So you want to be a horse owner or trainer?

In speaking to Chuck this week, he said something that was very telling about owning and training horses. "So much has to go right and something so little can go wrong, and there goes 45 days when something does go wrong. People think this is so easy, from the outside, it is a piece a cake, and not until you are entrenched do people realize how difficult this business really is" Difficult is describing the last ten or so days for the BGR team nicely. We have had to have the intestinal fortitude of Takeru Kobayashi(hot dog eating champion) to handle it.

Both Big Shake and Albin were pointing to races 10 days ago and have now been shelved for 4-5 months. Chuck's assistant trainer, Cherie DeVaux, sensed something wrong with Big Shake after her routine overview of the horse that she does every morning. He had some 'slight' pressure in one of his front ankles. We have always, always taken the cautious approach in caring for these horses, it is a core belief for both myself and Chuck. We went ahead and took some X-rays and it ended up being a non-displaced chip. While in surgery, they took a picture of the other ankle for comparsion purposes and found a chip in that ankle and took that out also. His surgery went great and he has been sent to Shane Tripp's farm and will go through the normal recovery process under his watchful eye. He should have a 100% recovery and while there is no way to tell if it has affected his performance, he should be better off in the long run. We are hoping for an Arlington start in September for him.

Albin worked the other day in which was described as his best work since our exercise rider, Rusty, has gotten on him. He came back to the barn, cooled out great, bathed and turned out, only for him to see him 'off' in his turnout paddock. X-rays revealed a hairline fracture of his rear cannon bone. The emotion of having Chuck call me and say about how great he worked and hear the excitement in his voice, only to get another call literally 3 hours later with this news, well you can imagine it. His surgery went great and he is now Big Shake's stablemate at Shane's. He should also have a 100% recovery, but no timetable has been set for his return.

Today was the kicker as we had a feeling something was going to happen going by the "everything happens in 3's" belief, I just wish it wasn't as serious as it was. Bob's Bean colic'd this morning in what was called a mild case. She was ok'd by her vet to go ahead and be bred today and while she was getting ready to be bred to Notional at Spendthrift Farm, she colic'd again and was rushed to the equine hospital. I was called and was told she needed to have surgery or she would have to be euthanized because of the pain she was suffering. Surgery was chosen, but imagine having that slammed on you on moments notice. She is reported to be doing well after surgery and she is gonna get some R&R this year. Unfortunately this will mean she will not be able to nurture her newly born Johar Filly and a nurse mare will be brought in to care for her.

Soooooo, onto the other healthy horses :) What a last ten days.

Appoint came out of her race in great shape. She just started to get going when she crossed the finish line in the 6.5 furlong sprint and was close to impossible to pull up. While her running line looks bad, it was a great result for us as this was a prep race for an open route race towards the end of April at Indiana Downs. Because of her Indiana bred status, we will run for 25% bonus on the purse, and this will set her up perfectly for a win in her next start on May 24th.

Rochelle Rochelle has been training forwardly, Chuck has been real happy with Gondorf's feet as they have been trouble free since being re shod and Mizz Liza is on light duty until she arrives next week at Arlington.

Because of the rash of injuries, we have decided to bring Cool Clue back to Arlington Park for this summer. While the purses are lower here at Arlington, he would be a local runner and his best race to date, speed figure wise, was routing at Keeneland, on the same surface as Arlington has installed. He should be the useful type here and hopefully we can win a couple races with him here.

Colonel Klink runs tomorrow at Keeneland in what is a salty open non-winners of one allowance race. His best race to date was sprinting on the polytrack at Arlington when he broke his maiden last year, and we believe he wants every piece of the 7 furlong distance. This is a big test for the huge Military gelding. While we feel he is a real good IL bred, a good performance in this spot would open up a plethora of spots. At the very least he will be ready and in form come Arlington's opening week.

As for the two year olds, we got some good news this week as Surfer Rosa surprised Shane with a 24.2 work out of the gate. I spoke with Shane about 3 weeks ago and he was a little 'down' on how she was training. He said when the weather started to get warmer that she really turned around and was a little shocked at her performance yesterday. She was suppose to go around 28.0 so that was great to hear. The Magic Bus continues to turn eyes even though Shane tries to keep me in check in regards to expectations. Both Mr Mojo Risin and Prospect Knight have really improved after they were gelded and have been training alot better.

The horses can't get to Arlington fast enough right now, they are set to arrive in about 6 days on Wednesday. Gondorf, Appoint, Mizz Liza, and Rochelle Rochelle will be on Wednesday's shipment, and Colonel Klink and Cool Clue will be on Thursday's truck.