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Saturday Morning-9:00am-October 25th-2008
ORAGAMI ARTIST GETS GREAT DRIVE-WINS BY NOSE!!
KATHRYN DANCER DRAWS THE RAIL & BOUCHARD AT YONKERS!!
Being a horse racing fan-you can't ask for anything more this weekend. Yesterday-we watched some incredible performances in the Breeders Cup-from some champion fillies in the Thoroughbred business (Zenyatta & Stardom Bound) and today-we'll watch 8 BC races-with the champion colt-Curlin going for history. And tonight at Yonkers-it's Somebeachsomewhere going against Shadow Play-in the Messenger-very exciting racing all day and night. Enjoy. We dream one day of owning a world champion!
Meanwhile-we try and grind our way back-needing Oragami Artist and Kathryn Dancer to step up with good performances this week. Well-Oragami Artist popped with a great race and we're in another great spot with KD on Monday night-shipping to Yonkers for the first time.
Right now-Yannick Gingras has become our top go to driver at Chester Downs-and I'm thinking that maybe we carry that over to the Meadowlands as well. Tim Tetrick is scheduled for double hip surgery in December-putting him out of action for quite a while-and Brian Sears will continue to be in top demand-so we need some other options. Thursday afternoon-he drove Oragami Artist-and was flawless in this drive. He left early-got the front-sat the pocket to the favorite-and then stayed in and out-waiting to see if the first over horse would clear-making the right decision-coming up the rail and grabbing the lead and holding on for a much needed-nose victory in 1.53.4.
This was a good performance-considering that this was OA's first race in 3 weeks-and that he does not like coming up the inside in the passing lane-just like Delray. Now-it's up to Kathryn Dancer-who drew the best post on the 1/2 mile track-getting the rail-dropping in class to NW$8,000 and getting the top driver and Carlspur's old pilot-Stephane Bouchard. Everything points towards a real shot on Monday night-we'll try and do everything possible to get the job done.
With Delray's 3rd place check-I decided to write us a small dividend and with OA's first place check-we'll use 1/2 to add to his reserves and write us a small dividend.
Year to date-we're at $156,000 in total earnings before getting Oragami's check-so I'm hoping that we can reach the $200,000 mark before the end of the year-that's our goal. Last year-we were at over $300k-but we've been short a horse or two and have been on the sidelines for health reasons. Let's hope we make a little run here in the last 2 months-and hope we find a nice horse at Harrisburgh.
Year to date-we at $30.5k in dividends-before OA's check next week-down from the over $70k from last year. I'm hoping that we might be able to reach the $40k mark in dividends before the end of the year-that will be our goal.
Here's where we stand in terms of reserves for each horse:
Oragami Artist-around $7,600 before this win-so we should be at around $9,500. Trying to get our reserves to $10k-and hoping that we're at least-the $30k claiming level-this way-we can replace at either $30-or-$40k.
Delray-around $10,000-after his dividend today-will try and slowly increase this-but will still give dividends. In the same situation as OA-$30k-or-$40k level.
#35-sitting with around $12k in reserves-plus his $40k claiming money-so we'll looking at the $40k-to-$50k level to find a horse. Was happy that Peenie didn't get a good trip on Wed. at Chester-shuffled back-and closed-I think this puts him in our range.
Kathryn Dancer-at around $13,500-so I'm planning that if we lose him at the $40k level-we can upgrade back to $50k. Will try and slowly increase his reserves while giving back dividends.
So-if we can continue to be competitive-we can keep grinding it out-until we either hit a streak of replace our horses with new horses.
Good Luck this weekend-and with KD on Monday night!!
Tom
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Tuesday Evening-5:00pm-October 21st-2008
DELRAY IN QUALITY EFFORT-FINISHES 3RD FROM POST #8!!
KATHRYN DANCER IN DISAPPOINTING EFFORT-FINISHES 6TH!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST DRAWS WELL-POST #4 FOR THURSDAY WITH YANNICK GINGRAS!!
It's been a frustrating period for our stable right now-I can take the ups and downs of horse racing-but having to wait 2 weeks in between races is killing us and our trainer. Boy-I hope things open up when the Meadowlands opens in a month from now. Delray has been our sharpest horse right now-and I have to think part of that is because he was getting in every week-where both Oragami Artist and Kathryn Dancer have been juggling 2 weeks in between all their race.
Delray was dropped into the $30,000 claimers this week and from the far outside post #8 post position-put in a great race with driver Yannick Gingras. It's become clear that Yannick now fits Delray the best-even better than Tim Tetrick. He left from post #8-got the lead easy-cut the mile-held off a tough challenge at the 3/4 mark and then tired late to finish a good 3rd. Was happy to see no claims-starting to wonder-with the Harrisburg sale coming-and Chester Downs closing soon after-they may actually leave us along in this class for now. Would love to get another win here. Unfortunately-just checked the entries and Delray is AE-2 for the only $30,000 class this weekend-so it looks like we'll be on the sidelines for a week-damn.
Kathryn Dancer was in a great spot last Thursday-dropping into NW$9,500-getting a good post and George Nap in the bike. We went off the 2/1 favorite here-and things looks good after getting slightly stung by the #1 early-George cut the mile-held strong thru 3/4's-then was challenged hard and seem to just throw in the towel-finishing out of the money in 6th. I know he was used early-but he should have finished better. Part of the problem seems to be the big gaps in between his races-but I also below that KD might be cheating on us a bit-not trying as hard as he could. We didn't get back in on Thursday-with 2 divisions carded of this NW$9,500 class. KD does fit the NW$8,000 class at Yonkers-which goes during the week-so we might wait for that and try the smaller track. I would also like to get Yannick on him as well-maybe a more aggressive set of hands might help here.
Oragami Artist did get into one of those NW$9,500 classes at Chester on Thursday-I'm excited with his post-his driver-Yannick and the way he trained this week-but we've been there before. He needs to start showing us that he still can compete here-although-this will be 3 weeks now in between races-just terrible.
The only good news for us right now-with KD and OA is that should we fit the lower classes at the BIGM-we also fit the earnings cap too as well. My hope is that we can win a lower class and then go right into a claiming race.
I completed my first round of reviewing of the horses in the Harrisburg sale-sent my notes to Tony Salerno and we'll start discussing some options in Redstone's partnership. One horse I like goes tomorrow at Chester-in a 3 yr. old claiming race for $40,000-his name is Peenie. With his allowance-he goes for $60,000 in this race tomorrow-I don't expect anyone to pay that 50% premium right now. But-my experience with sales is that they don't give you credit for that allowance-so unless he wins this race-his value should be in the $40-$50,000 range. I'll be watching this race carefully and hoping that he gets locked in.
Good Luck to Oragami Artist on Thursday.
Tom
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Wednesday Morning-8:00am-October 15th-2008
DELRAY TIRES IN THE STRETCH IN $40K'S-BACK IN $30K'S ON SUNDAY!!
KATHRYN DANCER DRAWS WELL-POST #4 FOR THURSDAY!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST DOESN'T DRAW IN FOR THURSDAY-WILL MISS WEEK!!
A quick stable update-running out of town for the next 2 days-but will be back to see KD on Thursday afternoon at Chester Downs.
Delray raced on Sunday in one of the competing drivers challenge race-which had an open draw. Unfortunately we drew out of town driver-Dave Palone-who didn't drive Delray badly-but we know who gets along with him and who doesn't. Dave left out of the gate well-in 26.3-but then had to give up the front end for the pocket. It was a good trip-but in this competitive race-he couldn't keep up in the stretch-causing us to consider dropping back down to his last 2 winning efforts. We did get right back in-somehow-but drew terrible-post #8. We named Yannick-but he is also listed on another colt-who won in $25k-and is moving up. I'm hoping that Andy Miller will be there as a back up.
Kathryn Dancer got into the only division of NW$9,500-but my fear was that this would happen and Oragami Artist wouldn't get in-and that happened. While I want OA to race-it might not be the worst thing-we'll target next week-and kind of spread his races out-until the Meadowlands open-which he seems to like the mile track better anyhow. My other fear was that we would get in the last race again-while KD got in early. KD will be in race #13 and has George Nap in the bike-and is the 5/2 favorite for Thursday-so we have high expectations here.
I continue to look at a few horses racing at Chester-and balancing that against the horses in the November Harrisburg sale-more to come later this week. I liked It's Justthebeginning in the $40ks-he was claimed this week and now is in the $50ks. I like AR ED a 4 yr. old-in the $35s-not the $40ks-even though you would need to pay the premium. I also like Object of Art-who was claimed away from friend Larry Baron.
Wishing us good luck on Thursday with Kathryn Dancer.
Tom
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Thursday Morning-9:00am-October 8th-2008
KATHRYN DANCER GOES DOWN THE ROAD-FINISHES 5TH IN GOOD MILE!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST FADES IN DISAPPOINTING MILE!!
DELRAY FINISHES 4TH IN GOOD TRY!!
In 2 out of 3 races-we had a good performance-but not a good finish-as both Delray and Kathryn Dancer lost their races by about a length-but finished 4th and 5th-which was good for a check-but not the kind that we were looking for. But-it was good that we had all 3 horses racing at the same time-which is half our battle right now in getting into form and trying to make some money.
Delray-with sub driver-George Napolitano-put in a good race-leaving hard-but then being forced to sit a pocket trip-which is fine-unless we need to try and close up the passing lane. Delray needs to have room in the stretch-since he does bear out-so when the opening occurred-he did try and close-but couldn't extend the way he needed to win the race. But-we finished a good 4th and felt that he deserved another chance-especially since George said the same thing. We entered this week-got right back in-got our post #5-but this weekend is a drivers challenge day-and the track picks your driver-so we have Dave Palone-damn-was hoping for Yannick.
Kathryn Dancer with George Napolitano was given instructions to leave and leave he did-parking all comers-including the favorite and Tim Tetrick down the backstretch. KD tired in the stretch-which was understandable-losing by a length and just grabbing a check in a very competitive race on Monday. We now drop down from NW$12,500-to-NW$9,500 which goes next Thursday at Chester Downs.
Oragami Artist went about 3 hours later-waiting from race #2-to race #13-after arriving very earlier for KD's lasix time. Tim Tetrick was in the bike in his division of the NW$12,500-which was much tougher than KD's race. Tim worked out a pretty good trip-off fast fractions-but then OA let go of the bit-finishing dull in the stretch. My gut tells me that he hates this track-hates waiting around for ever-and if there is something that can trouble him-he allows it. He's been sounded than ever-and so far his blood has come back normal. Tony did scope him after the race and he was clean as can be. He also drops to NW$9,500 for Thursday-so hopefully KD and OA get back in this time next week-and hopefully OA gets in first.
I want to be aggressive with both colts-dropping them into claimers-but we need to first get into the lower conditions. My gut also tells me to try and get OA to the Meadowlands meet-which he enjoys this track most of all.
I've been looking at the Harrisburgh sale information-one by one-since the full e-catalog isn't available yet. I think we may wait till then for Partnership #35-unless I find a good claim-which I'm looking over right now for this weekend.
Tom
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Sunday Morning-11:00am-October 5th-2008
DELRAY DRAWS POST #3 TODAY AT CHESTER DOWNS!!
KATHRYN DANCER DRAWS POST #5 ON MONDAY AT CHESTER DOWNS!!
ORAGAMI ARTIST DRAWS POST #4 ON MONDAY AT CHESTER DOWNS!!
Yesterday afternoon-I watched the racing at the Red Mile-and I couldn't help to think what kind of media coverage this racing card would get from the networks or ESPN. Granted-I love the thoroughbred racing scene and I absolutely love watching Breeders Cup day-which is about 3 weeks away-but yesterday-watching Somebeachsomewhere-Art Official-Mr.Big & Deweycheatumnhowe is as good as it gets-wow-what an afternoon of racing. Everyone-including us-dreams to have horses that can compete at this level-but as a fan of horseracing-it was fun and exciting to see racing at the highest level. My only hope is that these horses stay at this level when they finish the season late in November at the Meadowlands in the Breeders Crown. Seeing Somebeachsomewhere against Art Official one more time-will be like Curlin going against Big Brown in 3 weeks-it will be special.
OK-on to our schedule-it's nice to have our 3 current horses finally going all within a day-starting with today and then tomorrow. I'm hopeful that we'll be more successful in getting our horses in more frequently-starting this weekend. Delray steps up today in the $40,000-and gets George Napolitano back in the bike-since Yannick won't be here today-damn. But-Georgie gets along with the horse-which is good-because we will be facing some stiff early challenges-especially from Josh Green's colt-Steeler from post #7. This will be a tough challenge-but will be fun to see if we're up to it. Tony reports that he's feeling good-and with this good post-should be able to get the lead.
Kathryn Dancer and Oragami Artist both go on Monday in different divisions of the NW$12,500 condition. I think OA drew the much tougher division. KD drew a good post to leave from-post #5-and we'll tell George Napolitano to try hard to get involved early. I think Tetrick-who selected the #2 horse-Happy As N over us-will be tough here-but I think we can either cut the mile or sit the pocket. OA does have Tim Tetrick driving-has a good post to sit back and try and work a trip from post #4-but they are too many competitors to worry about. Both colts trained well this week-but still haven't raced in 2 weeks. Both will be tested. KD does have some options-possibly dropping in class-but I'm hoping that we'll make good money and have to move up in class.
I started doing a lot of work-researching the horses in the upcoming November Harrisburg sale-especially from Preferred and Northwood. From today's card at Chester-I like Hot N Sporty from the $50k's and Kimmorley N in the other $40k division. We'll watch both this week.
Good Luck this weekend-let's hope for some good racing luck
Tom
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