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.