Ready to Thrill lived up to his name and gave at least 50 of us in attendance a thrill on Sunday by winning our return race at Canterbury. Paul gave him a perfect ride and saved just enough energy to score the victory. Afterwards, we all piled into the winner's circle for a long-awaited photo. We'll give him a few weeks to recover and look for another race in mid to late June.
Angel should be ready for her WG debut next weekend and we will try to find a race for her that makes sense. While I have not spoken with Tom for a few days, I would suspect No Lip will be racing again soon.
Tuesday, May 31, 2011
Friday, May 27, 2011
Return to Canterbury
It has been almost 2 years since our last race at Canterbury. Sunday will mark the return of the blue, black and gold silks at my home track. While it is not the most economically viable place to run and management continues to make many questionable decisions, it is still a special place for me. It is a facility that houses over 2 decades of memories for me dating back to times when I had to have my friend's dad place my bets.
As for the race itself, it will be Ready to Thrill's first time against winners. A quick look at the competitors says we should compete and if his odds stay at or near his morning line (8-1), it would be worth the gamble. While I do want to see what he does on the turf, I wouldn't complain if the race was rained off. Hope to see some of the locally based partners on Sunday.
As for the race itself, it will be Ready to Thrill's first time against winners. A quick look at the competitors says we should compete and if his odds stay at or near his morning line (8-1), it would be worth the gamble. While I do want to see what he does on the turf, I wouldn't complain if the race was rained off. Hope to see some of the locally based partners on Sunday.
Monday, May 23, 2011
An Angel In The Barn
On opening night at Canterbury, we made the first claim of the season. We bought the winner of race 3 - a 4 year old filly named Afleetmovinangel. Friday night's win was the second of her career so we have a few conditions to run through.
"Angel" is a distant relative of one of my favorite horses ever to run an Canterbury - Afleet Angel and she is the daughter of Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner - Afleet Alex. For those with access to Saturday's Star Tribune, her picture is plastered on the back page of the Sports section.
Ready to Thrill is ready for a race - hopefully, we find a race for him next weekend.
"Angel" is a distant relative of one of my favorite horses ever to run an Canterbury - Afleet Angel and she is the daughter of Preakness and Belmont Stakes winner - Afleet Alex. For those with access to Saturday's Star Tribune, her picture is plastered on the back page of the Sports section.
Ready to Thrill is ready for a race - hopefully, we find a race for him next weekend.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
One mystery solved
It was early evening on Tuesday and I had two mysteries on my mind. What to do with No Lip and where was my missing sock after folding a load of laundry? It took about 20 minutes, but after searching every article of clothing, there it was clinging to a pair of boxer shorts.
I only wish the other mystery was as easily solved. For the record, it wasn't a terrible race, but it was not good enough to warrant keeping him there. I was all set to ask Tom to put him on a van and ship him up to Canterbury. However, he once again offered to waive his training fees until his next race. That race will come in a few weeks and right now the thought is to get him back on the grass somewhere and possibly look at going two turns again. Either way, the prospect of no fees was better than the reduced fees up here.
I only wish the other mystery was as easily solved. For the record, it wasn't a terrible race, but it was not good enough to warrant keeping him there. I was all set to ask Tom to put him on a van and ship him up to Canterbury. However, he once again offered to waive his training fees until his next race. That race will come in a few weeks and right now the thought is to get him back on the grass somewhere and possibly look at going two turns again. Either way, the prospect of no fees was better than the reduced fees up here.
Monday, May 16, 2011
Odds n' ends
We came close to buying a horse this weekend. An agreement was in place, but he did not pass the final vet inspection.
Ready to Thrill arrived in MN last week. He is still on schedule to enter a race at CBY on May 27th.
No Lip gets what could be his last try in Indiana/Kentucky on Tuesday. If he does not run reasonably well, I can’t justify keeping him with Tom. We can ship him up here and run for half the purses and about 40% less expense. The unfortunate part of that scenario is that it would likely sever our ties with Tom and subsequently make it that much harder to re-enter the higher-end market.
Ready to Thrill arrived in MN last week. He is still on schedule to enter a race at CBY on May 27th.
No Lip gets what could be his last try in Indiana/Kentucky on Tuesday. If he does not run reasonably well, I can’t justify keeping him with Tom. We can ship him up here and run for half the purses and about 40% less expense. The unfortunate part of that scenario is that it would likely sever our ties with Tom and subsequently make it that much harder to re-enter the higher-end market.
Monday, May 2, 2011
No longer a Maiden
One of the advantages of buying a cheap horse is the potential of it paying for itself in a relatively short amount of time. We managed to do just that in one race with Ready to Thrill on Friday night. While I was watching the race in a hotel lobby in Kansas City utilizing a less than powerful WiFi connection on my IPad, I was able to see enough to get the general idea that he ran a pretty good race. Going forward, the hope is that he will stay sound enough throughout the summer up at Canterbury to at least pay for his upkeep expenses. A quick look at the condition book suggests that his first race up here could come on May 27th.
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