Trade Up

I've mentioned in this space before that the 3 most common reactions to having a horse claimed away are: Happy, Sad, or Indifferent. When the announcement came today that Stop That Akki was claimed, I was definitely happy. Jamie has been saying lately that she was getting rough in the mornings and was looking like she was cycling down. She ran a poor race today and finished 7th in her final outing for us. We put the sale proceeds to work the next race and purchased a horse (Darby Lee) for $25k (split w/ Jagger). "Darby" is a 5 year-old mare bred in KY. She ran 3rd today in a very tight race less than a length behind the winner. Early indications are that we are bringing home a better horse than we left behind.

We are also bringing home the winner of today's first race in Iowa (No Tolerance). He ran a nice race today and won by almost 8 lenghts. Before we get too excited about a turnaround, keep this in mind.....if I ran a foot race against a guy with average speed, I would make him look fast. The last 2 races he has won have come against some pretty soft competition. Nonetheless, he has won them in impressive times and this will hopefully help him remember what it was like to be a dominant runner.

Matt