few additional horses were added-but I felt good the only thing we needed to worry about was the bidding.
Early this morning-I checked again and was devastated when I saw both hip #219 and #220 were withdrawn. It was like a boxer get hit in the stomach as hard as possible.
I'm heading over now-but the chances of us getting our horse is slim. My plan B was Tammibest, a 4 yr. old filly-who I thought might bring in the mid to upper $30k's-but now with a 2nd and 5th-has made the White Ruffles final on Thursday. Her entry mate-Thong Song is the big big favorite-but I still think her price will be too high. And He Means Business-a 4 yr. colt from Michigan-who I had on my longshot list-but then he went out and won a division of the Clyde Hirt and then made a big 4 wide brush before fading in the stretch on Friday-but he still made the final for Saturday night. I think this fact will also inflate his price as well.
The other horses I believe will be out of our range. Major General comes up with my highest ranking-but I think he's going over $100k-and same for Allamerica Major.
OK-here we go-need to splash a little cold water on my face
Tom
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Saturday Evening-10:00pm-January 17th-2009
ORAGAMI ARTIST CLOSES LATE FOR 3RD!!
FOUR STARZ AFFAIR LOCKED IN-CLOSES FOR 3RD!!
KATHRYN DANCER DRAWS POST #7 FOR THURSDAY!!
PARTNERSHIP #35 TARGETING YOUNG FILLIES AT SALE ON MONDAY!!
SHARK ST PARTNERS COLICS-PUT DOWN IN MICHIGAN!!
Slowly-we're getting our stable raced-and getting a little closer to being at full strength-with the Meadowlands mixed sale on Monday. With the exception of next getting in with Kathryn Dancer this week-I was real pleased with the performances of Oragami Artist and Four Starz Affair. There continues to be a lot of racehorses qualifying every week-so we may still have problems getting raced week in and week out-but it should get better soon.
Partnership #34-Oragami Artist
Finally got into his proper condition-NW$6,000-and with Ron Pierce in the bike-we figured quite strongly. But the race and trip didn't go our way-getting caught early in some traffic-so Pierce took back slightly-sitting in 5th along the rail. After getting slightly interfered with-Pierce waited for a long time-to get into the dull flow-which I think cost him the race. The #7 had sprinted off to a big lead-and we had a long way to come-but OA kicked in very late with aggressive handling by Pierce-closing to get up for a good 3rd. Immediately-I was very disappointed that OA wasn't closer-but after watching the race again-I'll give him the benefit of the doubt with being off for almost 4 weeks-and a tough trip. If we can get in within 2 weeks-I think he'll improve off this race. We tried to get in on Wednesday in just 6 days-but no go. Our next shot is next Sunday-so we'll wait for that opportunity-hopefully we'll get back in then. I'll use this check to increase our reserves for now.
Partnership #35-Open
After weeks of research-of looking at experienced racehorses-I decided to also check a few 2 years olds-turning 3-that I saw qualify in the terrible conditions that FSA qualified in. Two of these horses are young fillies-which even surprised me-but with some of the horses on my list putting in very good races-and a handful of outs-I needed more options for us-and I think I found a few that I like. I will continue to look at the horses that originally made my list-but I'm now also adding these 2 fillies:
#219-Moonlite Delite (3 Year Old-Western Hanover)
Had not raced at 2-so I originally didn't notice her-plus-I really wasn't looking at 2-turning-3 yr old horses-figuring they go too high in price due to potential. But on that awful day that FSA qualified on-this filly raced well-closing on the rail-to finish 3rd by 2 lengths in 1.59.2-to a filly named Pebble Run (more on her). Then-this Thursday-on another extremely cold morning-she brushed 1st over to win by 8 lengths in 1.56.2.
#220-Pebble Run ( 3 Year Old-Blissful Hall)
Noticed her that morning when she won her qualifier in 1.59 flat-a very good time and race for a horse that hadn't raced yet. So-on the evening of FSA's raced-I watched PR win her 1st race-like an experienced racehorses-getting locked in-shuffled back and then angling out late-and closing quickly to win impressively in 1.56.3.
Normally-I'm attractive to the older racehorses but these fillies might have some upside-eligible to the next few late closers. The risk is that they don't improve enough-but I think that is a risk worth taking-plus it gets us younger. Moonlite Delite comes with better breeding-but I watched and saw what Pebble Run can do-so she's my first choice. I spoke to Dan Dube after the race-and he knows the owners and thought before the race-she would bring $30,000 or slightly higher-but off this win-he thinks she might bring at least $10,000 more. She also got back in Thursday night to race. Tammibest-a 4 Yr. Cammibest filly (#164)-made the final to her series-so her price will also go higher as a result-I do like her as well.
I know that these sales always go higher than expected-so I can't even predict what will happen. I would love to think that we could have a shot at Pebble Run for $40,000-and if Moonlight Delite goes for $30,000-bring her home too and figure out a way to fit her in to our stable. It's going to be an interesting day-hopefully we'll bring back a horse for us in Partnership #35.
Partnership #36-Four Starz Affair
Basically had his first race for the partnership and I think it was a real good one. David Miller was in the bike and he left a little aggressive-but FSA got a little steppy. He settled down-sat a good pocket-but then got trapped late in the race. I was hoping that we would finish our race well-that was the goal-and he achieved that although he had traffic problems. Miller couldn't squeeze out-waiting to clear-which he never did-weaving between horses late to nail 3rd-and just missing 2nd. Miller said that he might have won if he could have gotten out faster. I thought he was a little steppy at the end of the mile-but Miller said that he was ok. It looks like we got right back in next Thursday night-getting post #4 again-in NW3-Yes! I was hoping that we would get 2 more races before our Arty Unger Stakes series-Feb. 8th. I'll also use his earning for reserves right now-we might some for another late closer series at Yonkers.
Partnership #37-Kathryn Dancer
Was the bad luck horse of this week-not getting in to 2 different NW$8,000 conditions-so we decided to enter the NW$10,000 for next Thursday and we got in-drawing post #7.
I was happy with our two 3rd place finishers-but more pleased with the performances and way that both colts were closing. Now we need KD to put in a good race-and be successful in bringing home a horse on Monday.
Lastly-many people sent me the press release of Shark ST Partners retiring from stud-due to health issues and surgery that left him sterile. Two days later-he colic and was in great pain and the owners had to make the tough choice to put our stakes winning colt due last week-and very sad day.
Tom
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Wednesday Morning-8:30am-January 14th-2009
ORAGAMI ARTIST HAS POST #5 & PIERCE FOR TONIGHT AT BIGM!!
FOUR STARZ AFFAIR HAS POST #4 & DAVID MILLIER ON THURSDAY AT BIGM!!
KATHRYN DANCER TO WAIT TILL SUNDAY'S NW$8,000!!
The weather is turning brutally cold here over the next few days-but hopefully the racing season and our stable is just starting to heat up. With our horses in action on Wednesday-Thursday and Sunday-and us looking at horses throughout the weekend-followed by the Meadowlands horse sale on Monday-it should be an active and interesting week.
Oragami Artist finally drew a good post-had Ron Pierce stick with him over 3 other horses-and has Dave Brower picking him to win-(usually the kiss of death). All these things-plus the fact he's been training real good-should mean a good performance tonight. I know we haven't raced in almost 3 weeks-but most of these horses are in this spot as well-we all had to wait for this condition to fill. Let's hope for a smart drive by Pierce-probably leaving and maybe sitting the pocket. Good Luck-let's see if we can get the job done.
Four Starz Affair basically races for the 1st time for our stable-I know we had that race right after we bought
him at Harrisburg-but he was sick & we really didn't know the horse that well. He will need some races to get race tight-I think his qualifying was a good tightner-but there are more experienced horses in here. We lose Yannick Gingras to the #1-so we grabbed David Miller-who we will probably ask to come off the pace. I would be thrilled with a come from behind competitive race here-since there are both speed and late closers in this race. Let's hope for a good covered up trip by Miller-and a strong stretch drive.
Kathryn Dancer didn't get in the NW$8,000 race on Thursday-which really surprised me. We were all set to enter the NW$10,000 for Saturday and not risk waiting for next Thursday-but then the football Giants lost-the Meadowlands added a Sunday card and they added a NW$10,000 for Sunday-so we passed on the higher Saturday condition and will drop into Sunday afternoon. Let's hope for a good post-like #3.
The sale is coming up on Monday-and we lost a few horses with the private sale of Village Blast and one other out-but I've done some additional research on some 2 year olds-that turned 3-which I wasn't looking at originally. One horse is actually in our race on Thursday-a colt-Pure Defiancy-and one filly goes later that night in the White Ruffles-Tammibest. I'll have a complete look again over the weekend-and it seems that we won't claim anything on Saturday-just from a first look at the entries.
Good Luck tonight and tomorrow-I'll be there rooting us on
Tom
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Saturday Morning-8:30am-January 10th-2009
FOUR STARZ AFFAIR WITH A GOOD 2ND IN QUALIFIER AT BIGM!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST DRAWS POST #5 FOR WEDNESDAY AT BIGM!!
KATHRYN DANCER WILL ENTER FOR THURSDAY AT BIGM!!
With a pending snow storm heading our way here in New Jersey-it's nice to know that if racing does get canceled at The Meadowlands tonight-we won't be affected. Our planned schedule might look like Wednesday night-Thursday night and Thursday night with our 3 colts. We're not used to racing during the week-but this is where our conditions are-since there are many late closers taking up a good deal of races over the weekend.
Partnership #34-Oragami Artist
Finally got in on Wednesday night in NW$6,000-they used 2 divisions-so maybe they are finally catching up with the backlog of horses. I think that Yonkers has opened back up-will definitely help the situation. We drew extremely well-probably his best post-#5-and we named Ron Pierce-even though I wanted to go with Yannick Gingras. Ron has 4 drives in the races-Yannick is listed-so we'll probably name Brian Sears as a back up-not a bad thing. I've looked at the race-and feel that we'll be one of the favorites in here. Tony and Bernie are training him hard-to keep him in shape. I think that most of the horses in here will be in that position as well.
Partnership #35-Open
Watched a bunch of races last night-since there were a lot of horses that are in the sale. Problem here is-put in one good race-making the final of your series-and the prices jump big time. My sneaky longshot-He Means Business-shipped from Michigan-and got thru the rail-to win his division of the Clyde Hirt in 1.52+-which now hurts us-damn. Meanwhile-Major General put in a flat race-maybe bringing his price down-the same thing for Major Hottie. Allamerican Major jumped up even bigger-blowing away his division in 1.50+-probably doubling his price-damn-damn. Lastly-the most disappointing performance came from Colonel Moffitt-who brushed to the lead-after 2 lead changes and folded badly in the stretch-looking like a horse that is choking down or flipping his palate. Unfortunately for the owner who decided not to sell to us for $60k-and thinking he would get $150k in the sale next week-along with $30-$40k in purse money-will be lucky to get $40k in the sale-but who knows-there still maybe be someone crazy enough to give him more. I'm adding a few more fillies to our list and will provide that next week. I've looked over the horses this weekend-and don't see anything that stands out. I think our old war horse-Redstone Ruckus at $40k-will draw some interest tonight.
Partnership #36-Four Starz Affair
On a very cold-windy-and snowy morning-FSA qualified a 2nd time-going a much better mile with Yannick Gingras in the bike. From outside post #9-we asked YG to blast out of there and cut the mile-which he did. The winds were blowing hard-almost 30-40 mph-so the time was a little slow down the backstretch. 28.4-59-1.29.4 and a final time of 1.57.1. We had the lead the whole race-with Synide sitting our back-and then angling out to fight us down the stretch-to pull away late and win by 2+. I thought FSA looked good-needed the race-got a lot tighter and more experience. I also don't think cutting the mile is his game-since he's a little lazy-which was YG comments-but he liked his qualifier. Believe it or not-1.57.1 was one of the fastest mile of the day-which had 19 qualifiers-Western Shore went 1.54 flat-but he will bring $300,000 in the sale next week. We're looking at Thursday-NW3 or $30,000 life-naming YG in the bike. Would like to draw inside-like 2-or-3. He drops in today
Partnership #37-Kathryn Dancer
Did not get in the NW$10k for tonight-which went 2 divisions-so we decided to wait till today-to drop into NW$8,000 for Thursday-which he'll fit better. Now-we need to get in-and have the Meadowlands use the race. We'll name YG to drive him as well.
We'll watch the races tonight-I don't think they will cancel-and make some additional notes for the sale on the 19th. I like our schedule this week-if everything goes as planned-and then if we can finally get a horse in Partnership #35-we might get to full strength. Small steps forward-but I have a good feeling for this coming week
Good Luck to the Giants
Tom
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Tuesday Morning-10:30am-January 6th-2009
KATHRYN DANCER COMES UP EMPTY IN STRETCH!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST DOESN'T GET IN AGAIN!!
FOUR STARZ AFFAIR TO QUALIFY AGAIN ON THRUSDAY!!
PARTNERSHIP #35 PASSES ON SHANE HALL!!
Well-my hope for a quick start to the new year-wasn't in the stars for now. Flooded with entries due to all the other racetracks being dark-has cause us to miss our NW$6,000 class with Oragami Artist-and Kathryn Dancer didn't get the race or trip we were hoping for. So-we'll try again this week and next-but the goal will be to be a little patient because we want to fit the right conditions giving us the best chance to win here in January.
Partnership #34-Oragami ArtistCan't believe that we did not get back in on Wednesday in NW$6,000-and then on Thursday-the NW$8,000 had a weird sub condition of no horse with earnings of less than $5,000 eligible. So-even though-OA had earnings of less than $2,000-they didn't want to use these horses in the higher-tougher conditions. This makes for a better-betting race-but hurts the horses trying to get in. With no NW$6,000 condition for the weekend-and no Sunday racing due to the Giant playoff game-our next chance is next Wednesday-or go into a claimer right now. After serious thought-Tony and I decided that we've come this far-and we want a shot to win-so we're going to roll the dice and hope that we get in next Wednesday at the BIGM.
Financially-we're starting the new year with about $10,500 in reserves-so our hope is still to earning some monies in this lower condition and hope to get claimed in the $30k range-this will give us a chance to move into a younger horse or in the $40k range.
Partnership #35-OpenWas seriously looking at Shane Hall-5 yr. Cambest colt-but after looking at all his races-I felt that lack of speed-the fact that I didn't think we could move higher-and the fact that he was coming out of a tough barn-made us pass on this claim. Tony did look at him closely-since he was in KD's race-and he thought he was sore after the race. We'll see the entries tonight for this weekend-plus-I've narrowed our choices down for the sale-see below:
#114-Apere Hanover (mare)-probably too expensive-but we'll see
#117-Guestimate (mare)-a little older classy mare-might fit
#118-Ladycino (mare)-interesting mare
#291-Allamerican Major-(colt)-looks interesting
#294-Artistically-(colt)-got sick in Oct.-probably not
#302-Elusive Reward-(colt)-lightly raced-looks interesting-in series this weekend
#309-Let's Get Started-(colt)-interesting
#316-Major General (colt)-I wish-he'll go strong-real nice colt
#317-Major Hottie (colt)-interesting-a notch below the good ones
#337-Buckeye One-(colt)-classy-fast older colt-maybe at the right price
#338-Colonel Moffitt-(colt)-yes-the colt that the owner back out-price has fallen I'm sure-will look at him
#342-Domitian Hanover-(colt)-probably my top choice-coming from Canada-might be a little our budget
#365-Running Book-(colt)-been racing against DH-classy horse-high on list
#371-Village Blast-(colt)-colt has also raced against these 2 colts-was horse we tried to buy for $52k+
#398-He Means Business-(colt)-coming from Michigan-he's a long shot-at reduced price I'm sure there will be more-but that is a start.
Financially-we have over $51,700 in reserves-will start there-but if we need to spend a little more-will fund that amount and pay as we go
Partnership #36-Four Starz AffairQualified ok-had no drivers at the BIGM on Friday-grabbed Pat LaChance-told him to take back and go around 1.56-1.57-and that's how he drove him. Our race went the fastest of this cold day-in 1.53.3. FSA floated out nice-went around a dull horse-and angled out into the stretch-moving forward until the last strides which is when he got a little tired-which was expected. LaChance said that he was pleased. We watched the NW3 race on Friday and it went in 1.52+-so Tony and I decided that the best thing would be to get more foundation under him-so we'll drop back in tomorrow for qualifiers on Thursday morning. We'll hope to go around 1.55 with good late pace.
Financially-we have a little over $1,500 in reserves-not much-but a start to build from once we race. We may need a little to make eligible for a series at Yonkers.
Partnership #37-Kathryn Dancer AHad to go into the $50k's in order to get raced-since we didn't draw into the NW$10k on Saturday. Had a good post finally-#5-and Yannick zipped out of there as planned-going a quick 26.4-but then Sears on a longshot-brushed-followed by the big favorite who cut wicked fractions-winning in 1.50+-one of the fastest races of the night. KD looked good on the track-is super sound-but when he's grabbed up-he just drops the bit-which is what he did in the stretch. Sears screwed the race up for us-thought we would get that super pocket spot-and see what happens late in the race. Now-we faced with a similar situation as OA-we fit NW$10k for Saturday-but also the NW$8k race for Thursday. I like the NW$8k race better-but we will enter today for Saturday-NW$10k-if we don't get in-we wait.
Financially-we have a little over $19,000 in reserves-so if we can win or cash a nice check-we have over $20k-and we're dropping in to the $40k's-which is where I would like to lose him-that would give us a lot of options-but still below the $75k claimers which is my goal. I've made another $100 pre-payment for our tax prep accounting work-all horses have also put away $600 for NJ Part fees-we'll need more-I didn't take out $100 this month yet-maybe later on. I've already sent our paperwork to the accountant-only thing missing is dividing the Pa. and NJ earnings-which I'm doing now.
Word is that Tim Tetrick is doing super-after his surgery and is thinking about qualifiers later this month-that would be amazing.
Tom
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Thursday Afternoon-4:00pm-January 1st-2009
FOUR STARZ AFFAIR DRAWS POST #7 IN FRIDAY QUALIFIER!!
KATHRYN DANCERS DRAWS POST #5 FOR SATURDAY NIGHT!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST DOESN'T GET IN EITHER THURSDAY NIGHT OR SUNDAY AFTERNOON!!
PARTNERSHIP #35 CONSIDERING CLAIM FOR SATURDAY NIGHT!!
A quick New Year stable update-I'll go into more detail about our plans and goals for this new year of racing in 2009-right now-we just want to get our horses in to race-and try to find a new horse to replace our Redstone Ruckus partnership. I'm happy that we're finally closed out of our 2008-it was a tough one-right to the end-with no luck with post positions and with entries and weather.
Partnership #34-Oragami ArtistHad absolutely no luck getting in to his NW$6,000 that we're waiting for-seems with Yonkers closed for about 10 days-all their horses are backing things up. We tried for tonight and then again for Sunday afternoon-and I'm shocked we didn't draw in. At this point-we need to wait for this race-which will definitely be easier than any claimer right now. Looks like our next chance might be a week from tonight-so we'll need to train him some before we race.
Partnership #35 (Open)Looking at 5 yr. old-Shane Hall-who is in Kathryn Dancers' race-for $50,000+tax. I'm watching his races closely-will try and do more research-about 40-50% right now.
Partnership #36-Four Starz AffairIn to qualifier tomorrow morning-trained a few times this week-but will need 1-maybe 2 qualifiers right now-we'll just have to wait and see. We named Sears-but he's listed on a few-might need Pierce here. He drew post #7-so he'll be taken off the gate and try and close some in the stretch.
Partnership #37-Kathryn DancerFinished ok last week-after jumping to the lead from post #10-into the fog-he cut the mile the whole way-David Miller tried to slow things down which he did-but KD isn't the sprinting type-plus-he missed time because of the icy track back home. We dropped into the NW$10,000-but with a $50k claimer as back up-which we got for Saturday night-David Miller opted off so we have Yannick
Let's see if we can get off to a good start to the new year-I'll update after Saturday night and have a more detailed stable report.
Happy New Year
Tom