Saturday Morning-11:45am-November 29th-2008
ORAGAMI ARTIST GOES SUNDAY AT CHESTER DOWNS WITH YANNICK!!
KATHRYN DANCER GOES WEDNESDAY AT BIGM WITH DAVID MILLER!!
FOUR STARZ AFFAIR TO TRAIN LIGHTLY TODAY!!
As we enter the last month of the year-Chester Downs will be closing their meet-while the Meadowlands just began with their limited fall Breeder's Crown meet-which takes us to the end of the 3rd week of December. But-then there are a few weeks before the Meadowlands re-opens for their longer-8 month meet-starting in the 1st week of January-so we might have limited opportunities to race during this period. We'll try and do our best to see if we can finish on a good note-and prepare our horses for the bigger racetrack at the Meadowlands. Speaking of the Meadowlands-tonight's card will feature the 2 biggest stars in our sport-see attached pdf-Dewey and Somebeachsomewhere-so enjoy these special horses tonight.
Oragami Artist-Partnership #34
Goes tomorrow-in NW$12,500 with Yannick Gingras and post #1-although I don't know if this post is as good as post #3-or #4-but I'm sure that Yannick will do his best to protect this position and get a close up position. Since we drew AE-1 last week-Tony and Bernie trained him a good mile on Thanksgiving morning-going in 2.10 in the jog cart-which was a real good mile-so we should be prepared. Not sure what the field looks like-but we're hopeful that he'll put in a good performance. If all goes well-might like to move OA back to the BIGM for a race or two-before they finish their meet.
Partnership #35
Looked at the entries this weekend at Chester Downs and the Meadowlands-nothing really excites me. Looking at a horse racing at Woodbine tonight-in race #10. We'll keep looking in all directions. Today there were qualifiers at the Meadowlands and as we get closer to the new year-more horses will be back racing at the BIGM. Would like to try and get something before the new year-but if we can't-then the January Meadowlands sale will be in mid January-so we'll have a few opportunities.
Four Starz Affair-Partnership #36
Just finished his treatment for being sick-so Tony and Bernie will train a slow mile today. His sickness will definitely mean that we'll miss the Oil Burner Series over these next few weeks. This series always comes up tough-so you have to be on your A game-which we wouldn't be. So-our plan is not to rush-maybe train a faster mile next Saturday and then qualify the following week at the Meadowlands. It will be a little tough finding him some races before the BIGM meet reopens-so I'm only making him eligible for the February Sr. Trendsetter Series (It's now the Arty Unger Series-fee $500). We'll try and target the NW3 races for 4 yr. olds instead of paying for the Clyde Hirt.
Kathryn Dancer-Partnership #37
His last race was disappointing again-after getting locked into the pocket-David Miller-thought about coming out-and actually grabbed him hard-before putting him back on the rail. Afterwards-he lacked the speed to be competitive and I was thinking the worse-which was that he was a little sick and tired-but Miller said that we shouldn't blame the horse that much-he thought he lost interest-once he grabbed him to push back to the rail. Since it was the last race-it was hard to get the horse scoped-so we don't know if he was also a little sick. So-we decided to move to the Meadowlands in NW$8,000-and got right in within a week-this Wednesday-we drew good-post #4-and stayed with David Miller.
Until we can make adjustments to out stable-we continue to need OA and KD to race well-both are in good spots-so hopefully Yannick Gingras and David Miller can help us out here.
I did make another $100 payment in the NJ Part reserve for each horse-so now we have about $500-$600 for each horse in then for our 2009 payments. I continue to prepay $100 per month for accountant work-so we're ahead of schedule for 2009. As far as reserves-I do have just about $10k in for OA-around $16k for KD-so we'll have a little cushion to upgrade if we can get claimed at the right price. #35 has just under $52k and after paying our $500 for the late closing series-we have under $1,500 for 4Starz Affair.
Good Luck this weekend with OA
Tom
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Tuesday Evening-6:30pm-November 25th-2008
KATHRYN DANCER GOES WEDNESDAY AT CHESTER DOWNS WITH DAVID MILLER!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST DRAWS THE RAIL FOR SUNDAY AT CHESTER DOWNS!!
PARTENERSHIP #35 PASSES ON KIMMORLEY N!!
FOUR STARZ AFFAIR TO MISS THIS WEEK!!
A quick stable update:
Kathryn Dancer races at Chester Downs tomorrow-has David Miller in the bike-draws post #4-in the NW$9,500 class. Evenly matched field-would expect us to leave here-although Miller did race him successfully from behind at the Meadowlands. Some of Tony's horses are sick-so I'm hoping that it hasn't spread to KD. Four Starz probably picked up his sickness from the Harrisburg sale. Let's hope we get a good trip and a better performance from KD right before Thanksgiving.
Oragami Artist was entered on Sunday for his NW$12,500 class-which we selected over the $30k claimers right now. We drew well-post #1-and I'm hoping that Yannick will take us over the #8 horse-that would be a good thing.
Partnership #35 looked at Kimmorely N-who was double dropping in class-which I thought would give us some really good options-but our research told us that he had a serious bleeding problem-so we didn't put in the claim. Interesting that there was only 1 claim in on him. I'm looking over the entries right now for this weekend and Chester and The Meadowlands-but the pickings are slim right now.
Four Starz Affair finished his 5 days of antibiotics and was checked by our vet who recommended that we go another 5 days. His lungs looked good-but he did still see some mucous down lower-so we want to be careful not to rush things. So-we'll jog thru this week-and maybe train a slow mile on Saturday instead of qualifying at the BIGM. We just might not be ready for the Oil Burner series-that we'll know more after this weekend
Wishing everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving Holiday!!
Tom
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Sunday Morning-9:00am-November 23rd-2008
FOUR STARZ AFFAIR COMES UP SICK IN 1ST START!!
KATHRYN DANCER SCRATCHED WHEN TRAILER BREAKS DOWN!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST DOESN'T DRAW IN-MISSES WEEK!!
PARTNERSHIP #35 LOOKING AT KIMMORLEY N TODAY!!
For the last few years-when I've left for vacation-our stable has responded with good performances throughout the entire week-including our 3 win week last November at Chester Downs. This week-to say the least-wasn't as good-but we'll try and work out our problems and rebound this week.
Partnership #34-(Oragami Artist)
We dropped him into the NW$12,500 class at Chester Downs on Monday and drew AE-1-so we missed racing this week. We decided to wait the extra day for the condition instead of the $30,000 claiming class-figuring we had a better chance to get in-but it didn't turn out that way. Tony said that he trained great this week again and can't figure out why he hasn't raced well the past 2 weeks-don't know if it's George Napolitano or not-just wish we can get Yannick for another week. The Meadowlands opened this weekend-the purses are down for this winter meet-until the new year-and the conditions are limited-so I think we'll try again for next Monday-hoping we can get Yannick Gingras.
Partnership #35-(Open)
The Meadowlands didn't card a $50k-or $40k this weekend-which is amazing-guess the lower purses didn't help-although their where too many Breeders Crown elims to work in-next week should be better. There were some $40k's grouped into one condition-including Stock Market Wiz-who got parked for his life-but he's going to turn 9-I would prefer to get a younger horse. One horse that I've been following at Chester Downs is Kimmorley N-who has been racing in the $40k's and $50k's-after moving up from the $30k's-earlier in the year. He's been claimed many times-last 3 in the $40k's with multiple claims-moved up to the $50k's and won-then finished a good 4th-and now he double drops to $30k today. I know it looks suspicious but Steve Salerno just won last week with his horse Glorys Boy in $40k's- and he dropped him into $30k's too-since the meet is ended and he doesn't race from his Pocono stable thru the winter and wants to lose the horse. Joe Pavia owns this horse and it could be the same situation. The thing I like is that this horse has a ton of speed-and raced well at Freehold-so we may have some immediate options at Yonkers. We're doing some research-we still have $30k on account at Chester-and could make this claim if we want. Waiting to hear from Tony this morning. If we don't do anything-we'll watch the entries for the BIGM on Tuesday.
(BTW-I watch the 3 yr. old filly BC elims and watched Kelly's Keepsake finish a great 2nd. I think if we had $10k more at Harrisburg-we might have gotten this good filly)
Partnership #36-(Four Starz Affair)
Had his 1st race in over 4 months-and 2 qualifiers at Chester Downs. We told Tim Tetrick to take it easy-but it seemed that FSA was a little snakey behind the gate-which is why he stayed off the gate. He took him off the gate and tried to close late into a fast 1.52 mile-but he came up short. Bernie got him scoped afterwards and learned that he was filled with mucous-which explained his lack of speed at the end of the mile. It looks like we'll miss this week-and start treating him with anti-biotics and see how he responds. Looks like we may need to try and few things with his rigging as well-since he's a lightly raced horse. The big issue right now will be the timing of his series and whether we'll be ready to go these fast miles. If things work right and he responds to his medication-we'll try and qualify him at the BIGM on Saturday-since we'll miss the Chester Downs condition on Tuesday. If he qualifies well-then we'll try the 1st leg of the Oil Burner series on Dec. 6th.
Partnership #37-(Kathryn Dancer)
We drew post #8-on Wednesday with Tim Tetrick in the lower NW$9,500 condition-but luck wasn't on us this week when our trailer broke down on the road heading to Chester causing us to scratch as the favorite-damn. We'll try and drop back in today for Wednesday and hope we still have the date to draw in.
Well-it's 60+ dregrees colder-but it's good to be home-let's see if we can now rebound and have a good ending to the year.
Tom
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Thursday Morning-7:30am-November 13th-2008
ORAGAMI ARTIST DRAWS POST #6 FOR SUNDAY AT CHESTER!!
FOUR STARZ AFFAIR TARGETING NW4 FOR WEDNESDAY AT CHESTER!!
KATHRYN DANCER TARGETING NW$9,500 FOR THURSDAY AT CHESTER!!
PARTNERSHIP #35 LOOKING FOR HORSE-COMES CLOSE!!
I'm heading out on vacation-earlier tomorrow morning-so this will be my last stable update for about 10-12 days. I'll outline our plans below and will be back in time for the 1st Saturday night racing at the Meadowlands. On the subject of the Meadowlands-I downloaded their condition sheet for the first short weekend of racing and I'm stunned at the purses-they look like they are down about 30%-I don't understand why-they received their monies from the NJ casinos-but the purses are dramatically lower than when they last races in earlier August. I have a few calls and emails in to people to find out if this is just because of the early winter meet-or is this a sign of things to come in New Jersey-which would be extremely sad. Although Chester Downs is closing in mid December-my first reaction is to stay racing there for more money and less horses.
Oragami Artist goes first this coming week-racing again for $40,000-to protect us 1 more week-so we can drop off our win and possibly drop in conditions for either the Meadowlands or Chester. I wanted to make sure we raced every week-and thought the $40k's for this week would give us the best chance to get right back in-and it did. Interesting that they combined some of the $30k's-including Delray from the rail-with the $40k's-which will make this race tough. We tried to get Yannick-so did Delray-but Micky Burke's horse from the outside-who won last week will get him to drive-so we ended up again with George Napolitano. I'm not crazy about that-but our options were limited. Let's hope we get a better trip-off some fast fractions from Delray-and bring home a check and a good performance.
Four Starz Affair had his 1st slow training mile yesterday-going around 2.25. Tony will train 2 trips on Saturday-enter for Wednesday at Chester in their NW4-name Tetrick to drive-who drove him in his qualifiers there. I'm sure he'll need a race or two-I would like to see him leave a bit-sit-and close late-and be competitive. We'll play it one week at a time-knowing the Oil Burner series starts on Saturday-Dec. 6th at the Meadowlands. I guess a good plan of action would be to get this first race in next Wednesday-hope that the Meadowlands writes a pre-Oil Burner for the following Saturday night-and then we go into the 1st leg of the Oil Burner.
Kathryn Dancer will be entered in the NW$9,500 on Thursday-will try and get Yannick to drive-get a more aggressive driver to see if we can shake him from his dull performances lately. He's the soundest since we got him-but he doesn't seem to be trying very hard. He's been in some good spots lately-and he'll continue this for a few weeks-so it's important that we take advantage of this while we have it and before we return to the Meadowlands.
Since we bought our horse at Harrisburg from Carmine Fusco-I asked Tony to see about buying a horse privately that has been racing at Pocono and Chester named Tyler's Echo N-who had been listed on On Gait's site. I know it was an old listing-but I have been following the colt-and thought this was the time to try-since we didn't end up with a horse at the sale. I thought he fit the BIGM conditions well-and could go in the very high conditions. Tony spoke to Carmine late on Sunday-but apparently my old friend Larry Baron was at the track on Sunday-watched him race-and negotiated with Vinny Fusco on the spot. Can't believe that he beat me here by less than an hour-just amazing-with all the horses and money he has-we can't catch a break on 1 horse. I looked over the entries this weekend-nothing really appeals to me. I'll be able to see the entries for next week's Meadowlands claimers and will be back in time-in case we want to step right in.
So-we'll be in action on Sunday-Wednesday-Thursday at Chester Downs-if everything works out according to plan. Let's get some good races-good performances and good checks. I'll be on the lookout for a horse for Partnership #35-while trying to get OA & KD racing better.
Good Luck and have a good week
Tom
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Monday Evening-7:00pm-November 10th-2008
3 YR. OLD FOUR STARZ AFFAIR JOINS STABLE WITH PARTNERSHIP #36!!
KATHRYN DANCER FINISHES 5TH IN DULL MILE!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST GETS SHUFFLED OUT-CLOSES WELL IN STRETCH!!
I headed to Harrisburg in hopes of starting our transition in horses for 2009-trying to get much younger-knowing that you will have to pay a premium for any 2 yr.old turning 3-or 3 yr. old turning 4. While the overall yearling sales were off by about 25-30% earlier in the week-and the broodmare market was off even more-our hope was that the racehorses would be down slightly. Well-I'm here to tell you that the recession hasn't hit the racehorse market because the money is so good at many NY-NJ-Delaware and Pa. tracks right now-so the demand is there for any good racehorse.
My hope and plan going into last week-was to try and find a good 3 yr. old filly or colt-competing in their sire stakes races-just like Oragami Artist 5 years ago. I was hoping that the horses that might bring $60-$75k-might fall into the upper $50k's-a price that I was willing to pay for Partnership #35-which is Redstone's old partnership. We have $52k in this account-but I would have extended that to get a good colt or filly. I thought we had a good shot at an Illinois filly-Kelly's Keepsake-but she went up so fast-right to $65k-without stopping and then stopping immediately-which meant she had a reserve at that price. I was prepared to go to $60k-but we never had a chance-which is a shame. I did try and make an offer to buy her privately after the sale-hoping that the owner and trainer might want some money-but they decided to ship her back home to the midwest.
For Saturday-my top colts were Lookout Hanover-Real Celebration-Mr. Nice Guy-Roy Orbisong-Southwestern Dream-and Eagle On It. Real Celebration was our real choice-thinking that we might have an outside shot at $60k+. Well-after watching Lookout Hanover go for $210k-beating my prediction by over $125k-we knew we were in trouble-which we were-he went for over $135k. We didn't like what we saw with Mr. Nice Guy-Southwestern Dream-and Eagle on It were pulled out-so our last shot was with Roy Orbisong-which I though we had a good shot-well-he went for almost $100k-closing out this partnership for Harrisburg. I didn't like any older horses here-thought there was better value in the claiming races. I was disappointed because there were some very nice younger horses here-but it will give us something to shoot for in the future. For now-it's back to looking for a proven racehorse racing for good money in the $40k-$50k claiming class.
For Delray's partnership (#36)-I was looking for a young 3 yr. old-that was just in the beginning in his development-maybe eligible for some late closers-and NW races at the Meadowlands. The fall back then becomes the 4 yr. old claiming class-where the 25% premium is now on your side. Here-I was looking at many horses-with Peenie-My Time Hanover-Dinneratartsplace-King of Kings-Pan Larceny-and Four Starz Affair and Moxie on that list. The good news here-was that my 1st choice-Peenie was going first and my sleeper-Four Starz Affair was basically going last. I really though we were get Peenie-who I've been watching and happy that he went into the 3 yr. old $40k claiming class-figuring he just put his real price on paper-but I was stunned when he went for $55k. I was actually disappointed because I knew I wasn't coming home with a horse-especially when My Time Hanover brought over $70k+ and the other horses went for over $50k or $60k and we had serious questions. Our last hope was on 2 lightly raced Four Starz Stable horses-both trained by Carmine Fusco. We learned that the 4 Starz Stable was selling everything-it seems that they are getting out of the business-which is why these and 86 other horses were selling. I liked Four Starz Affair better-and that was what Carmine said as well-so that made up our mind-but Carmine thought that there was a reserve on for $60k. My plan was $45k-since we had $42k in reserve. When the price stopped shortly at $30k-I jumped in-and competed with one other bidder-getting the final bid at exactly $40,000.
What I liked about FSA was that with only 12 starts-and a little over $25k-he could be eligible for a few of the BIGM Late closes. I made a comment to Tony that it's a shame that the stable didn't make him eligible to the December-Oil Burner Series at the Meadowlands-which is a 3 yr. old stakes (Delray won a division 2 years ago). Carmine Fusco saw Tony later at the sale and said that we got a steal-plus-he was sure that he was paid into that series-and he didn't know why they didn't have that listed on his stall door-guess they were in a rush. We did confirm that he is eligible for this race-which is a nice bonus for us. Carmine stopped with his 4 Starz colts because he thought that he was planning for a winter campaign-only to learn that the entire stable was selling out. So-after racing competitively at the Meadowlands in NW2 and NW3-Carmine shipped him to Pocono and after losing in 1.53-he won back to back races in 1.52.3 and 1.52.2. He then ended his year at the BIGM on July 31st in a NW3-and with Yannick in the bike-closed from 4th-off the pace-to get the lead late and just got nailed at the wire in 1.50.3!! He just qualified back at Chester-the last one during a rain and snow storm-winning by 10 in 1.58.3 on an extremely sloppy track.
Our plans are to jog today and tomorrow (Tony said that he jogged well)-then train a trip Wed-and Saturday and enter into a NW4 at Chester for next Wednesday afternoon. More info to come-but we're excited here. I think we have a lightly race horse with some up side. The downside is that there was a break of two months-but I think we know why.
Oragami Artist raced Sunday in the $40k claimers and I'm not sure we had the greatest drive and a real shot here. We sat on the rail-then got shuffled back-and then George tried to angle out and close late. He did kick in with a 28.1 last quarter which was good-but the lead horses were also sprinting home-giving us no shot-and no check. The problem here is that we need one more race to drop a win-and we have a few dollars over the NW$17,500-so it's either back in for $40k-or drop to $30k. I would like to pretect one more week-to try and get Yannick and to drop this race-which could help us at the BIGM in 2 weeks
Kathryn Dancer raced today and had a similar trip like OA with Cat Manzi in the bike. The only difference is that it appeared that OA wanted to race-where KD has been cheating on us during the past month-again I'm not sure he tried too hard. When he had a chance late in the race to come up the passing lane-he did try for about 2 steps and then he stopped-but he did get that last check in 5th. Once again-I was real disappointed here-only saving grace is that he drops in class once again.
Over the next few months-I'll be looking to add a good horse in Partnership #35 in the $50k range-and try to turn over both OA & KD. Any monies we win here-I'll start leaving in their reserves for our transition.
Our racing schedule should look like this next week:
Sunday-Oragami Artist (Chester Downs-$40,000 if we get in)
Wed.-Four Starz Affair-(Chester Downs-NW4)
Thursday-Kathryn Dancer-(Chester Downs-NW$9,500)
I'll be looking at the entries at Chester for Sunday-and then watch the opening week claimers at the BIGM on Nov. 22nd.
BTW-I'll be leaving on vacation on Friday for a week-will be in Aruba-so Tony will do any claiming this weekend-but I'll be in touch before we leave early Friday morning.
Lastly-there was a great 4 page article in Hoof Beats again-in October-on Carlspur and the stable-I'm trying to scan a copy to include in my next update-which will be before I leave on Friday
Tom
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Friday Evening-5:00pm-November 7th-2008
HEADING TO THE HARRISBURG SALE!!
While Tony Salerno is currently at the sale-looking and bidding on the fillies in the Harrisburg Sale-I'll be heading out for the 3 hour drive to see if we can find 2 younger horses to race for us at the Meadowlands. While the yearling and broodmare market has been hot extremely hard-the racehorses are selling strong-because they are racing for good purses all over.
I gave Tony 4 Fillies to look at-3 of them were out of the sale-so Kelly's Keepsake was our only shot today. I figured that this nice 3 year old might go for $70-$80k-but we still didn't know for sure. With $52k in reserves-I told Tony that we could go as high as $60k-but the bidding went real fast and stopped quickly at $65k and didn't move anymore. We never got into the bidding because it went too fast-so I thought that they didn't sell her (hip#1839)-which I was right. I'm sure that was their minimum reserve-but I'm still going to try and see these owners tomorrow while I'm at the sale.
For the colts-we're looking at a lot of 3 year olds-which usually sell at a premium-but we'll try and give it our best shot-here's a look at the hip #'s and horses:
Hip#2208-First Rate
Hip#2213-Lookout Hanover
Hip#2215-Real Celebration***
Hip#2216-Shoot First
Hip#2234-Mr. Nice Guy
Hip#2236-My Time Hanover***
Hip#2239-Peenie***
Hip#2242-Realist
Hip#2253-Dinneratartsplace
Hip#2261-King of Kings
Hip#2265-Pan Larceny
Hip#2267-Roy Orbisong
Hip#2271-Southwestern Dream
Hip#2275-Four Starz Affair***
Hip#2276-Four Starz Louie***
Hip#2277-Four Starz Moxie***
Hip#2285-All Is Saidanddone***
Hip#2286-All Over The Place
Hip#2289-Eagle On It***
Hip#2309-Noble's Grand Slam
I've marked the horses that I think we have the best shot with ***
Will be back very late Saturday night-we'll see what happens
Tom
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Thursday Morning-8:30am-November 6th-2008
DELRAY JUST MISSES-FINISHES 2ND AND IS CLAIMED AGAIN!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST CUTS THE MILE-AND JUST NAILED FOR 2ND IN GOOD MILE!!
KATHRYN DANCER GETS BLOCKED-CLOSES FOR 5TH IN GOOD MILE!!
Well-I was hoping for good checks and maybe a win this weekend at Chester Downs-and we almost achieved all those goals. Delray had a big lead in his mile-thought he was home free and would deliver the win. Oragami Artist was cutting his mile-against strong competition-and was right there late in the mile-and Kathryn Dancer looked more competitive-and closed well in his race-so I was pleased with all 3 performances. And-even though I was disappointed with KD's race at Yonkers on Monday night-we did bring home a 2nd place check-meaning that we had 4 checks this week-which is how we built our business.
I knew Delray was in a good spot-but I also knew he was in a position to be claimed. There were 2 claims in on him-would have been great to go out a winner-and when we got the lead-and the pocket sitter broke early-Delray had a 7 length lead with no pressure. He gave that up-tried to hand on-but was nailed late. I see the new owners moved him up to $40k-he did get in the weaker division-but I think it's time to turn the page-which was the plan going into the Meadowlands meet. I don't know if his front racing style will hold up anymore at the BIGM in the higher classes. When we get the check-should have around $42,000 to claim or buy.
Oragami Artist was in a race that would test him form and current class-since he was jumping 2 classes to NW$17,500. Now granted-this race didn't come up super strong-but there were a few nice horses in here-both came at us late in the race. Yannick-who drove Delray so well and won last time out on OA-gave him another good try-sprinting out quick-grabbing the lead at 14/1 and bringing them into the stretch on top. He tried to hold off the 1st over challenger-which he did-but the pocket sitter and 2nd over classy horses were too tough. The shame of it was that we just got nailed for 2nd-by a nose-which cost us a few thousand-oh well-we got our nose out there last week. My main goal now was to race back fast-so we tried to drop into Sunday-knowing that they have been carded 2 divisions of the $40k claimers. We got in-got the #2 post but lose Yannick to George Nap. It's a tough race-but I'm excited to get us 3 races in-within 4 weeks-I think this could continue to help his form.
Kathryn Dancer raced well on Sunday with Tim Tetrick-who left-settled into 3rd-but then was shuffled to last when the flow developed and stalled. Tim had to wait for the stretch-then he angled him inside the passing lane-closing well to grab the last check in 5th-but only beaten by less than 2 lengths. I liked this race-and the fact that we'll race right back-should help his form-not to mention that he drops in class now-to NW$12,500. We drew in for Monday-got post #3-and hopefully Tetrick will take him-since he's on 6 horses. This fact alone will tell us a lot-let's see if we end up with TT.
Before I leave for Harrisburg on Saturday morning-I'll send our targeted list-most will go higher than we have-seems the yearling market is way down-but I expect the racehorses to sell strong.
Tom
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Saturday Afternoon-1:00pm-November 1st-2008
KATHRYN DANCER FINISHES 2ND AT YONKERS-BACK IN SUNDAY AT CHESTER!!
DELRAY DRAWS WELL ON SUNDAY AT CHESTER!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST DRAWS IN FOR MONDAY AT CHESTER!!
Finally-we get all 3 horses in to race in one week-actually having them in within a day of each other-all at Chester Downs. While we're not in perfect spots-I think we're in as good as we can get-considering conditions. But-I'm very pleased with all 3 posts-and with our drivers-should make for some interesting and hopefully exciting racing.
Kathryn Dancer-for the 2nd consecutive week-had himself in a great spot-only to disappoint us once again. This time it was at Yonkers-with the rail-with Bouchard-dropping in class. Stephane went after the lead-cut a slow mile-controlled everything-but never showed any zip throughout the mile. He did slightly park out a contender-but faltered in the stretch-to lose a neck at the wire-in very slow time for Yonkers. The 2nd place check was nice-since the purse was $15,000-but I was quite disappointed for the 2nd week in a row. I can't tell if he's cheating on us-or just losing form slowly. The fact that he's not a training horse and that we're not getting in every week-might be part of the problem-so I wanted to make sure that we got right back in this week. My thought process was to try to get in Chester for Sunday-then Yonkers for Saturday and then Chester for Monday-with no guarantees that it would work. I decided that $40,000 might be the right class to get us claimed and maybe draw in with a 2nd division at Chester and sure enough-it worked. We drew well-post #4-and got leading driver Tim Tetrick in the bike. My hope is that someone does pull the trigger and puts in a claim-and maybe we can pull down a decent check. If not-let's hope we race well and pull down a decent check.
Delray goes Sunday too-in his $30,000 class-drawing well for him-post #5-with Yannick Gingras-excellent. I have a funny feeling that he will be claimed this week-even though the meet is in it's final weeks here. I saw more claiming last weekend than the last 2 weeks-even though the Harrisburg sale is next Saturday. I think we're in an excellent position here with Delray. My hope is that he doesn't get claimed and we pull down a decent check.
Oragami Artist had to jump 2 classes-to NW$17,500-and while it's a tough assignment-I don't think it's terrible. We drew well-post #4-with Yannick Gingras. He's 6/1 going for 2 in a row-a tall order. I like that we're racing within 2 weeks. The other division of this class definitely came up a lot tougher here-so we caught a break.
Sometimes it's about catching breaks-like getting the right post-getting the right driver-getting the right conditions and getting the right trips. We can't control all these things-but we do have most of them this weekend-so hopefully we'll have some good results. Right now-we need 1 horse-but this could change this weekend.
Good Luck this weekend-let's see if we can win one of these races and finish in the money with them all-that would be a good goal
Tom
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