Overdue Post

It has been a while since I have posted, so here is an update from the last couple weeks....when Dawn Raider was claimed away from us last Friday, it was significant. We had owned him for a little more than 23 months - the longest consecutive period we have owned a horse. He was a very productive horse for us. Raider was well-mannered in the barn and always appreciative of the mints and carrots. Most importantly, the year he gave us on the track in 2008 that culminated in a gutty score on the Arlington Park turf was outstanding. In hindsight, that victory was the beginning of the end. Whether it was simply the end of his “up” form cycle or if it was that the race took so much out of him, he was never the same horse again. He did get pretty sick when he arrived in Tampa last year and that probably played a major role in his regression. One memory that sticks out is the day he finished second in a race when Paul dropped his whip in the lane and he narrowly lost the race despite not being “asked to run”. He and Paul had some good chemistry and it was unfortunate he was not able to ride last Friday (suspension for careless riding). Combined with the recent private sales of Darby Lee and Silver Peagus, the stable has been reduced to a handful – Slewey went back east with Jamie to continue his training leaving Tytus as our only horse here at Canterbury.

The shortage of inventory puts the stable at a crossroads of sorts. I have mentioned before that we needed to get smaller before we got bigger. We have not been this liquid in a long time and I have been establishing some relationships with different trainers (some well-known, others locally-based) in order to give us a few options to expand. The next month or two could be very interesting.

In the immediate future, Tytus hits the track on Thursday. It doesn’t look like Jamie is coming back to CBY next year, so there is a realistic chance that this could be one of our last races run in Shakopee. Buck night specials and live boxing on the apron are a couple more reasons to come visit the track on Thursday night – hope to see you there.

Matt

Miss Iron Boy

Wild Adventure continues to debunk convential wisdom - a bum knee restricts her ability to train fully, but she continues to run her races on mostly heart and guts. As she showed last night, that combination is worth a lot as she beat a very competitive bunch and revenged her loss from a few weeks ago when a bad ride cost her a chance for a 6 race winning streak. Regardless of levels, a streak that long is very rare (one that comes to mind is "super filly" Rachel Alexandra). For now, we will settle for a very nice allowance score that helps mitigate some of the disappointment from Stumbling Block's race on Thursday. For him, I think we have come to the realization that he does not ship well. When he races at "home", he has four wins and a tough luck fourth while his 2 races when shipping to another track have been subpar.

Next Up: Straight Laced at PID on Wednesday and Tytus at CBY on Thursday. While it is a late start on Thursday (approx. 10:15), I would encourage those who live in the area to try and make it out for the race. At this stage of the meet, we will only have a few more races at CBY and Thursday nights are always a little more enjoyable.

Internet link to watch Stumbling Block's race tonight

Stumbling Block is racing tonight in race 3 at Penn National. The post time is around 6:30PM.

Scroll down to "Penn Nat."

The site will only let you watch for 30 minutes.

http://horseracing.cbssports.com/cbs/liveracing/

Mini Web’s Gems

The July 7th edition of the Star Tribune featured an interesting story regarding a single horse partnership.

61 people formed the horse partnership, with 60 of them contributing $250 each. Only one owner is licensed.


Here’s a link to the online version of the story:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/50081842.html


Here’s a breakdown of their revenues and expenses so far:

http://www.startribune.com/sports/50081827.html


And here is their ownership blog:

http://tahitianqueen.blogspot.com/


I wish them the best of luck - except when racing against us!

- Chris

Quick Update

It was a dull and disappointing effort from Darby Lee today. As for the races scheduled for this week: it is about 90% sure that we will scratch Wild Adventure on Wednesday and look for a sprint race, but it should be a green light for Stumbling Block on Thursday night at Penn National.