An Invite to the Invitational

I’ve generally been on a one entry per race schedule when it comes to putting up blog posts, but our current situation merits an extra entry. I’m going to keep it short and sweet. In summary, we got bumped up to first class this week. However in racing, first class isn’t necessarily the best thing! The class we raced in last week filled up with other horses, so our only option was to race in the Invitational (the highest level). After a slight initial dose of disappointment, we have all embraced the change and are extremely excited about the challenge.

Since it is the last race, here is a quick trip down memory lane for the later part of 2011:

• A little over ninety days ago, we were about ready to retire Mo. He had almost left us with no choice…then in a shocking training mile, he left us with no choice but to keep pushing on.
• The first three races started with pure excitement and ended with more questions than ever. 7th, 5th, 7th…was the dream of a comeback just that? A dream?
• True to form, Mo reminded us who he really is. Back to back wins in impressive fashion. We were on cloud 9 and feeling rather invincible.
• Last week, a bit of a return to reality. A nice solid race, which many In Over My Head followers know generally throws us for a loop. Mo isn’t about good solid races. He’s all or nothing! OK, he’s not always that way, but sometimes it sure seems like it.
• Now, we try and enter into the same field where we thought we’d be a favorite, but instead get bumped to the highest level against a daunting group of horses. A field that we would be confident we could beat a couple years back, but now…who knows? Well To Do Guru has only been beaten twice in his last seven starts: once by a horse in this field and once by a horse that went in 1.48.4. It doesn’t get much better than that.

How should we approach this race on Saturday? What should our expectations be? Should we be hoping for a win? Top 3? Top 5?

As some of you may know, I’ve been a basketball coach at Memorial high school for the past 8 years. The melding of basketball and horse racing is really fun to me and when I was thinking about expectations, one thing immediately came into my head. Instead of trying to explain to you what we should expect on Saturday, I’m going turn it over to the coach of one of the greatest underdog stories ever. After being the favorite the last couple of weeks, In Over My Head is right back where he belongs…as the underdog. The fine handicappers at Balmoral Park picked him for dead last and added the clever little comment: “In Over My Head….That appears to be the case.” Well handicapping guru, they said the same people thing about old Hickory High! Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CDJS9rFGCHE

It doesn’t matter what happens on Saturday. We shouldn’t even be here! We are already winners! And for one last time in 2011, the year of the comeback:

LET’S GO MO!!!