Down to the wire

In the final very cold hours of January we won our first race of the year with a home bred filly by Zavata out of the mare Glimmer Ice. THIN ICE is owned by Penny Lauer and Ralph Piercy. She is part of our Pennsylvania bred string, so we look forward to additional breeders awards in the next ninety days!

We also had a second place at Penn National this month with another home bred, RUNFORHONOR for owners Penny Lauer and Jerry Merritt. As the breeder of this colt, they will also receive additional Pennsylvania Breeder Awards! January is normally a tough month for us due to weather conditions and just getting races to go, so we are very pleased with this win and other placings this month.

Good things to come! BE A PART OF IT!

Eclipse Awards & Common-man vote

2010 Eclipse Award Finalists

HORSE OF THE YEAR Blame and Zenyatta were tied in our vote
TWO-YEAR-OLD MALE Uncle Mo  unanimous
TWO-YEAR-OLD FILLY Awesome Feather unanimous
THREE-YEAR OLD MALE Lookin At Lucky
THREE-YEAR-OLD FILLY Blind Luck
OLDER MALE Blame unanimous
OLDER FEMALE Zenyatta  unanimous
MALE SPRINTER Big Drama
FEMALE SPRINTER Dubai Majesty
MALE TURF HORSE Gio Ponti
FEMALE TURF HORSE Goldikova  unanimous
STEEPLECHASE HORSE Slip Away
OWNER Mr. & Mrs. Jerome S. Moss
BREEDER Claiborne Farm and Adele B. Dilschneider
TRAINER John Shirreffs
JOCKEY Ramon Dominguez
APPRENTICE JOCKEY Angel Serpa

2010 Common Man/Woman Award Finalists

YOUR RACE OF THE YEAR
1)Breeders Cup Classic
2)Rockin Rockstar winning/going from last to first /$100, 000 stake to win by a nose
3)Indiana Downs 7th race 5/22 Shinola
4)Breeders Cup Juvenile
5)Dakota Phone, Breeders Cup Mile
6)October 2 Whistlin’ Jean Hoosier Breeders Sophomore Stakes
NATIONAL RACE OF THE YEAR
1) Breeders Cup Classic
2) Golikova Breeders Cup Filly Turf
3) Breeders Cup Mile Turf
PERSON AND/OR GROUP THAT DID THE MOST FOR RACING
1)Moss/Shirriffs and team Zenyatta
2) Mike and Penny Lauer
PERSON AND/OR GROUP THAT DID THE LEAST (OR MOST DAMAGE) TO RACING
1) Frank Stronach
2) David Williams
3) KY Legislature
4) KHRC
5) NTRA
6) Life at Ten Fiasco at the Breeders Cup
7) To many to list!
I do think having the Eclipse Awards dinner tonight is a rather poor choice. It is a National Holiday as well as a huge day for the NBA. Every team plays today beginning at 1pm. It is their big day in mid season. There are also many big college basketball games scheduled today. If they had just pushed it until Tuesday, they would get more coverage and would have been more prominent in the sports world.

Football

Don't forget about the BCS Championship Football Game tonight. Don't under estimate the Oregon Team. If you remember they played Ohio State very tough in the Rose Bowl last year. So that is my pick, Oregon.

News and Eclipse Finalists Voting

We have been gone on a short trip with the family for the annual board meeting and have returned refreshed with high hopes and aspirations for 2011.
 
Today was the first visit to Keeneland for inspection as the January Mixed Sale begins tomorrow. The sale is full of racing age prospects as well as mares and yearlings. You can definitely pick up a useful horse in this sale. Now is the time to be getting in to have a horse ready to run this year.
 
The majority of the racing string is settled in at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs Arkansas preparing for the opening of the meet on the 14th of January. We still have a few at Turfway Park in Florence, KY and a few Pennsylvania Bred's at Penn National. Most of the Indiana Bred's are still turned out but will be returning to training soon in order to prepare for the meet that opens in April. The Two Year Olds (foals of 2009) are all broke and some are in South Carolina putting miles under the belt. Others are turned out and will resume training shortly. With Churchill Downs and Trackside being closed this winter, it has made us rearrange the winter training program slightly.
 
On the 22nd of January we will be attending the Indiana Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association Annual Awards Banquet and meeting. (We hope we will take something home.) They also have a silent auction to help support ITOBA and would gladly accept any donations to that auction if anyone is interested. If any of you would like to become a member, attend the annual dinner/dance you can learn more by going to their site. www.itoba.com
 
Now, we present the annual Eclipse Balloting for the common man and woman. Not like the real eclipse award voters where probably over half don't go to the races more than ten times a year. Awards balloting by the fans works for the NBA, NHL and Major League Baseball but for some reason horse racing doesn't use it. Here is your chance to speak your mind. Please register your votes by January 15th. We will announce the picks on Sunday, January 16th, one day prior to the 40th Annual Eclipse Dinner that is being held in Miami  Beach at the Fontainebleau hotel. Below are the categories to be voted for as well as a few of our own.
 
 2010 Eclipse Award Finalists
 
HORSE OF THE YEAR   Blame, Goldikova, Zenyatta
TWO-YEAR-OLD MALE    Boys at Tosconova,To Honor and Serve, Uncle Mo
TWO-YEAR-OLD FILLY    Awesome Feather, R Heat Lightning
THREE-YEAR OLD MALE    Eskendereya, Lookin At Lucky, Paddy O'Prado
THREE-YEAR-OLD FILLY    Blind Luck, Evening Jewel, Havre de Grace
OLDER MALE    Blame, Quality Road, Richard's Kid
OLDER FEMALE   Life at Ten, Unrivaled Belle, Zenyatta
MALE SPRINTER   Big Drama, Majesticperfection, Smiling Tiger
FEMALE SPRINTER   Champagne d'Oro, Dubai Majesty, Rightly So
MALE TURF HORSE   Dangerous Midge, Gio Ponti, Winchester
FEMALE TURF HORSE   Goldikova, Proviso, Tuscan Evening
STEEPLECHASE HORSE   Arcadius, Percussionist, Slip Away
OWNER    Claiborne Farm and Adele B. Dilschneider, Mr. & Mrs. Jerome S. Moss, WinStar Farm
BREEDER    Adena Springs, Claiborne Farm and Adele B. Dilschneider, Brereton C. Jones
TRAINER   Bob Baffert, Todd Pletcher, John Shirreffs
JOCKEY   Ramon Dominguez, Garrett Gomez, John Velazquez
APPRENTICE JOCKEY   Forest Boyce, Omar Moreno, Angel Serpa
 
2010 Common Man/Woman Award Finalists
 
YOUR RACE OF THE YEAR   1)                                                                                                            
NATIONAL RACE OF THE YEAR   1)                                                                                                     
PERSON AND/OR GROUP THAT DID THE MOST FOR RACING 1)
PERSON AND/OR GROUP THAT DID THE LEAST (OR MOST DAMAGE) TO RACING 1)
 
 
Anyone can vote! Husband, Wife, Sons, Daughters, boyfriends, girlfriends, sister, cousin, uncle ,aunt, grandmother, grandfather, mom and dad. Just copy and paste the list, highlight or write in your choice and email your response to Melracing@aol.com by Saturday, January 15, 2011. You can also answer right in the comment area on this blog.
 

Record Year

The stable has had a record 2010 ending with 42 wins, 41 seconds, and 37 thirds. Purse money totaled more than $1,167,877.00.

We hope to win more races and more purse money in 2011. We also hope to increase our quality. This is still the greatest sport played outdoors.

The January Sales begin on the 10th and we will be there hunting. It is a great spot to increase or begin your stable. We would love for you to be part of our 2011 statistics.

We wish you all a prosperous New Year!