RSVP - part 2

OK - now that I have heard back from a few of you, it appears once again that many of you did not receive my e-mail after last week's race with No Lip. Best working theory now is that spam filters on the receiver's end are blocking some of my communications thinking they are a form of mass solicitation.

So for now, I will continue to communicate through blog posts. For those partners wanting a copy of my e-mail from last week, just send me an e-mail directly and I will reply direct to you with a copy of my correspondence that outlines the available options.

RSVP

I still have not heard from a number of partners about my last couple e-mails asking you to confirm your participation beyond 2010 so I am hoping to reach those folks via a blog post. If you have any questions, please contact me directly.

Also, going forward, I will send out fewer e-mails and instead opt for blog posts since e-mail does not appear to be an efficient form of communication. It will be the partners' responsibility to check the blog for updates.

Matt

Back in the game

After more than a 1/2 year away, we finally have a race to look forward to. No Lip makes his debut for us on Wednesday (race 8). In order to avoid a letdown, I am trying to temper my expectations. But after looking at the PPs, this is a very winnable race with nice purse $$.

As I have stated earlier, we undoubtedly need this horse to pan out for us. If not, the prospects for future growth will not look good. How's that for a little pressure on this 2 year-old maiden? I hope he has some broad shoulders.

Communication Test

This is just a test

Upcoming Races

I talked to Tom this morning - the new condition book for Fair Grounds was just made available. The races we will point towards are: a $30k claimer turf sprint for Oculuna on 12/16 and a LA-Bred maiden special race going 2 turns for No Lip on 12/22. As we know, there is no guarantee that these races will fill but it should be likely for the colt and I would say 50/50 for the filly. If this race doesn't go for her, I will look at shipping her somewhere else in an effort to find turf races that will fill.

Photos

A slide show with a few photos from the weekend is now available on the blog.

Turning the page

It’s no secret that our relationship with Jamie has been deteriorating for about a year or so. It was not a question of “if”, but when/how would the relationship end. The answer to those 2 questions came this weekend at Canterbury. Jamie was in town for the Claiming Crown and there was an opportunity to have a face-to-face meeting and put an end to the frustration. When all was said and done, we sold our ownership in Stumbling Block. I will disclose terms of the sale in a later e-mail to WG investors.

Selling the most successful horse in our 5+ year history was not an easy decision and was the last option of the many I considered. But in the end, my motivation to cut ties with Jamie outweighed my desire to hold on to Block. With this chapter coming to an end, I can redirect the time wasted with Jamie to exploring other opportunities. While we have had no runners this year at Canterbury, I have spent time evaluating potential claims as well as planting a few seeds for a possible addition to the stable through a merger with another stable. We will continue talking to Tom about claiming a horse with him.

Also this weekend, I was able to spend a few minutes with Dan Centeno who was in town to ride some horses on Saturday. While “”never” is a strong word, I don’t foresee him riding for us in the future since he was more or less a package deal with Jamie. Therefore, I took the opportunity to thank him for all the great rides he has provided for us over the years at Tampa. He reciprocated the gratitude and we left on good terms.

Running on Borrowed Time

Unless Stumbling Block runs much better than he did last month, Thursday night's race will likely be his last for us. If he runs well, it could mean a couple more races at Presque Isle before deciding what to do with him at the end of the summer. Either way, we are closing in on a resolution to the frustration of the last couple months.

Once that issue is resolved and Oculuna resumes training in a few weeks, I will spend more time on looking into new opportunities.

History repeating itself?

After watching Stumbling Block's disappointing race last night, I came up with a couple possible comparisons. Optimistic: Last fall, after taking a couple months off, Block ran an even fourth in a race at Philly Park and went on to have a productive meet at Tampa. Pessimistic: A couple years ago, after a prolonged stretch of quality races, we saw the performance of Dawn Raider suddenly hit a wall and he was never the same again. Unfortunately, my hunch is that we are about to experience something more along the lines of the latter with Block. Let's hope I'm wrong.

Liquidity is still high and I will keep my eyes and ears open to any opportunities that come along.

Quick Update

I have made a few unsuccessful attempts to buy a horse to run here at Canterbury. With the window on local action closing quickly, I have shifted gears. It will take me a few weeks to sort through the available options.

Wrong Answers

It's safe to assume that I do not have a second career option as a motivational speaker. Whatever it is I am saying to our horses when we watch them run is not working. Clearly, yesterday's race was a HUGE disappointment.

Depsite Oculuna's poor showing, I was very impressed by Arlington Park. Chris has put a slide show on the blog for the pictures I snappeed throughout the day. Judging by the quality, it could also be said that being a photographer is not in my future. It looks like I will be sticking with my day job.

Lots of Questions

Oculuna heads to the Windy City on Sunday for her next race. While the competition looks fair, there are a lot of questions for this filly to answer. She shipped up from KY on Friday, she will have a new pilot, and how she handles the synthetic surface will tell us a lot. Conventional wisdom says that turf horses tend to do well on the fake stuff and we get the services of one of the better jocks Chicago has to offer. However, there are a few of us who will be making the trip to Arlington Park for the day and we all know how successful I have been when traveling to see one of our races. If she can overcome all that, it would be a good sign for what to expect this spring/summer.

A Good Ending

If this was indeed our final race at Tampa, Stumbling Block did what he could to leave a good taste in our month with a well-measured victory. Over the last couple years, he has found the surfaces/surroundings/competition to his liking at Tampa while racking up a total of 6 wins. At this point, my best guess would be that he will return to Pennsylvania for the summer.

As for Oculuna, we will be pointing her to a race on May 9th at Arlington Park in Chicago.

Last Call

When Stumbling Block hits the track on Friday, it may mark the end of an era. While "never" is a powerful word, my guess would be that his race will be the last time we ever run at Tampa Bay Downs. Frequent readers of the blog know that I am quite fond of this track. It is where we had our first win (over 4 years ago) and it is where we have had our most wins and starts. I personally have attended at least a couple dozen days of racing there and would go so far as to consider it our "home" track. As one book closes.....

....As you read with Tom's e-mail this morning, we will be entering Oculuna for what would be our first race at Keeneland. At this point, I would say it is no better than 50/50. First, the race needs to fill and b) we have to make sure it is a reasonable spot for her to run. It is a $100k claiming race and the last thing we need to do with her is run against multiple stakes winning fillies and mares.

Bookend Wins

We ended our meet at the Fair Grounds the same way we started – with a win!! For those who have not yet seen the race, there is a link on the blog (upper left). The first minute of the race looked ominous, but the last 4 seconds was something else. For Oculuna, she earned herself a trip to Kentucky. We are hopeful that there may be a race for her near the end of the Keeneland meet (3rd week of April).

For those who don’t follow closely, Keeneland is arguably one of the 3 most prestigious “boutique” meets in the country along with Saratoga and Del Mar. These meets only last a few weeks at a time, but the quality of racing is second to none. As such, it would be quite a thrill if the filly can make it to a race there for us. If not, her next start would likely be at Churchill Downs or Arlington Park.

Now that the racing for the quarter is complete, I will be sending out the 1Q10 report to the WG partners later this week.

Opposition Unknown

There were a total of 10 horses entered for Oculuna's race on Sunday. It is certain that the race will start w/ no more than 9. One horse is entered "Main Track Only" and thus will scratch if the race stays on the turf. If it comes off the turf, there will likely be a number of scratches. Additionally, 3 of the fillies entered are also ambitiously entered in a stakes race tomorrow in New Orleans. My best guess is somewhere in the neighborhood of 6-7 entrants will vie of the $43k purse on Sunday. We will know more on Friday once the stakes race is run. Either way, let's hope our filly finds the "softer" competition to her liking and grabs a share of that purse $$.

Waste of Time

The flights were delayed and bumpy. The weather was cool and damp. The racing was disappointing. We left town with more questions than answers about Stumbling Block. It was not a great trip to the "sunshine" state. While I have no guess for where and when we'll see Block next, we should see Oculuna race once more in New Orleans in a couple weeks.

Just "O.K."

As the horses were loading into the starting gate today, I was asked for a prediction. Objectively, I offered a “fifth place”. While it wasn’t a lack of confidence in our filly, it was simply that the entire field looked competitive on paper. Therefore, I was not too disappointed in a fourth place finish. There were 3 fillies faster than her today. In fact, she beat a few nice fillies including a pair trained by the best trainer on the planet (Steve Asmussen).
Tom and I discussed multiple theories after the race in an effort to make sense of the race. While we did not reach a consensus on “Why” she ran the way she did, we did agree on the answer to the question “what next?” Assuming she comes out of the race in good shape, we’ll point her towards a race near the end of the month at a lower class level in hopes of finding some softer competition. The end result: her 4th place today still put more $$ in our bank account than Block’s second place effort last week.
Speaking of Stumbling Block, A few of us are heading to Tampa this weekend to check in on him. There is a chance we’ll get to see him run on Saturday if the race fills. Regardless, I will touch base with Jamie to determine what lies ahead for him over the next few months as the Tampa meet winds down.

And the winner is...

I got a call today from the Illinois Thoroughbred Breeders & Owners Foundation - they informed me that Stumbling Block was named the 2009 "Claimer of the Year" in the colts & geldings division. While it is not quite an Eclipse award, we'll take it.

Not so good

Oculuna ran nothing like we thought she would today (6th place). Maybe she will turn out to be more of a sprinter. Back to the drawing board on her. As for Block's race on Saturday, it was frustrating on the far turn as he was shuffled back a handful of lenghts, but he ran on well at the end to cash a decent check. All things considered, a disappointing pair of races that will likely be all of our action for a while.

A Rarity

Oculuna races on Monday. I seem to remember racing on Monday just one other time (Wayuphi a couple years ago in Hawthorne). Yes, it is odd - I can't be 100% sure what I ate for lunch a few days ago, but I can recall a random race day in 2008. In any event, I took a quick look at the field and while it is softer than the stakes race a couple weeks ago, she will still need to be on top of her game to hit the board. As Tom indicated in his e-mail on Monday, strecthing her out around 2 turns is a bit of an unknown that we think she will like.

As for Stumbling Block's race on Saturday, I'll just say this, I would not trade spots with any other owner in the race. It was raining pretty hard at Tampa today. As he has shown in the past, a switch to the dirt will not compromise his chances at all. Although it does appear that at least one other runner (J's Sundance Halo) will appreciate the surface switch as well.

A Good Fifth?

It's not often that I would be satisfied running fifth. However, given the bias against the inside of the track, I thought Oculuna ran a respectable race today. After watching the earlier turf races, it was clear that the jockeys wanted no part of the inside of the course where the footing was softer since taking a majority of the drainage from recent heavy rains. However, with the big field size, we could never get outside and as hard as she tried, it was to no avail. After the race, our jock came back covered in mud - from a race on the grass! It was not meant to be today, but if she comes out of the race in good shape, we'll start looking for the next spot to run.

With today's loss, our hopes of an undefeated year were dashed. Stumbling Block did his part earlier this week as he cruised to a relatively easy score in Tampa and extended his lead as our all-time leader in wins and $$ earned.

In the news

From today's DRF:

Leggio looks like anybody's race
By Abram Himelstein
The words "wide open betting affair" come to mind when looking at the full field in the $75,000 Leggio, a 5 1/2-furlong turf race for fillies and mares.

While the favorite, Coy Cat, has shown her love for the Fair Grounds turf, the 5-year-old mare will not scare off any of her competitors.

Coy Cat is 3 for 3 over the Fair Grounds turf, including a win in the Bienville on last year's Louisiana Derby Day undercard.

She will face many who look like they could get the job done, including longshot Oculuna.
Oculuna won a third-level optional claiming turf sprint here on New Year's Day, coming four wide down the stretch to win by a nose. She only has one functional eye, but her trainer, Tom Amoss, doesn't feel that she is hampered by the limitation on her sight.

"She doesn't even know that she is missing an eye," said Amoss. "She's shown that she likes the track, and shown that she likes this distance at the track."

Deep Waters

Come Saturday night, we’ll know a lot more about Oculuna. The field for her stakes race came up extremely tough. One of the competitors ran a head behind Rachel Alexandra in a stakes race as a 2 year-old. Besides us, there is only one other horse who has ever even been in a claiming race before. The stats don’t favor the inside post - most winners in turf sprints come from posts 5-8. With all that being said, we’ll either get a sobering reality check or know that we have something special in the barn.

While the filly’s race offers a lot of unknowns, I have a pretty good idea how Stumbling Block’s race will unfold on Thursday. He runs against a similar bunch that he has faced at this level before and if the pace and trip are favorable, he has as good as shot as any in the field to get his picture taken.

Video Links

It looks like we will be able to add a link to race replays from the Fair Grounds. For a replay of Oculuna's win, go to the website (upper left corner).

# 100 in the books

Finally, after sitting on 99 wins for almost 3 months, we busted through the century mark in a big way this weekend. The debut of Oculuna was a success as she prevailed despite a rough journey to get up at the wire by the slimmest of margins to notch our milestone victory. She had a tough time running a straight line down the stretch (guessing the absence of a left eye has something to do with that), but once she was able to switch to her right lead, she dug in for the wire and got up by just a few inches - very, very exciting for the few of us in attendance at Canterbury to watch the race on a small computer screen after the track's satellite signal went out.

It didn't take long for us to notch victory # 101 - Stumbling Block showed us today what a difference a jockey can make as he reunited with Centeno to score a convincing win. While today's win meant a lot less financially, it was still great to see our all-time $$ earner become our first horse to get his/her picture taken 7 times. The 7-year old veteran campaigner continues to deliver honest efforts every time we walk him over to the races.

2 victories in 2 days to start the new year. At this pace, we have a shot to win the nation's owner title for 2010. I guess I better get busy and start looking at some more horses to buy if we are to make a run at that title.