As the Arlington meet closes and our horses ship out on Thursday to Churchill Downs Training Center for the fall, you can't help and look back on the Arlington meet and consider it unsuccessful. It is considered our target every year and our stable just couldn't get it done. You try and plan what you can, but you come back to reality pretty quick and realize that you are dealing with animals.
As the final quarter of the year begins, our stable roster has gone through significant changes from Q2 and even Q3. We have streamlined our operation to be as cost efficient as possible, but this has cut down on our starts and earning potential. We have approximetely 16 more starts this year and hopefully we can make the most of them. We have also made the decision to not add any yearlings to the roster as a majority of our past expenses within a year have been the addition of horse flesh.
Prospect Knight is our next starter and he has drawn into a great spot at Parx Racing at Philly Park on Saturday. Saturday is a big racing day for Philly Park as the Penn Derby is being run, and the racing office has increased purses for the day. We are running in a maiden claimer with a price tag of 40k, and the purse is 51k. It is an unbelievable opportunity to earn some good money and entries for the day (123 entries, 10.25 avg per race) show that horseman will run their horses when cash is available. The Pennslyvania horseman and politicals really 'get it' there.
The opposite end of the spectrum is Illinois. Arlington Park has had by all accounts a horrible meet and it continued to get worse. Gondorf was stuck in the middle of a battle between the racing office and upper management as upper management restricted the amount of money available to the racing office to give away. This led the racing office to 'hold' Gondorf's race, which has 10 horses consistently entered for a couple days because they couldn't give away the higher purses that an MSW offers. It is unbelievably frustrating to know that your horse is sitting on a race, you enter, the race fills, but then they are not allowed to use the race. This business is hard enough as it is, one minor thing sets you back for weeks at a time, yet it feels like racetracks run by corportations just don't understand that racing is the centerpoint.
Gondorf ran on Sunday and while it was a good race, you always hope for a better placing. He came out of the race in good order and will finally get an opportunity to run on the polytrack, at Keeneland on October 16th.
The Magic Bus made it back to the work tab Sunday after we gave him a little time to get through some baby stuff. He has matured and grown and we are hoping to have him ready for an MSW race at Keeneland on October 16th.
Surfer Rosa came out of her work with her lungs full of mucus and we will treat her aggressively to have her ready for October 16th. We decided to skip a potential race at Kentucky Downs to focus on our primary target since we started breaking her, a Starter allowance race going 6.5 furlongs on the polytrack at Keeneland.
Mizz Liza threw in a weird race the other day as she never settled. She was antsy from the get go and we really can't figure out why. We did all the processes and checked everything and she is OK. We will give her some downtime and focus her for a race towards the end of the Keeneland meet on the polytrack, hopefully going 9 furlongs.
Rochelle Rochelle got really tired in her return to dirt on Sunday. She has been the project horse since we started with her, and time is ticking. She is projected to run a much better race next time, October 11th at Philly Park.
Mr Mojo Risin is reportly doing well as he progressed under the tuteledge of Shane Tripp down in Ocala, Fl. We are hoping to have him ready to run January 1st at Tampa Bay Downs.
Albin has progressed slowly and while we are hopeful for a January 1st return, it is probably going to take a little longer then that.
The mares and foals are doing great. They are doing wonderful and were just nominated to The Jockey Club. It is great having some decent looking IL breds in the pipeline, now only if they ran races for yearlings.
Monday, September 20, 2010
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Excitement high!
With today being September 1st (whoa, where did the time go) it also close to the end of the racing season at Arlington Park, as well as excitement within the BGR stable. Our stable is finally in full racing mode after several setbacks this year and with all the horses healthy, it is somewhat hard to contain ourselves.
Gondorf ran by far the race of his life in defeat last Friday as we rose him up in class and he responded. Getting hounded the whole race, he put away the other speed horse away and opened up 3 lengths at the 1/4 pole to get run down by a closer to lose the race by a length. It was a gritty effort where he showed us he wanted to be a racehorse. We have been patient with him as his breeding is more geared towards being an older horse. Unfortunately he really isn't concerned with his own well being as he continues to misbehave in his stall, daily. :) He improved several lengths from his last start, getting a 79 Beyer, and will be the favorite in his targeted race on the 17th at Arlington Park, which is most likely our last starter of the meet.
Mizz Liza and Surfer Rosa are continuing to prepare for their respective starts which will be at Kentucky Downs on September 13th. They both have kept their condition and look great.
Prospect Knight and Rochelle Rochelle leave tomorrow for Parx Racing, which is formerly Philadelphia Park.
Big Shake works tomorrow morning and will target a race at Kentucky Downs towards the end of September.
The Magic Bus is back in full training and had a visit with the back doctor and all systems are a go for him. He has gone to the track the last couple days and he looked great. Keeneland's condition book came out today and October 16th has been penciled in for the Franchise's debut. Depending on some of our September starts, we could have as many as 3 starters that day.
Reports from Shane Tripp down in Ocala have Mr Mojo Risin doing well and training forwardly. Albin is still on stall rest and we will be starting a medication cycle with him to help him along.
Gondorf ran by far the race of his life in defeat last Friday as we rose him up in class and he responded. Getting hounded the whole race, he put away the other speed horse away and opened up 3 lengths at the 1/4 pole to get run down by a closer to lose the race by a length. It was a gritty effort where he showed us he wanted to be a racehorse. We have been patient with him as his breeding is more geared towards being an older horse. Unfortunately he really isn't concerned with his own well being as he continues to misbehave in his stall, daily. :) He improved several lengths from his last start, getting a 79 Beyer, and will be the favorite in his targeted race on the 17th at Arlington Park, which is most likely our last starter of the meet.
Mizz Liza and Surfer Rosa are continuing to prepare for their respective starts which will be at Kentucky Downs on September 13th. They both have kept their condition and look great.
Prospect Knight and Rochelle Rochelle leave tomorrow for Parx Racing, which is formerly Philadelphia Park.
Big Shake works tomorrow morning and will target a race at Kentucky Downs towards the end of September.
The Magic Bus is back in full training and had a visit with the back doctor and all systems are a go for him. He has gone to the track the last couple days and he looked great. Keeneland's condition book came out today and October 16th has been penciled in for the Franchise's debut. Depending on some of our September starts, we could have as many as 3 starters that day.
Reports from Shane Tripp down in Ocala have Mr Mojo Risin doing well and training forwardly. Albin is still on stall rest and we will be starting a medication cycle with him to help him along.
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