Induction Ceremony

The theme for this entry was inspired by this weekend’s NFL Hall-of-Fame inductions. After Friday night’s win, I began to wonder where I would rate Stumbling Block on the list of our most successful horses. I crunched some numbers and came up with an inaugural class for the WG Hall-of-Fame (based on 2 factors: # wins and total $ earned).

The computations resulted in a handful of inductees (# wins): Tytus (6), Lite Brigade (5), Stumbling Block (5) Silver Peagus (6), and Dawn Raider (6). Not quite making the cut were Secret Lies (5) and Go-Go Diablo (6). An active runner who just missed this year’s induction class, but will get serious consideration next year is Wild Adventure. Her 5 wins and never worse-than-second record were strong arguments, but her earnings fell just shy of the cutoff. Honorary members for this year’s class include Iron Boy, Chief Magistrate, Leather N Lace, and Starlet Sky. While these horse’s wins and earnings don’t measure up to the others, their contributions to the stable were recognized.

With one more victory, Block has a chance to catch Tytus as the all-time $$ earner in the stable. He has found a track to his liking out in Presque Isle and should get 1 or 2 more runs over the surface to add to his total. Conversely, Tytus is still plugging away, but the low purse $ in his races could make it difficult for him to hold off the others.

A recent and somewhat unexpected surge onto this list may come from Straight Laced. Her win on Sunday was visually impressive. While she wasn’t facing the quickest bunch of fillies and mares, to win by a margin that big (7 lengths) while never even being shown the whip was encouraging. The win was not without some drama though as we had to sit through a jockey’s objection while the Steward’s reviewed an incident around the turn where things got a little tight along the rail.

Next Up: Tytus on Friday night (race 7). My initial thought was to scratch because I don’t think we have a realistic shot to win the race (long story), but it looks like he will be heading East next week on a trailer. With the stable doing well out east, I think we can afford to have a one more race here for those interested in coming out.