High Mileage

When we bought No Lip 8 months ago, he was in Lafayette, La. We brought him to New Orleans for a few races then shipped him to Louisville. From there he made a couple round trips to Shelbyville, IN. Then we sent him back to Lafayette for a race. Back to Louisville and subsequently another race in Shelbyville. That was the end of the road with Tom so we hitched a ride for him to St. Louis. After a week or so there, he was back on a van headed to Shakopee, MN. After a tour of the Midwest, he is set to make his CBY debut tonight.

His performance thus far should be considered a failure given the price we paid. However, IF he were able to win tonight, the purse money would be enough to put the YTD cash flow for the stable in the black. Ultimately, that is the metric I pay the most attention to. Whether it is for a race, a month, a quarter, or for the year if the stable can just balance the inflows/outflows, I will be happy. Given the entertainment value the investment has to offer those wanting to partake, a breakeven scenario is just fine with me.

Angel Sandwich

2 bad races this weekend sandwiched around a good effort from Angel. All 3 were in races that were winnable. The one obvious difference was Angel had the track’s leading jockey in the saddle which definitely helped matters. However, the other 2 should have run better regardless of who was riding them. The other positive from the races is that we should now receive some bonus payments set up for horses whom had races cancelled during the government shutdown. The requirement was that their next race after the shutdown had to be at CBY. Those payments along with earnings from No Lip and Angel will make July a decent month financially.

We have one more shot this month on Thursday with No Lip. While he does face a field that is arguably the softest since his maiden win, the trainer switch from a “Top 10” guy to someone trying to make his mark in this game leaves me realistic about his chances.

Back in the Saddle

It is finally over. In the grand scheme of things, 3 weeks is a relatively short amount of time. However, given the uncertainty involved and the frustration over alternative plans not working out for one reason or another, the shutdown will have a lasting effect. It also represents the longest time I have gone without betting on a horse race in at least 20 years. The worst part is, we didn’t gain anything - either as residents of this state or as racing fans. No one is happy with the solution and the only thing we can do is not vote for any incumbents in the next election. Consider this my small grassroots effort to get some measure of satisfaction. Enough of the political soapbox.

As for the racing action, we have entered races that are very winnable on Friday night. Both Thrill and Angel are at or below prices that we paid for them. As such, they should be able to compete or at the very least hit the board which will help pay the bills that have continued to accumulate. If anyone is interested in seeing No Lip in person, he will be shipped up here on Friday and pointed to a race sometime next week.

Acceptance

Not to sound overly dramatic about the govt. shutdown, but I have come to terms with the likelihood that the remainder of the Canterbury meet will soon be canceled. As textbooks would suggest, this follows stages of anger and denial. That said, we are making plans to relocate the stable – most likely scenario is St. Louis. From there, we’ll be within shipping distance to a handful of tracks including those in Illinois, Nebraska, Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. It is a sad reality, but it is one that I now accept and will try to make the best of. Additionally, on Monday night, we’ll be picking up No Lip from Tom in Indiana and transfer him to Kenny’s barn thus concluding our 2+ year relationship. It was not a good move financially to go with Tom, but I don’t regret taking a swing with him in hopes of landing the “big one”. For now, it makes sense to go with a more economically-feasible model by keeping the horses we have with Kenny and running at lesser-quality tracks. Watch out Omaha – here we come.

Note: all this changes if by some chance a local resolution comes about within the next week or so.

Limbo (continued)

I have no idea when our next race will be. Each day that passes, I become more convinced that the entire meet will be lost at Canterbury. That really puts us in a bind since the last 3 purchases I made were with the specific intent to run and be competitive here. Even if we were allowed to run elsewhere (which currently we are not), I'm not sure we would be all that competitive thus making the expense of shipping unattractive.

Financially, No Lip helped the cause last night with an effort that should cover about a month's worth of expenses for the entire barn. That check along with the pledge from Canterbury Park to compensate horses who were set to run on days that have been lost, will help stabilize things a bit.

Limbo

Day 2 of the government shutdown and we await a judge's ruling for whether or not Canterbury can operate in the interim since they do not rely on any state funding. As we wait, you may see some entries pop up for our horses at Prairie Meadows as a backup plan. I will re-evaluate the situation each day and keep fingers crossed that we will be able to race again soon. Not affected by any of this, we should see an entry for No Lip next week in Indiana.

The quarterly calculation of WG shares yielded an evaluation of $6.75 per share. The cash flow was pretty much flat for the quarter as any purse earnings were used to claim Angel and Blumin Won.