Big Day For Mo

For the first time in a long time, I can see it. I can actually see the shore. We’ve been floating around at sea for many, many months and while there is still plenty of paddling to do, that beautiful beach known to horse owners as an actual pari-mutual start dead ahead. We knew Showtime Shark was getting close. He trained in 2:15 this weekend and is probably just 3 weeks away from qualfiing. The bigger question mark remained In Over My Head. He had flattened out the last couple of weeks. Much of that was just all of us being cautious, but at some point everyone knew we would have to speed him up and see what happened.

Laura, Danny, Kacy and I made the trip down to Marengo together on Saturday morning to watch Mo train. Greg was originally going to join us, but ended up having to be at work. When the alarm hit at 6:15 I was thinking it was a little early for a Saturday, but since we were going to see Mo, it was just fine. Danny had been down to train him the week before, but Laura and I hadn’t seen him since our trip to Florida in January (which is when we had to quit with him due to a flare-up of his injury). As soon as we got there, he treated Danny and I with a familiar attempt to nip us…same old Mo. He looked great. Gone was the horse equivilant of a beer belly he picked up during his time off. He looked like his old self. Big, strong and muscular. After walking around for a bit Danny came up and let me know what was in store for Mo that day: two training trips, one in 2:40 and the 2nd in 2:25. John (who sets all the training schedules) had decided it was time to try and test him a little bit.

The first trip for Mo was easy. As Danny described it, he was a sports car who was crusing around in 2nd gear, just waiting to be asked to go faster. After some time to catch his breath and get a nice bath from Penny, he was ready to go back. As they took him out of the barn, I was getting that familiar feeling that happens before a race. Some nerves, some tension. Not nearly as intense as a race, but a mile in 2:25 is a big deal for Mo. As I said to Tyler as we walked out to the track, it was really his biggest day in a year and four months. Danny warmed him up and turned to go. I had the 2011 version of an old stopwatch (my Iphone) and hit the timer as Danny went past. After the half, Tyler asked how he was doing: 1:14 seconds. Heading to a 2:28 mile, but Danny asked for a little bit more. As they came around the final turn, Mo was rolling along easy. They crossed past us and I hit the timer. Unofficial time: 2:23.9. Mo had set a new benchmark in his comeback.

Coming off the track, my eyes were locked on his right from leg, but he didn’t show any signs of soreness. Just another day at the office. We looked at Danny who said something along the lines of: yeah, he’s good. We walked him back to the barn and by the time he got to his stall, I think he was ready for another trip. He was back nipping at Danny and I in no time…just not Penny. She’s the only one who isn’t greeted with his teeth.

It was just a great trip down to the farm. Great to see everyone down there who I hadn’t seen in awhile and great to see Mo (of course). It was a little hot and Laura and Kacy were great sports about hanging around the barn for 2 and a half hours (maybe not every girls’ dream Saturday morning, but Danny and I are pretty lucky). While it was just a couple of training miles, it was a huge day for him. He really isn’t THAT far from heading into the track to train on a faster surface. A few more weeks probably, but if Saturday was an indication, he’s getting close. Much closer to the shore than he was the week before. While we need to keep thinking one week at a time, we can see it now. Cross your fingers In Over My Head fans…it may not be too much longer before we can be cheering him on at the track and not just the farm.