Well Worth The Drive

No matter how many times we do the drive, we always get to that point.  That point is about 10 minutes south on Highway 394.  At that point, we are about two and a half hours into trip and everyone in the car is reminded of one simple fact: Madison, Wisconsin is a long ways from Balmoral Park.  Roughly fifteen minutes later, we pull into the parking lot, get out of the car, stretch and begin the walk back to the barn to see In Over My Head.  Despite the long drive, it is at that point we are reminded of another simple fact: there is no other place we’d rather be.

This familiar scenario played out this Saturday night as Laura and I headed down to watch Mo attempt to pickup back to back wins.  Due to graduation season, Mo has not had the same level of fans down at the track.  Laura and I missed last week due to her graduation (congrats Dr. Laura!) and this week Danny missed due to Kacy’s graduation (congrats Kacy!).  While I can’t provide a written report as to how things went at Maywood two weeks back, we have something even better:  video documentation!  Danny’s decision to invest in a flip camera phone is paying dividends to In Over My Head fans everywhere.  Check out his the impressive video work in the link below to get a behind the scenes look of race day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgymqqBGHXY

In his win last Friday at Maywood, Mo looked very impressive.  It was the kind of mile that reminds you just how much talent he has.  The same talent that he talked about in his interview posted here last week!  (As a side note, I got some good feedback from that “story”, so I’ll do my best to get more interviews with Mo as the season goes along…sometimes he is more talkative than others.  There are a few other stories that I’d like to bring everyone up to speed on, including a potential love story swirling around the barns in Marengo.  It seems Mo might be a little sweet on a mare that trains out there.  More on that later, so keep checking out the blog.)

Back to Saturday.  As I’ve mentioned before, there is no better way to justify five and a five and a half hour car ride than to see a victory.  We knew he was sharp and was taking on a tougher field, but in the end it was all about Mo. After getting to the half in a very slow 57.1, Mo was in a spot where he would have to close like a bleeping freight train (his words).  And that is exactly what he did.  He finally pulled even with the leader, St. David Hanover, with about a 1/16 of a mile to go and then put him away in deep stretch to get the win in 1.51.3.  His 2nd halftime was 53.3.  I’m not exactly sure how to put that into context, but just know that Mo was flying.

What was most interesting to me was what this race DIDN’T feel like.  It didn’t feel dramatic.  It didn’t feel like some sort of milestone had been accomplished.  It didn’t feel like a race where we were on pins and needles hoping he’d come out of it healthy.  It just felt…normal.  You can probably tell from my “matter of fact” entry that this wasn’t a week that was hinging on high levels of emotion.  It was just a regular race on a regular week and In Over My Head raced to his regularly high (very high) level.  And how DOES that feel you may ask?  It feels pretty damn good.

So here we sit.  It is May30th.  In Over My Head has just posted back to back wins and is feeling great.  He is getting this week off and in two week she will be back at Balmoral taking on the toughest horses in Chicago in the Invitational.  No matter what happens in that race, we have all summer and fall to watch him race.  We’ve waited so long for this and now we are finally here….and there is no other place we’d rather be.

Let’s Go Mo!

If Horses Could Talk....

Well, apparently they can!  I found this interesting piece in an unnamed newspaper writen by an unnamed author.  Those details don't really matter...just enjoy a little time with In Over My Head.

I Hear The Train A-Coming

Local horse In Over My Head looking forward to Friday's race

In Over My Head is no ordinary race horse. The six year old standardbred has a put up a nice career in his four seasons on the track. He’s had multiple stakes wins, boasts a 34% career win percentage and has finished in the top three in 59% of his starts. However, as he prepares to get back to the track this Friday at Maywood Park, he only has one thing on his mind:

Unfinished business.

“My resume simply doesn’t match my ability,” the friendly, but confident horse told me on Tuesday when we sat down for an interview. “The stakes wins show who I am as a horse and what I should be week in and week out. However, I’ve just had to battle some injuries over my career that have muted my lifetime achievements a bit.”

Injuries in horse racing are a way of life and for In Over My Head (aka “Mo”) things were great up until the third start of his four year old season. In a series final at the Meadowlands, he tore his right front suspensory, a very serious injury that ended up costing him 20 month of racing. He returned late last year to a light schedule, but after just one start in 2012, he was out again. Friday night will mark his first start since March 24th. Can he stay healthy? Mo certainly thinks so.

“Everyone gets their fair share of back luck. I’ve certainly had mine, but I’m hoping we have a nice consistent run of racing in front of us. I just try not to think about too much.”

What he does think about is how to keep things light around the barn with his stablemates. Known for his practical jokes, In Over My Head pull what he called a “classic barn joke” on Friday night competitor.

“KB (Kaydon Begone) is a friend of mine and his trainer has stalls out at Butenschoen’s. We’ve been talking for a few weeks that we might face off at some point and sure enough we are in to go on Friday as the first and second favorite (In Over My Head is 5-2 and Kaydone Begone is 3-1). So on Tuesday night I snuck out and lit off a bunch of firecrackers right outside his stall. He about jumped through the roof! He was a little ticked, but it is all in good fun. I’m sure he’ll try and get me back sometime.”

When asked how he snuck out of his stall, Mo just smiled and said “if I told you, I wouldn’t be able to get out anymore.”

One area where In Over My Head got a little more serious was when talking about his last race when he was forced to chase Firstclassalltheway who won in a jaw dropping 1.49.3. In Over My Head was actually closing on him in the stretch despite battling what turned out to be a strain in his other leg. It was deep stretch chase that could have played a role in him missing the past month plus.

“That was a tough one to walk into off a break. Who would have guessed that would have gone so fast? I don’t think it has gone that fast ever since even in the warmer weather. All I know is that if I ever get another shot at him (Firstclassalltheway), I don’t plan on losing. As for this week, I’ll go ahead and try take out some frustration on to use his stablemate (Lazy Lizard who shares the same trainer as Firstclassalltheway) and we can go from there.”

The striking brown horse has been spending most of his recent racing days down at Balmoral Park on the big mile oval, but this Friday will mark his return to the spot of his greatest achievement where he won the 2009 Windy City Pace as a 55-1 longshot. It was a night that was still very fresh in his mind.

“Friday is going to be a special day being back at Maywood Park. I remember the Windy City pace like it was yesterday. No one gave me a chance, but I knew I could whip those big name ship-in horses. Heck, we were at my home track! I had to stand up for all the horses and horse people of Chicago. They had no idea what was coming. In warmups I kept telling Dale (Hiteman) to let me cut the mile, but he had other plans. Guess that’s why he’s the driver and I’m the horse.”

While Friday will not be a reunion with his driver from the Windy City Pace, In Over My Head will be pulling his more regular driver, Marcus Miller, around the half mile track. Miller, a young star on the Chicago circuit, has carved out quite a career with Mo. In nine career starts together, team Miller-Mo has won six times for an impressive winning percentage of 67%.

“Having Marcus drive me is like having Richard Petty in the drivers seat of a stock car. I don’t even have to think. All I do is take his command and go when he asks. I’m just happy he likes driving me.”

One thing is for certain, In Over My Head is ready for Friday. He says he is in great shape despite the layoff and expects to be there at the end as the horses turn for home.

“You never know how the race will shake out trip wise, but I can tell you this. Coming out of that last turn I’ll be closing like a (explicative) freight train.”

For his competitors, the wire may not come fast enough.

One Step Closer to Being Back

Fortunately or unfortunately, we are getting pretty good at this whole come back from injury thing.  This time what we were dealing with was just few week setback  and on Thursday Mo showed us he is getting very close to ready. 

We decided to qualify him at Maywood as opposed to his going down to Balmoral.  He hadn’t been on the half mile oval since May 19, 2009 and just like that night he crossed the finish line first.  This time by 10 lengths in a very nice time of 1.56.2.  As excited as we were by his race, we were just as excited that he came out of it well. 

You can watch the qualifer by going to the link below.  In Over My Head is the #1 horse:

http://www.maywoodpark.com/pages/RaceReplays.cfm

 - use the dropdown to go to (Maywood Park (Qualifiers)
 - Click on Thursday, May 3rd
 - Race 3

The current plan is to give him next week off and then it is back to the races the week after.  Hopefully this time it will be for the duration of the season.

Let’s Go Mo!

Finally...an update

Hello In Over My Head fans! So, you are probably all wondering what in the heck happened. As you may remember, Mo last raced on March 24th where he finished second in a snappy 1.50.3. Not long after, I disappeared. As you probably figured out, Mo wasn’t racing and here is why:

- He ended up tweaking something at some point, which came to everyone’s attention a couple days after the race. No one thought it was anything major, but these kinds of things always cause concern.
- We spent a few days hoping for the best, but fearing the worst
- It turned out to be minor and unrelated to his previous injury (great news)
- This week he is back to doing training miles
- We will likely qualify in a week or two and expect him to be back into full race mode thereafter

So, in the end we had a little scare that luckily turned out to be a minor setback. Not fun, but not the end of the world either. Most importantly, he’s feeling good and we are expecting him to be ready to roll soon.

In the meantime, Danny put together a little video with footage from our trip down to the track on the 24th. This is really cool and very well done. Enjoy and hopefully we will be checking in soon with more information on upcoming races!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzCMVzR2oOk&context=C4840db5ADvjVQa1PpcFOaJro4JtEpKDto6_IgpkEJDlUE25rG_ns=

Let’s go Mo!

Reaching New Heights

None of us thought Saturday’s race would produce any new milestones. Our expectations were rather simple. Drive down to Balmoral Park for a fun night at the track, spend some time with In Over My Head (we hadn’t seen him in awhile), watch him race, then head home. We expected him to race well, but weren’t sure how much the 3 month layoff would affect his performance. Much of that would depend on the rest of the field (which was rather tough) and how the race set up. We watched Chicago’s unofficial champion Well To Do Guru finish a hard closing 3rd in the Invitational early in the night and thought that it might be a potential preview of what Mo’s race might be like. As it turned out, it was.

The fun of the night started back at the barn when we stopped in to see Mo. We hadn’t seen him in weeks and weren’t sure what kind of reception we would get, but our questions were answered immediately. I think he actually heard us before he saw us and instantly tried to climb over the gate and get our attention. I’m not sure who was more happy to see each other: us to see Mo or Mo to see us!

Thanks to the wonders of technology (and Danny’s new mini video camera), we can give you all a view into what Mo is like before the race during our visits (this snippet was when Laura told me to pose for a picture in front of his stall…he obviously wasn’t in the mood to stand and pose.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMUkizm60kI&context=C4d5a840ADvjVQa1PpcFPtFWz-L93RvtS3Iqv6YZb4tT-oS9NWA04=

And in the midst of that all, Laura got the included picture, which instantly became a favorite:

We decided to leave shortly after so Gary could get him ready to warm up…and so he didn’t hurt himself.

When it finally came time for his race, the mood was very upbeat with out little on track group (Danny, Kacy, Laura and I). The pre-race nerves provided the standard tension, but we had fun with it. All we really wanted was for him to race well since it was his first start. The primary hope was that no matter how the race unfolded Mo would be closing hard at the end much like Guru was. The secondary hope was that the speed would beat each other up on the front end and Mo would be there to pick up the pieces…which could lead us right into the winner’s circle.

The race did end up unfolding like we hoped it would. Unfortunately for us, the leader (and eventual winner) was on some sort of mission from god and won in 1.49.3. Mo wasn’t ready to go that fast and we finished a very respectable second with a snappy 26.2 last quarter. Team In Over My Head was very happy, but there was much more to the story and it goes back to the title of this entry of ‘Reaching New Heights’. Below is a breakdown of the new heights that were achieved on Saturday night.

Speed – Mo’s final time was 1.50.3, which is his fastest time ever. His previous fastest time (which was also a winning mark) was 1.50.4 at the Meadowlands to start his 4 year old season. We’ve always thought that Mo had sub 1.50 mile ability. He pulled off a 1.50.3 time in his first start of the year on a nice, but cool night (51 degrees by post time of the 9th race). That makes me think that a sub 1.50 clocking is in his not too distant future.

Heart – The reality was we were hoping the race wouldn’t go that fast. That class can be a bit of a crapshoot, but on Saturday I think it was a little on the tougher side of normal. We thought the winning time would be a couple ticks below 1.52, which would have been nice. In racing, however, things rarely do as planned and he ended up having to chase that shockingly fast winner. Marcus Miller said he was starting to fatigue at the end of the mile, but just wouldn’t quit. He had ever reason to fade in the final strides given it was his first start back, but true to form, he didn’t kept on fighting.

Respect and Admiration – We all have talked about this together, but I didn’t think it was possible to be more impressed with In Over My Head than we already were. However, when thinking back on the night we did reach a new peak in this category as well.

While we would like to roll this great weekend right into another race, we are giving Mo the week off. Instead of being on the track, he’s going to swim a few hundred laps in the pool. He’s gone a lot of miles getting trained down, then two qualifiers and a very fast race mile, so we all think it is the best move for him. We are optimistic he will have a long healthy season this year, but want to make sure we take the steps necessary to keep him healthy. Look for him back at Balmoral the Saturday before Easter.

We have once again been remained how lucky we are to have him. Mo makes a positive impact on everyone he comes in contact with. He truly is a special horse and just had a great start to his season. Hopefully there are plenty of more great memories to be made.

Let’s Go Mo!

Keep On Dreaming

It’s almost race day. Tomorrow night we start a season that holds a lot of promise for us at team In Over My Head. We know that we have a healthy horse. We know he is equally blessed with speed and heart. We know he would score rather high on a horsey IQ test (if one existed). We know we’ve been through a lot to get here, but it is nice to talk about the future for once instead of the past. The future appears to be bright for our friend Mo. Appropriately bright is probably the best way to describe it. We don’t have any grand plans for him at this point. No planned trips to take on the top level open horses in the country. We are going to start here in Chicago and not even really think about racing anywhere else. If he turns out to be great, we could consider doing something different. That would be a good problem to have. For now though, we are just thankful he’s a healthy and happy horse. We can figure out the rest when the time comes.

So as a kick off to the start of the year, here is a link to a song we stumbled upon that really hit home. I could write and write about our story with Mo, but this knocks it out of the park. The subject matter is slightly different of course (dream of becoming a musician), but if you wanted to write a theme song to our little adventure this is it. Enjoy and check back to see how we did in Saturday’s race!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWiP7ciuGRo

LET’S GO MO! HERE’S TO A GREAT 2012!!!

All Systems Go, Prepare for Takeoff

Mo is ready to go.

We hoped that Wednesday would be the final tuneup In Over My Head needed before starting his racing season. He would show us how ready he was based on a few things: his actual time, how driver Marcus Miller thought he was and how he came off the track in terms of health.

We are happy to report that all three of those items can be checked off the list.

His time was 1.55.0 with a great 27 second last quarter. Marcus said he did it very comfortably and felt very strong. Gary Rath told us that when he came off the track, he was great. No signs of soreness. The report really couldn’t have been any better.

Thanks to the wonders of online video (and Danny’s constant reminders that these videos are available), you can even watch the replay here (go to March 14 qualifers in dropdown box and then race 9):

http://www.balmoralpark.com/Video.cfm?Cat=R

So after a nice little break (Mo’s last race was on December 17th), it is time to race again. I remember when we went back to the barn after the race that night and it was a little bitter sweet. Mo had raced great, but ended up with a tough trip and still only got beat by just over a length. At the time, the thought of ‘one more week’ was stuck in my head, but we did the right thing by giving him a break. Winter was setting in and he had been through a number of tough months. Just think about the strain he had to endure with all those training miles while fighting through various forms of soreness to finally make it back from his injury. Now he is in great shape and feeling fresh and strong.

The plan is to race him on March 24th at Balmoral Park. I think we will have a nice little contingent of fans heading down for that one. Hopefully we can get 2012 off to a great start.

Let’s go Mo!