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