Tragic Ending

After 90+ races, I guess you could say it was just a matter of time until we experienced what took place today - Wayuphi suffered a fatal injury in his race and we had to put him down. He was forging to the lead shortly after the field turned for home and he took a bad step. The jock did everything he could to pull up the horse but the damage was already done. Thankfully, he did not cause a spill and no other horses or jockeys were injured. Rest in peace buddy.

It's going to be quiet for the next couple weeks. There's not much in the condition book for our horses until the weekend of Nov. 10th-11th when we could have as many as four hit the track for us.

Matt

Busy Day

Let's start with Dawn Raider. After a long night of rain, the turf was very wet and soft. Paul said that Raider didn't like the footing one bit. That and a pretty tough field resulted in a even effort (5th place).

It was an interesting day in the clam box. In the third race of the day, we put the $$ from Stage Glitter to work and bought a horse (split 2 ways) for $25k. The horse's name is Tytus - he won today's race in a very fast time. "T" is a 3-year gelding who has now raced 9 times (3 wins and 2 seconds).

Then, in the tenth race, we claimed a familiar face - Unreal General. "General" spent the first part of the year in Jamie's barn (Dan K. was the owner). He dropped in today for a $4k tag and we split the horse 3 ways with Jamie and Dan. Given the familiarity, this was a pretty low-risk claim.

Both horses seemed to check out fine physically after their races. We may not be done for the weekend. After Wayuphi's race tomorrow, we're going to take a long look at a few racing later in the day. Stay tuned....

Matt

Weekend Preview

We've got 2 races this weekend. Dawn Raider goes in race 8 on Saturday and Wayuphi comes back in race 2 on Sunday. On paper, both horses look that they fit well in their races. We are taking the blinkers off Raider - it will be intertesting to see how he reacts. Most horses will exhibit some significant change (better or worse) when the blinkers are removed. For Sunday's race, I was not thrilled to see Wayuphi draw the rail. That is not a good spot to be in a dirt sprint.

Just a reminder, all races at Hawthorne can be viewed online on cbs.sportsline.com - just follow the links for live horse racing.

Matt

Second Best

Diablo gave a good effort today but ran into a better horse. It was a hot, contested pace throughout the early stages and she simply didn't have enough energy to hold off the high-quality mare chasing her down.

Next race: ?? We'll be entering Dawn Raider and Wayuphi on Wednesday for races to be run on Saturday.

One and Done

Well, I guess you can't argue with the rate of return. Stage Glitter easily won her race today and was claimed back by her original trainer for $14k (we paid $10k). So it was a very nice 15-day return. Back to the drawing board to find her replacement. I was thrilled to see one of our partners (Paul J) make it into the winner's circle today as he was passing through Chicago on his way to South Bend, IN.

Next race: Diablo goes in race 9 on Sunday. It doesn't sound like she is as sharp as she was going into her last race. I'm sure that long stretch battle took a little something out of her. She'll have to dig deep to find the winner's circle again.

Matt

Going Out With A Win

After a last place finish in her debut, it didn't look like Twinpost was going to pan out for us. But after finding her right level, she went out today on a high note and won her final race while being claimed away. With her tendency to quit near the end of races and her physical problems, it was a good time for her to find a new barn. We might have been able to squeeze a couple more good races out of her, but she will be in need of a rest soon. While selling here for 1/2 what we paid for her, she was able to win enough on the track to pay for herself. Best wishes TP.

Today's race wrapped up a great weekend - 2 wins in 2 races. Chief grinded out a victory at a nice price (6-1). With Thornton getting hurt the day before and Paul out of town, we were fortunate to have Tanner available to pick up the mount. He and Chief seem to get along well. The 2 wins this weekend makes 20 on the year!

Next race - Stage Glitter makes her debut on Friday (race 5). I have not looked at the race in detail, but we are the morning line favorite. That's a good sign.

Matt

Back Home

It's safe to say that we will not be launching a european branch of Web's Gems anytime soon. It's good to be home. Just in time for a couple races this weekend. Chief (race 4 on Saturday) gets a good jock switch and a little softer field than what he faced last time. Twinpost (race 4 on Sunday) gets reunited with her favorite jock and looks well-spotted in her race.

What if?

When used separately, these 2 words don't mean much. But when combined and puncuated with a question mark, they conjure up all sorts of thoughts.

What if I had paid more attention in class? What if I didn't eat that last piece of pizza? What if I had more hair on my head? What if seven years ago I didn't buy a house with a jockey as a next door neighbor? What if we had enough money to buy Lookinforthesecret nine months ago today? What if Lookinforthesecret and Lite Brigade raced against each other?

While many of these questions are fun to ponder, the second to last question will always haunt me and the last question will be answered in three days. After spending many a day in Jamie's barn, I always wondered what would happen if/when the horses in the 1 and 2 stalls hooked up. They are set to square off Monday at Hawthorne (race 5).

By the way, on the undercard, Wayuphi goes for us in race 3. It's safe to say, while I will be over 4,000 miles away, I will be watching closely.

All that glitters is.....

....gold, we hope. We claimed a horse today - Stage Glitter (2-way split w/ Jamie for $10k). She ran a decent 2nd today. She is a 6-year old mare who has won 7 of 35 starts and has all of her conditions available. Initially, she has checked out fine physically.

Next Race: Dawn Raider makes his debut for us on Sunday (race 7). He's racing over his condition, but we wanted to keep him on the grass. A good showing here would be very encouraging.