Hello, 2013!

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We just sent most of the horses to Hot Springs to prepare for opening day on January 11th a Oaklawn Park. We do have a few at Penn National as well as locally to run for the winter. The winter does not give you as many options as summer for places to run so we have to divide them up a little more.

2012 overall was good as we finished the year with 46 wins, just shy of our goal of 50. Some of those 60 second places and 62 third places should have been wins. We won races at Beulah Park, Mountaineer Park, River Downs, Turfway Park, Presque Isle, Parx, Penn National, Indiana Downs, Hoosier Park, Oaklawn and Keeneland. We placed in stakes at Penn National, Hoosier Park, Indiana Downs and Oaklawn Park.The stable had total earnings right at  $1.6 million which is the best we have ever done.

We had SCATMAN (who was one of the better horses I have ever trained) and he gave us another little taste of The Derby Trail. He started the year with a win in January at Oaklawn Park then ran a 2nd in the Grade III Southwest Stakes and a 3rd in the Grade II Rebel. He was a neat little horse.

The homebred’s won the largest amount of purse money for the stable. DREAMIN BIG was the big winner, winning four in a row. SNEAKIN AWAY won a stake for owners Jerry Merritt and Penny Lauer earning just under $100,000 for the year. GLOSSED AND FOUND and PRIZE WINNER were also stakes placed.

We bought three horses out of the Fasig Tipton February Mixed Sale and had 5 wins, a stakes placing as well as other placing’s winning over $120,000 for the year.

Highlights and Lowlights of 2012

Highlight: Scatman running a 2nd and 3rd in Graded Stakes.

Highlight: Dreamin Big winning 4 in a row. Lowlight: When they didn’t move the gate at Hoosier Park during a race and she came around and was one of the few that hit the gate.

Highlight: Best ride of the year was on Prize Winner at Penn National. She was at the back of the pack going a mile, slowly moved up cutting the corner and gradually wore down the winner. Great ride by David Cora.

 

Personal Highlights of 2012

Re election to the Indiana HBPA Board.

Our oldest daughter Elizabeth traveled to Africa, met the President at his Christmas Party and served over 130 clients with her photography business.

Our middle daughter Sara married in October to (our new son in law- Justen) and we had our first wedding reception here on the farm. It was a lot of fun.

Our youngest daughter Abby graduated from High School and went off to college in the fall. (We are now experiencing a little bit of empty nesting.)

This year the goal is to win at least 50 races and have more win’s than seconds. We appreciate all the help you give us, as without you and your horses it wouldn’t be possible.

 

Lasix Laws & Scratches

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I had a horse scratched today in the tenth race at Churchill after two state-employed veterinarians gave the horse two Lasix shots about 25 minutes apart.  Even though the horse is allowed to run with the maximum of 10 cc’s of Lasix, the stewards said the horse must be scratched as the horse is only allowed one shot of lasix. We were given two shots of 5cc’s each. This is not the first horse to be scratched from a race since this new rule that pre race lasix must be given by state-employed veterinarians only.

October Recap!

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October has ended and we have surpassed a million and a half for stable earnings this month (year to date). We are not at our all time high, but getting close. We are up to 42 winners which is below the number of winners we had in 2011. The Hoosier Park meet ended leaving us with 13 wins and 21 seconds. We were less than $20,000 behind the leading money winning trainer. We had set a goal of 15 wins for the meet and got oh so close. We won one stake and finished second in a couple of others. The last week was kind of typical of our meet. We had 4 seconds (one was a win and they took our number down and placed us second) another filly HARBOR CAT also finished 2nd in “The Miss Indiana Stakes” and our homebred filly DREAMIN BIG who was on a four in a row winning streak finished 3rd in the $200,000 Frances Slocum Stakes. This was the filly that was involved in the gate debacle and has never been the same since colliding with the gate they didn’t get moved out of the stretch. It is a shame as this was the race we had been pointing for all year and she had never finished anything less than 2nd in her career until the other day.

Churchill Downs opened on Sunday October 28th, the day after Keeneland and Hoosier Park closed. It runs until Saturday after Thanksgiving and is a great place to claim a horse to run through the winter. We are going to Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Arkansas for the winter where maiden special races will run for a purse of $53,000 which is more than either Keeneland or Churchill. If you have never been t Hot Springs, this is a great spot to come and go to the races. The town is very welcoming and the atmosphere is casual. All the locals are glad to see us back every year. One of the few places where the town really puts out the welcome mat for horseman.

The November Breeding Stock sale begins at Fasig Tipton on Sunday, November 4th and Keeneland begins on Tuesday the 6th. It is a mixed sale. They sell racing stock, broodmares, weanlings and is a great place to get a horse. If you need any tax breaks for the year, this is a good spot to fill the need.

Two more months left in 2012 and we will be racing around this area and try to stock up for Hot Springs.

The Breeders Cup begins Friday and is held at Santa Anita this year. I haven’t gone through all the races, but I do like a filly in the Juvenile Turf tomorrow. SPRING VENTURE has raced three times in Canada and has won all three. She has ran on grass and poly. Still reading the form, so may post again if I find anything else I really like. But, bet with both hands. Good Luck!

Remember to set your clocks back on Saturday and go out and support your local (or any) track.