We learned something new about In Over My Head this last Friday in his division of the Exit 16W series. We learned that he can rip off a 26.2 last quarter when he needs to and on Friday, he needed to accomplish that and then some. I went back to look at his fastest last quarters. Last year, he had two 26.3’s last year as well as a 26.4. When talking with Greg and Danny, we continue to be amazed with this horse. Every time we think he has shown us everything he has in his racing bag of tricks, he shows us something more.
The saga of the second leg of this series actually started mid week when the draw came out. We had drawn the rail and obviously put down Brian Sears to drive after he won with us the week before. Unfortunately, another Sears horse was also in our race, Majestic Jackpot. Jackpot was a very worthily adversary, who had made five starts in 2010 which included three wins, two seconds and over $50,000 in purse money. We simply assumed that Sears would take him over us and we were discussing who to get in his place. However, when the program came out on Wednesday morning, we were pleasantly surprised: Sears had chosen us over Majestic Jackpot. Even Dave Brower was taken back. His race comment was: “What a mile and what a drive last week! It was so good that Sears opted for this guy over the #7. A surprise there. Talented colt.”
Unfortunately, our team of Greg, Danny and I were not going to be able to watch this race together due to various conflicts. Greg was going to hold down the fort at the South Beloit betting parlor, Danny was watching the race at home before showing up late to the Tim McGraw concert (Tim was going to have to wait…I love Danny’s dedication) and I was going to be watching the race from the computer in a math classroom. That’s correct, after finishing up my assistant coaching duties for our sophomore team at Memorial High in Madison, another coach/ friend Jeremy Schlitz was nice enough to take me to his classroom so I could watch the race. Our team had just won by eighteen points against an opponent that beat us earlier in the season, so I was feeling good going into the race.
Due to the game/ concert, Danny and I were not able to enjoy the pregame show that the Meadowlands puts on. Greg saw it and said we received some pub from the guys as they mentioned Mo’s Windy City Pace win and the Wisconsin connections. I don’t think any of us are used to the publicity. We generally watch those things and hear about other horses/ owners/ trainers and now they are talking about us! Pretty fun stuff.
From our three different spots, we were all locked onto our respective TVs/ computers as post time arrived. My little group consisted of Laura, her little sister Queshawna from Big Brothers Big Sisters and myself. Knowing my general level of excitement when watching races and the fact that sometimes no so nice words fly out of my mouth in the heat of the moment, Laura whispered to me right before the race “no swearing” and gestured to Queshawna. It was a much needed reminder. It was The Q’s first horse race…we didn’t want it filled with a bunch of bad words. When the gate closed and the horses took off, Sears left well, but not overly aggressively. He protected the rail with In Over My Head as the favorite, Woodstock Hanover and Majestic Jackpot fired for the lead. At the quarter pole, we were sitting third on the rail.
Unlike some other races, the next half mile was rather uneventful. Sears did have a shot to take Mo first over past the half, but chose to stay on the rail. I’m guessing he was thinking that the two in front of him were good horses and there was little chance they would fade and lock us up on the rail. No sense in working any harder than you have to. After getting stuck too far back last week, Tetrick had Pacinello on the move and was first over. As they came out of the last turn, I could see that In Over My Head was just loaded with pace. At that point, however, there was still no place to go and I was thinking that a win was beginning to look unlikely.
When Mel Kiper talks about college players entering the NFL draft, he sometimes references a ‘non-stop motor.’ I believe his definition is simply a player that never stops working and is constantly grinding to find a way to make a play. During the stretch drive on Friday, In Over My Head looked like he had a motor that just doesn’t stop. Majestic Jackpot was sitting in the two hole behind the leader Woodstock Hanover and pulled out to challenger the leader. Between that and the horses fanning out somewhat to the middle of the track, some room finally opened up for us on the inside. As soon as there was room, Sears and In Over My Head were on the move. It didn’t take long before he was even with Woodstock Hanover. Pacinello was still working on the outside, Majestic Jackpot was looking like a potential winner, Woodstock was fading a bit and we continued to fire up the inside. We were running out of track, but Mo kept grinding away. Just before the wire was about to hit, he got to the front, crossing the finish line a half length in front of Majestic Jackpot and a length in front of Pacinello. He needed just about ever inch of track to get there in time and did it with a jaw dropping last quarter: 26.0. That may be two ticks less than a marathon, but on this night, 26.2 would have only gotten him third or fourth place.
We now have two starts off a two month layoff with two wins. Both wins in times that are faster then he had won previously. I think it is safe to say that In Over My Head is better than ever. The only somewhat painful part of the whole thing was watching Sears take him to the winner circle where they was a little trophy presentation and we weren’t there to accept the trophy, but I guess it is what it is. Prior obligations need to be honored despite the fact it would be such a fun time to be out there.
Luckily, our team will have representation this Saturday for the $73,000 final. Greg and Danny have booked their flight and will be in attendance. It would be incredible if they could find their way into the winner circle. I guess we can only hope for a good draw and from there we will see what happens. Greg and I joke that in the winner circle after we won the Windy City Pace, they turned to him for the owner interview. Instead of taking the question from Tom Kelly, he just pointed at me to take the questions. If we win on Saturday, Greg is going to have to do the talking! That will be a good problem to have. As for me, as much as I’d absolutely love to be there, prior obligations call. We are in the final throws of our basketball season and wouldn’t you know it, we have a game on Saturday night. I did quite a bit of reflecting as to what to do on this one. Skip the game and go to New Jersey? It would probably be more fun. Heck, we may very well be favored to win. Our game on Saturday is against a team we should take care of anyway. In the end, though, it just didn’t feel right. I can’t talk to the kids about dedication and commitment, then turn around and bail on them as our season winds down. The right thing to do is stay. So, I’ll be back in that classroom watching the computer and hoping against all hope that I’ll get to see two things Saturday night: another win by In Over My Head and a chance to see Greg and Danny get interviewed in the winner circle!
Last week's race can be seen here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIIAWVSXWPo
0 comments:
Post a Comment