Howdy Folks!

Last year at this time, we were just winding down In Over My Head’s racing season.  Unfortunately, there are no races this year.  Our original thought process post injury in July was pretty dire (his career is sadly over).  However, at this point we are seeing this as a nice break to repair and refresh of the equipment before comeback version 2.0.

While I really enjoy people coming back to check out the blog, I have to share with you the following piece of information:

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

I apologize to those of you that traveled a long way to get here, but at least I sent a security guard out to great you.  What moose was he referring to?  Well our marketing department decided it was not a good idea to place one of those guys outside of Mo’s official blog site…I’d hate to have any of you go through what this family went through.  Such disappointment:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jtyrDZG-eDo

All National Lampoon’s references aside, thanks for continuing to surf your way over to Mo’s blog site.  Good news is that he is going quite well.  He’s enjoying his time up in Mineral Point, WI at the old horse barn.  His leg is healing very well and we are more optimistic than ever about his return to the track next year.  He won’t be doing much of anything for another couple months, so when I write my next blog entry it will have to be full of unrelated (or very loosely related) references to 80s and 90s movies.  If that is something you enjoy, come on back because before you know it we could very well be back on the roller coaster of horseracing with our favorite horse as the star.

Before I sign off, I thought I’d leave you with one more clip of an often forgotten star of the National Lampoon’s movies.  Cousin Eddie.  Enjoy and Let’s Go Mo!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Bu4MwNTJwA

Just Doing A Little Bit of Jogging

Or is it yogging…it might be a soft ‘J’…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N-LnP3uraDo

(That link was also for those non English speaking readers who know what that cryptic language was on the bottom of the screen…sorry, that was the only version of that link could find.)

You might be wondering why I haven’t put a post up in awhile. Well, up until a couple weeks ago, all I could really tell you was that Mo was standing. Standing in his stall. Bored out of his mind. If he was bored, how could I possibly come up with something interesting to write about? Despite my unique ability to make a story out of virtually nothing, I can’t make a story about absolutely nothing.

However, the horse gods have breathed a small, but crisp breath of optimistic fresh air into the world of Team In Over My Head. Our tough as nails horse’s leg is healing very well. So well, that he actually has been jogging for the past couple weeks. Based on the feedback we got from our vet, we have made a decision. As of today, October 12, 2012, we are aiming toward Mo comeback version 2.0. It will be a long road and one that could obviously get derailed at some point, but we are going for it.

Keeping with the movie theme I’ve started this post with, I’ll wanted to give Mo’s comeback a snappy tagline like a movie sequel. Here were some of my early ideas.

- “Just when you thought it was safe to get back on the track”… I actually liked this one a lot, but I took it from Jaws 2: Just when you thought it was safe to get back in the water. I didn’t think that Jaws 2 was any good, so we are tossing that one.

- “If at first you don’t succeed, lower your standards”…just kidding. I just put that one in there to pay homage to Tommy Boy.

- “Same make. Same model. New mission.” That one is kind of cool (from Terminator 2), but his mission isn’t really new so I had to toss it.

After careful consideration and nearly 10 minutes looking at old movie taglines (surprisingly fun by the way), I have come up with the following:

- Mo Comeback 2: Expect the impossible again.

I could give you a clue where I borrowed that one from, but it will self destruct in 10 seconds…

So you may be asking yourself, will this comeback be successful? Well, dude, we just don’t know. I do know that in life when you decide to do something, you have to believe in it 100%. If we don’t believe in it, who will? We do know that it will be awhile until he would race (likely early next summer). He needs quite a bit more time off and we are going to give him all the time he needs. At the end of the day, it is really just going to come back to the advice we get from the Butenschoen, our vet and from Mo himself. We’ve always said that the day he is brought out to the track and just isn’t interested any more is the day we quit. According to Tyler, that is the furthest thing from the truth at that point, so we will keep going. Slowly, but surely.

Something else happened to our little stable last weekend: we added another horse. This can really be traced back to Mo and his accomplishments of this past summer when he put a few more shinny nickels into the old race account. Greg, Danny and I are now the proud owners of a to be named horse who has already made it back to Illinois and, according to Tyler, is already jogging…or is it yogging…either way, Ron Burgundy would be proud.

Let’s Go Mo (and new guy)!

Hurry Up and Wait

This blog has always been a blow by blow take on what it is like to own a racehorse and luckily for me, it has been pretty easy to keep this exciting. However, you may have noticed that I haven’t put up a new blog in weeks. Well, I’m doing that to spare you from an unfortunately slow time in the Mo’s world. He continues to stand in his stall and heal, anxiously awaiting the opportunity to run around and in the words of Doc Smith from “Seabiscuit”, just ‘be a horse again.’.

We were treated with a nice bit of optimistic news early this week when we got the results form the most recent scan (x-ray) of his bad leg. Our vet said that it was healing extremely well and the ligament fibers are showing now signs of scar tissue, which is vital to an effective healing of this type of injury. He also stated that our plan to let Mother Nature do her work over the rest of this year and early next year is the formula Mo would need for him to have any shot at comeback #2. While are certainly not hell bent on a comeback (like we kind of were last time), we are still hopeful. The tear was much less dramatic than last time, so it is not at all unreasonable to think that he might hit the track next summer. Either way, it was fun to think that we might be able to put our ‘Team In Over My Head’ t-shirts on again for a race.

In other news, we continue to reach out to people about options for Mo to stand as a stallion this breading season. Given the fact we will likely try one more comeback, location of where he stands is pretty important and given the fact his home is in Marrengo, standing in Illinois is likely the best option.

There are a number of issues with standing Mo. The first is his I Am A Fool bloodline is not nearly as favorable as say a Western Hanover or Artsplace. However, the sire bloodline is certainly no guaranty of success. Take the Illinois sire Yankee Skyscraper for example. His offspring have really not performed at a high level, nor have they sold well starting this year. From my personal perspective, the state of Illinois is in need of a new sire. The issue is that since Governor Quinn vetoed the gambling expansion bill, Illinois racing remains somewhat in purgatory and new investment in the state’s racing program is going to be limited. Well, I have the solution for you Illinois based breeders and his name is In Over My Head. He is the PERFECT physical specimen of a horse. If you don’t believe me, just head out to Marengo and take a look. If he stamps his offspring with any of his looks, they will extremely well. He has the prefect temperament and is extremely intelligent. The speed he showed on the track along with his winning percentage speaks for itself. Given the fact that facts are facts (he is an I Am A Fool), we will be offering him at very reasonable price. The final figure is still too be determined, but it will be below anything else out there to entice breeders to give him a shot.

And for all your skeptical Illinois based horsemen and women out there who are still unsure of this whole I Am A Fool bloodline what about Shadow’s Finale? I realize that Incredible Finale won over a million on the track, but he didn’t have much of a bloodline at all and produced a TON of big time Illinois talents. If Mo could produce a fraction of that he’d be a big success.

Anyway, that’s my pro Mo rant for the day. Thanks to all of those who keep checking in. I’ll try and do more writing.

Still The Same

If you ignore something long enough will it go away? In Over My Head hasn’t raced in over a month and I haven’t been able to bring myself to post about it. I did start an entry shortly after it was over, but never finished it. Here we are, a month later and unfortunately nothing has changed.  On July 7th, we had a great group at the track and high hopes. Why wouldn’t we? Mo was on a 5 race win streak and was the favorite to win his 6th. There wasn’t single horse in the race that Mo hadn’t beaten multiple times. They simply weren’t in his class. That’s not being cocky or overconfident, it was just a fact. Our team included first timers Brett and Sacia Wheeler and Gary and Jane Sporle. It was going to be a fun first experience. Our group was large. Including the newbies, we had Danny, Kacy, Laura, her parents, her grandparents and myself. We had t-shirts made. Spirits were beyond high.  What we saw was really vintage In Over My Head. Well, almost vintage. We don’t know exactly when it occurred, but we know he took a bad step going into the first turn when horses were jockeying for position. We know that he looked like his old self when he was bobbing and weaving in the stretch, firing up the inside and looking like he would make it six in a row. Just a few strides from the wire, everything went horribly wrong.  When he made a break at the wire, my heart skipped a beat. He hadn’t made a break in years. When Marcus pulled him up just past the wire, my heart sank. It was obvious that something was very wrong. When he turned him and Mo nearly buckled over then was unable to jog back to the barn, all I could do was lean on the fence and shake my head. Shock. Disbelief. An overwhelming sense of sadness. The only thought going through my head was that we had just watched his last race.  When I first wrote that above paragraph nearly a month ago, I didn’t know what the outcome would be. Now, a month later, we have a better idea. He has definitely gone his last race of 2012 because what happened that night was another injury to Mo’s bad leg. The harsh reality is that it may be enough to push him into retirement. We may try and make a comeback next year, but we will withhold that decision until next spring. If he healed well and the vet is on board, we may put him back into training. We will see.  There was one more part of that month old entry that was never posted that I wanted to share. I assumed that it would stick with me and now that we are a month out, it still does:   One lasting memory will when Mo walked off the track on Saturday night. Danny and I both said we were so glad we were there. We had enjoyed the good times and we had lots of them. We cheered, laughed and felt the thrill of victory while others had to taste defeat. Saturday we got to be there for Mo during a tough time. We all walked into the barn together. Everyone was crushed, except for one member of the party. When he was in the bath stall, Tyler, Marcus, Danny and I just stood looking at him. No one said a word for what felt like forever. In that moment, it was Mo who broke the tension. You could see it in his eye. “What the heck are you guys doing? The race is over. This is the time we hang out and play. Stop standing there and get over here so I can take a few nips at you.” And finally we did. That was the moment I actually started to feel at least a little bit better. He was still Mo and we were still beyond lucky to have him.  Much like the point up until his leg popped in the stretch, his attitude back in the barn was also vintage Mo.  So what happens next? Well, that’s a really good question. We are currently working the phones to find a place for Mo to stand as a stallion this breeding season. His pedigree is good, but not great. His race resume is good, but not great. It is the intangible things that will make his offspring great racehorses in my opinion. First, he is a perfect horse looks wise. Second, he is fast, has guts and is a winner. His most important trait, in my opinion is actually what is between his ears. Mo is a very intelligent horse. It just happened that I was reading an article yesterday on the great trotting sire Kadabra on usta.com. Below is a quick quote:

Asked what separates his stallion Kadabra from others, David Heffering said in one word, “intelligence.”  

Anyone who watched last week’s Hambletonian trials noticed that both colts were well-behaved in quite different trip scenarios. Prestidigitator was forced wide around the opening turn and the final turn and didn’t lose his cool on either occasion for Ontario-based trainer Dustin Jones and top pilot Sylvain Filion. Knows Nothing and driver Jody Jamieson had to keep their cool as well sitting inside without racing room until midway down the homestretch. The Jeff Gillis trainee knew exactly what to do when room developed and responded with a victory.

We are not sure yet where he will stand, but our hope is that he will get some solid mares because I’m quite sure the result will be some very nice offspring.

Beyond that, it may be time for a new horse for Team In Over My Head. He’s made enough money for us that we can get another one with ‘house money’ so to speak. We haven’t’ added a new horse to the stable since we purchased Showtime Shark in 2010. Laura always says that she feels bad for the next horse to follow up In Over My Head since he will never live up to expectations. She makes a good point, so we my have to consider something other than a pacing colt for the next step.

No horse will ever be In Over My Head. We aren’t trying to replace him, just looking to move forward. You can’t replace something so unique, so special and so Mo.

Appreciating Where We Are

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.”

The quote above sounds as if it could be attributed to a famous author or world leader, but it came from none other than a famous bodybuilder, actor and governor. Since really only one person in history fits that description you could probably guess it was Arnold Schwarrzenegger. Like him or not, you don’t achieve what he has in life without passing along some words of wisdom along the way. It is that quote that I wanted to offer a quick pre race post.
Saturday night In Over My Head goes for win number six in a row. This run has been beyond thrilling for all of us at Team In Over My Head. I always remember when a member of the coaching staff at Madison Memorial, we would go on some great runs in the post season basketball tournament and as much as I wanted to reflect on what was happening I couldn’t. It is one of those things you can’t really appreciate until it is over and you look back. At some point, our streak will come to an end. Until then will go forward with every race and enjoy them to the fullest extent.
For a moment, though, I wanted to look back and take a snapshot of the big picture. What really makes this story of In Over My Head special is that he is so much more than just a race horse for us. He is a metaphor for our own lives and is an inspiration. We have all battled through life events over the time Mo has been a part of our lives and there will be more to come. In Over My Head went through his own struggles to get to where he is today. If you would ever talk to those who were closest to him during the toughest times, you’d realize they were not small struggles, but the type that would crush the spirit of most. Our own struggles can at times be just as bad, but much like Mo, our strength comes from never surrendering. Winning is the easy part, and God knows how much we want to keep winning, but whatever happens, the comeback to get to this point is something that we never will and never should forget.

To help remember how lucky we are to be here enjoy this link to a video Danny put together in March. It was from a night we finished 2nd, but ended up hurting himself during the race. With the backdrop of Eli Young’s ‘Keep On Dreaming’, we were just hoping for another chance to race. Luckily he did make it back and… He hasn’t lost since.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzCMVzR2oOk&feature=plcp

While we will keep on dreaming, we also know we are living the dream right now. I never knew it was possible to be so proud of a horse, but that is the case here.

Now go out there and kick some ass! Let’s Go Mo!

The New Normal

Here is a question for you: when do you know that you’ve reached a very unique and special place with a horse you own or are involved with? The answer: when winning starts to feel ‘normal’. By the grace of the horse racing gods, we find ourselves in that situation right now.

Saturday night, we all got a chance to enjoy what has become a typical In Over My Head race. Find his way to the front. Let someone take the lead on the backstreatch (like two weeks ago, it was Firstclassalltheway), sit 2nd until the open stretch and then just go by everyone. The only difference this week? He won by two full lengths in the fastest time of his career and crossed the wire with gas left in the tank. Apparently he was ready to pace another quarter mile. That’s our new normal and boy is it ever fun to watch.

Enjoy the video. Mo is again coming from post position #6.  June 30th, race #2:

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

I’ve never been a part of a 5 race win streak and I can assure you they are quite rare no matter what level of racing you are involved in. So many things can go wrong in a race that a win can become a second or third place finish despite a great effort from the horse. We are benefiting GREATLY from having Marcus Miller in the bike each week. Team Miller-Mo are now up to 11 for 16 lifetime, which is almost an unrealistic win percentage (68.75%).

With all that wonderful information as a backdrop, I did have one question this week. Why did so many people pick against In Over My Head and why was he just an 8/5 favorite at post time?  After that many wins, I kind of thought he would go off at around even odds.  He had beaten a similar group 2 weeks in a row, but for whatever reason, the money ended up being pretty well spread out.
The question to many probably is ‘just how good is In Over My Head’?  The fact is, there must be a fair amount of people out there that are not yet sold on him.  In our eyes, he is basically an unstoppable force, but owners always have an unrealistic opinion of their own animal. It is hard not to. None the less, he obviously isn’t viewed as dominate racehorse in the eyes of the betting and handicapping public.

I put some thought into this and came up with some reasons why a person would think that way:

Easy trips – One quick look at the program and you could say he’s had some rather easy two hole trips. This is true, but he has made his own luck so to speak. He’s been able to get away easy and strike the lead, sit there and just outclose everyone. He’s so versatile he can create those easy trips.

Lack of jaw dropping time – I think this is a big one. Consider this: three of the other five horses in the race on Saturday had a faster lifetime mark than Mo. Two had sub 1.50 winning marks (Bet On Him and Firstclassalltheway). The #3 horse showed a 1.49.1 mile at the Meadowlands on June 9th. In Over My Head has never gone faster than 1.50.3 (a mark he equaled Saturday night). That time is pretty darn good, but certainly not anything that would stand out to a seasoned handicapper. This is kind of been a running joke for us going all the way back to his 3 year old season. Mo never goes any faster than he has to. Ever. He just follows Al Davis's famous 'just win baby' saying.  Consider the following stats:

- He now has a 39% lifetime win percentage (18 for 47). This includes six starts in the Invitational and thirteen starts in stakes events. Eight of his wins have come at those high levels.

- If you throw out some obviously abnormal races, the stats get far better. Start by tossing races in which he made a break (four as a 2 year old, three as a 3 year old), where he got hurt (at 4) and his first couple last year coming off a 2 year layoff you have 36 ‘regular’ lifetime starts. Utilizing that number, his win percentage is a crisp 50%. 

No matter which way you look at it, Mo has had a heck of a career against some very high level competition. So why no sub 1.50 mile in this day and age of speed? My conclusion is that Mo is a horse that has the patience and versatility to stalk and catch, almost never setting his own fractions and sitting bad to allow other horses to push the pace.  Taking things to another level, when he does catch another horse, he slows down. It you watch his replays, you’ll see it time and time again. He’ll hit this stupid fast burst in mid stretch that closes a gap on a horse in a heartbeat. He’ll use that to get by them, then dial it back through the wire. I guess the way he sees it, there is no reason to work any harder than he has to.

So the question here is: Does Mo have a sub 1.50 mile in him? The answer is without a doubt yes. It is just going to have to set up right for him to chase a fast pacesetter. He won’t do it on his own. As an owner that wants to see him stay healthy, that’s 100% fine by me.

Name - This one may be the most interesting (and outlandish), but I am convinced that his name has a negative connotation to handicappers. Rollinglikeabigshot had won 5 in a row going into Saturday and was bet down to a 2-5 favorite. In Over My Head had won 4 in a row and was a tepid 8-5 favorite. Did name play a factor? You tell me! I have no idea how to obtain the information to try and prove this nor do I have the ability to run the analysis (but my wife Laura does!) so for now we can just have fun talking about it.

Uncertainly surrounding lack of starts the last 3 years – This one I think is kind of legit, but may have seen its end after this week now that he has strung a few good races in a row together. If I’m a handicapper and I’m looking at his lifetime numbers, I see 3 starts as a 4 year old, seven at 5 and now six at 6. What’s going on? Can this horse hold it together? You fine loyal readers of this blog all know the answer to that (yes is the answer), but we have had plenty of question marks over the years. As of now, Mo’s healthy as a horse and I hope it stays that way for a long time.

In conclusion, there are a number of factors that put question marks on Mo, but the more he wins, the more they will just disappear.  He is all set to go again on Saturday at Balmoral and I'm sure will face another group of tough competitors.  The draw comes out on Wednesday, so we just hope he gets in.  If he does, we plan on bringing a crew down to cheer him on and hopefully keep the 'new normal' experience going.

Let's Go Mo!  We are all very proud of you!

Our Hero Wins Again

In every good story there is a hero and a villain. At times, it can be obvious what character is playing each role (think Luke Skywalker vs. Darth Vader). Other times it can really just be a matter of perspective. One of my all time favorite movies is Hoosiers. In the movie, the Hickory High team is clearly the hero, but does that make their opponent in the state finals the villain? Do we have any idea if that Indianapolis team exhibited any ‘villain’ tendencies other than just being a good basketball team? No viewer of Hoosiers probably has any idea, but it worked well for that particular movie. Other times, the same characters can be both a hero and villain. Mobster movies are often like that.

All of this kind of dovetails into our story from last Saturday night’s race. From our perspective, the breakdown was simple: In Over My Head is the hero. Firstclassalltheway is the villain. In classic movie fashion, the hero disposed of the villain. This week, I’ll let Mo go ahead and tell the story for you (he is post position #6):

(June 16th, race #2) http://www.balmoralpark.com/Video.cfm?Cat=R

(Before I go any further, I need to make an important point of clarification. I’ve never met Firstclassalltheway, his trainer or owners. I couldn’t pick them out of a 3 person lineup. For all I know, they might be the nicest folks in the world. However, because storytelling sometime forces the writer to take liberties that are not always 100% vetted out, I’m going to paint their horse as the ‘villain’ even though that might be the farthest thing from reality.)

Like many well known movies, the story has to first build up the villain and make him or her appear almost unbeatable. Often times, the villain will actually beat the hero to make it known they are king of the hill. While they boast from their new perch, the hero works to better himself before returning for another fight. That happened in March when Firstclassalltheway ran off on Mo. Not only did Mo not catch him, he limped his way out of the race and was out for six weeks. Then, on Saturday, Mo made Firstclass look like he belonged in coach. Since it’s fun to compare Mo’s story to well known movies, here are some of my favorite that line up pretty well:

- Rocky III – The movie actually opens with Rocky (gasp!) LOSING. Clubber Lane (played perfectly by a younger Mr. T) beats the snot out of Rocky, taking his title and sending him into retirement. Rocky later seeks redemption by taking Clubbers best punch (telling him ‘you ain’t so bad’ during the match…I think Mo might have said that to Firstclass when he went past him in the stretch) and then sending him to the canvas to regain his title.

- Karate Kid – If anyone who reads this blog hasn’t seen Karate Kid, stop reading and go rent it immediately. Despite the fact the movie has some age to it (was released in 1984), the movie still translates well to current generations (unlike Wayne’s World…that was on the other night…horrible). Some great life lessons can be found in that movie by listening carefully to the sage words of Mr. Miagi. Anyway, the evil Cobra Kai team roughs up Danny LaRusso multiple times throughout the early and middle parts of the movie. As you might expect, he gets the ultimate revenge by disposing of them one by one at the big Southern California karate championship. During an especially intense match in the semi finals, one of the Cobra Kai kids is told to ‘sweep the leg’ by his sensei (the kid’s instructor wanted him to intentionally cause damage to Danny’s leg…an over the top cheap shot move) This sent Danny to the mat in horrible pain. Mr. Miagi has to step in and some sort of ancient remedy to “fix” the leg, which allows Danny to go out and fight in the finals. Not only did he end up winning, but he did so in dramatic fashion with the old ‘crane kick’ move. Wait a second…leg injuries…guys named Danny…this is getting a little creepy. If In Over My Head somehow learns to do the crane kick, I’m going to freak out!

- 8 Mile – Move forward a decade or so, but the same story rings true only this time it isn’t boxing or karate…its battle rap. It is kind of interesting that these are the first three movies that come to mind because I have never boxed, learned karate or battle rapped. Anyway, Jimmy “B-Rabbit” Smith (played very well by Eminem) starts by getting embarrassed in the Detroit rap battle scene, but in the end wins the crowd over by knocking off the top dog Pappa Doc. The big deviation between this movie and reality is that B-Rabbit starts messing around with some little vixen well before he claims the title as top rapper. For the record, Mo will be 100% focused on racing into the foreseeable future. He will not be mixing racing and extracurricular activities with fillies at all…despite the fact he seems to be turning a lot of heads in the barn. Hang in there Mo, your time will come.

- Teen Wolf – Why is it that everything today is a knock off of some movie or TV show from the 80s. Were people in the 80s just that much more creative? It seems like so much of current pop culture originated there. And if you want the coolest of cool, look no further than Teen Wolf. Just take an everyday 5’2” kid (played by Michael J. Fox) who is a below average point guard that one day finds out he has the ability to turn into a warewolf. From there, he completely takes over every basketball game (and really the entire school). He got all the ladies (which in itself is really pretty strange…what kind of chick goes for a warewolf?), surfed on the top of moving vans and didn’t take any crap from anyone. On the basketball court, no one objected. The other coaches, other players, no one cried foul over the fact that suddenly they were playing against a half human/ half wolf with a 7 foot vertical leap and a jump shot that would make Larry Bird jealous. That’s how it was in the 80s…you just sucked it up and played. Apparently you could even get away with standing under the basket during free throws to try and intimate your opponents (for those of you that have seen the movie, you know exactly what I’m taking about…where were the refs???). At this point you are probably asking yourself “what does this have to do with In Over My Head”? The answer: absolutely nothing. I just wanted to write about Teen Wolf.

I could go on (because this is kind of fun), but I think you get my point. The next question is what character will Mo end up like? My hope is Rocky, simply because Rocky III was only the halfway point of the series. I’d certainly like to think that Mo has another 47+ races in him over the next few years. Only time will tell. What I do know is that Mo is our hero. He is on a 4 race win streak and we are all having a ball. Mo will be back racing a week from Saturday at Balmoral Park. Come on down to cheer him on. He loves his fans!

Let’s Go Mo!

A Very Special Night

While I’d like to come up with a better title than that, nothing else really needed to be said. With the backdrop of an emotional week for our family (as detailed in my previous post), we went into the race on Saturday night hoping it would be special. None of us really wanted to say it, but we knew that a win in the Invitational would really help soothe the wound of our recent loss. Sometimes in life, things just break your way.

In Over My Head has provided us with a number of memorable wins. There was his win down in Springfield, which was his first ‘major’ victory and came at after a streak of some bad luck races that had us wondering if we would ever break through. Then there was the Windy City Pace. No explanation needed to anyone who has read this blog. Last year gave us his first win back off that long layoff. Even though the purse was rather small, the night was incredible. Going into Saturday, those were the top three in my opinion. After Saturday, we have a top four.

The night held extra promise due to the fact that Greg was heading down with Danny and me. He hadn’t been to the track in quite some time and hadn’t been to Balmoral in probably 10 years. The first thing we did, of course, was to go back and see Mo, which was great for Greg given the fact he had taken care of him for 9 months during his injury time off. Mo was looking great and was as playoff as ever. While we didn’t know how the race was going to shake out, we knew he would do what he always does: leave it all out on the track.

Fast forward to race time. We know our horse very well and we knew that he ‘fit’ this group despite stepping up in class. The track handicapper didn’t agree. His program comment was: IN OVER MY HEAD...that could be the case here on this jump. Winner of two straight in a three start season. We thought we deserved a little more than that, but everyone tends to see their own horse in a more favorable light. The betting public tended to agree with the track handicapper. After opining at 3/2 (mainly because we all placed our bets early…at one point Danny and I had 90% of the show pool), he slowly rose to 6-1. As we stood on the apron just seconds before the race started, I was thinking about Grandpa. I was thinking about how incredible it would be to win that night. I imagined him standing next to me and talking about the upcoming race. I thought back to one of his good horses who I had wrote about the week named Scotch Straight who had won 7 straight in Chicago. Just as the horses approached the starting line, the tote board made its final change as the betting windows closed. The numbers flashed across the board, Mo’s final odds were shown: 7-1. Lucky seven I thought. Let’s do this.

Despite a field of nine very talented horses, virtually no one charged for the lead. As they approached the first quarter, the pace was far too slow and Marcus Miller made a split second decision that he hadn’t had to do with In Over My Head before. He decided to brush to the front. It turned out to be a genius move. Mo struck the lead going up the backstretch, but he didn’t have it for long. Bet On Him, at 5-1 odds, swooped up to claim the top spot as the horses began to entre the final turn. Coming into the stretch, the outer flow included other dangerous foes including Washington Hanover and the always tough Well To Do Guru. In Over My Head sat patiently behind Bet On Him, waiting for his chance to strike.

There was a point in the stretch that Mo was actually in third place. Bet On Him was clearly in the lead, but Washington Hanover had also flipped outside and made his way to second place. This is significant for an interesting ‘story within a story’. Washington Hanover is a very nice horse and was winning rather consistently in Chicago before shipping down to Indiana to chase some bigger purses. His driver in Chicago was none other than Marcus Miller. So, when the draw came out last Wednesday, both In Over My Head and Washington Hanover had requested Marcus to drive. In those situations, it is up to the driver to choose which one he wants. No matter how you sliced it, it was a very tough decision. Lots of past success with Washington Hanover vs. two straight wins with Mo. Which would you pick? Well, luckily for Team In Over My Head, Marcus picked us. As you could imagine, losing to the horse you chose NOT to drive does not sit well with drivers. At this point in the race, Washington Hanover was beating Mo….but Mo and Marcus were far from finished.

It wasn’t long after that point when it became a two horse race and the two horses were In Over My Head and Bet On Him. If you are looking for excitement, it doesn’t get much better than that. So while I’ve enjoyed giving you a little written version of what happened, it's time for me to just turn it over to the video. Click on the link below and enjoy:

Click on Saturday, June 9th, then race #9
http://www.balmoralpark.com/Video.cfm?Cat=R

From our angle, it was hard to tell how the race was going to end. In fact, when In Over My Head went past me, I was almost certain that Mo was going to finish second. I should have known better. Greg says it best…Mo’s never lost a photo finish. As we anxiously awaited for the results to be posted, I said, “come on and post that #3 (Mo’s number) on top”! Danny chucked and said, “just like the Windy City (Mo had the same number that day)”. Just a couple second latter, it was official. In Over My Head was the winner. Being in the winners circle was a thrill as always. In the excitement, many thoughts were swirling around my head including Mo’s gutty performance (as usual), Marcus’s great drive (as usual…he’s now won an almost unheard of 9 time in 14 starts with Mo) and of course Grandpa. Not only was he with us that night, he was also proud of us. Our horse had just beat the best horses in Chicago. The family horse racing tradition was alive and well.

Like every race, we took time after the race to catch up with Tyler as well as Marcus. It is so much fun to talk about a win in horse racing. You could go on forever…saying the same thing over and over again…it just doesn’t get old. Once Marcus had to go drive in another race, we headed back to see our champ and he was feeling great, which leads to one of my favorite stories of the night. At one point, Greg was standing in front of Mo with the program in his hand. The same program that had the less than flattering comment about Mo. He looked at the program and then just bit down on it and looked at Greg. This went on for a few seconds and he still wouldn’t let go. Greg gave it a tug. Mo hung on. Finally, after what Mo apparently thought was a sufficient amount of time, he let go. We all laughed…guess he didn’t like the comment either.

So how does it feel to be top dog on the Chicago racing circuit? Well, for this week, it feels great. This Saturday will mark a new challenge and a new set of competitors. A number of people said they enjoyed the interview with In Over My Head a couple weeks back (mainly because most horses can’t give interviews), so I thought I’d see how he felt about the win and the upcoming challenge. I gave Mo a call on his stall phone (the number is unlisted so don’t even try) this morning to see what he was thinking. After exchanging a few pleasantries, I turned the conversation to racing and he got surprisingly short with me. It was strange because he is usually so talkative and friendly.

Below is a transcript of how the conversation went after I asked how he was feeling about his status as a top dog on the Chicago racing circuit:

“Fine I guess”

“Fine? You should be feeling great…you beat all the best horses in Chicago last week!”

“Not all of them”

Silence fell for the phone for a couple of seconds and then it hit me.

“You’re talking about Firstclassalltheway aren’t you?”

“Yep”

“Are you still mad about the last time you faced him”

“Yep”

“Anything else you want to add?”

“Nope”

And that was that. He said he had to go because Penny was walking into his stall. Apparently, he feels like there is some serious unfinished business to take care of. He’s not celebrating his victory from last week at all. Firstclassalltheway got a week off last week. He’ll be fresh and ready to roll. And so will Mo. No matter what the program says this week, I know who I’ll pick. May the best horse win.

Let’s Go Mo!

In Memory Of Grandpa

This Saturday, In Over My Head will be racing in the Invitational at Balmroal Park against the best in horses in Chicago. We are very excited about what should be a great race.  Greg, Danny and I are planning a trip to Chicago to watch it live. Having that said, we will be doing so with some heavy hearts.


Yesterday, we laid to rest my Grandfather, Wayne Carey. Quite simply, he is the reason we are involved in harness racing. He began racing horses in the early 1960s and his list of local, regional and even national stars is beyond impressive for a guy who got started in the rural town of Mineral Point, WI. Princess Maud, Scotch Straight, Carry Mann, Ironworks, Race On Carey, Thrifty Kirk and the great Speedy Rodney were just some of the great horses owned by Grandpa. But that was just the start of it. He also was an amateur driver (twice winning the amateur driver race at The Red Mile in Lexington) and breeder. The stories from the old days never, ever got old. We could sit and listen to stories about Speedy Rodney’s world record miles for hours and hours. The more ‘everyday’ stories were just as fun. One I remember particularly was of Scotch Straight, who raced in Chicago in the early 1960s and at one time, won 7 straight races. During that run, when he would turn for home and look like the eventual winner, the announcer would belt out, “How do you like your Scotch…Straight???”. I’ve heard it so many times I feel like I was actually there.

Beyond all of the horse racing accolades, he was the greatest Grandfather a grandson could ever ask for. You don’t just have to take my word for it. Kirk, Kyle, Chris, Kim, Jenny and Danny would tell you the exact same thing. We were so lucky to have him in our lives. In Over My Head is in tough on Saturday night, so to expect a win would be rather foolish…but if he does, it will be fun have a winner’s circle picture full of three generations of racing. Danny and I on the young side, Greg in the middle and you won’t see the last one in the picture, but I can guaranty that Mr. Wayne Carey will be there with us. Although his passing has been very difficult to come to grips with, at least now he can be at the track with us again.

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!

Mo Takes Another Step and We Remember a Fan

We are one step closer to the first race of 2012. Last Wednesday In Over My Head got his first race-like work of the year by finishing a qualifying mile in 1.58.2. While the time wasn’t quite what we had planned, he was battling gale force headwinds that swallowed about 2 seconds from his last quarter. Since it was his first real speed work of the season, we had Dr. Tony come out the next day to check him out and the news was good. He said to put him right back in for his second (and likely final) qualifier this Wednesday. Assuming that goes well, we will be back racing the week after.

In what is hopefully our last quiet week before the start of the season, I wanted to take a second to remember one very small member of Team In Over My Head. Our bandwagon welcomes all, even creepy, crawly spiders and this particular one had a rather strange story that can be found here:

http://www.inovermyheadracehorse.blogspot.com/2012/01/update-and-story.html

Below is a little obituary I put together. Let’s hope Spidey is enjoying that big cobweb in the sky:

Spidey (2011-2012) – Spidey died peacefully in his web/ home above the Swenson garage window in February. A lifelong supporter of horse racing, Spidey was especially fond of the harness horse In Over My Head. “His story was truly inspiring,” Spidey would often tell fellow arachnids and insects. “He faced nearly insurmountable obstacles, but never gave up and kept a positive attitude throughout.” Spidey could potentially be survived by his or her offspring if they happen to emerge from the web-like cocoon that was placed in the tree outside the garage. In a way he is also survived by In Over My Head as he chose to transfer his life force to him at death. “This is a choice that animals have and I chose to pass it to Mo. I’m expecting a big season this year from him.”

In Over My Head released the following statement through his agent upon hearing the news, “I never met Spidey, but he/ she feels like a brother/ sister to me despite the fact we are not of the same species. I like to thank Spidey for his/ her support and will dedicate the 2012 season to him/ her.”

The Season Starts on Wednesday!

We are still a couple weeks away from a real race, but In Over My Head will qualify on Wednesday morning at Balmoral Park. A qualifying race doesn't have the monumental feel it did after he was coming off his long injury layoff, but it does mark the start of 2012 and we are quite excited about it.

I'll post again after the race, but just wanted to get a quick post up with the good update.

Let's go Mo!

Inching Closer to the Start of the Season

Day by day we get closer to the start of In Over My Head’s racing season. We have officially reached the point where each day is starting to feel like 2. Next week each day will feel like 3…you can extrapolate the days from there. Last week was a great week of training, but this week was a bit tougher due to some winter weather coming back later in the week. We remain at the mercy of Mother Nature as we aren’t going to push Mo to train on a bad track. The good news is he is doing exceptionally well right now. He is feeling strong and is doing everything that is asked of him. We’ve heard a few more comments about what a great horse he is around the barn and how smart he is. Hearing those kinds of comments never gets old. It makes us more proud of him than ever (if that is even possible).

So what will this season bring? I was really thinking about that on Friday night before heading over to Danny’s to bet some races (or in my case, donate almost all of my bets to the race pool). Are the painful setbacks finally behind us? Can we just expect a ‘normal’ season with the regular ups and downs of a healthy horse? Is there a chance he could come back and reach a new level we haven’t even seen yet? As all of those questions floated around in my head I turned on the TV to kill about 10 minutes before leaving. The TV had been left on HBO and the movie playing when I turned it on was…Seabiscuit! In the past I’ve made references to Mo being our Seabiscuit and all I can say is if he has a season that in any way approaches what the ‘Biscuit’ did after he returned from his suspensory injury…well…we are in for one heck of a fun year.

In other horse racing news, I’d like to recommend a new show to blog readers. “Luck” is a new series on HBO that is four episodes into its first season. You may not like all angles, but it is good overall and there is one horse in particular who reminds me of Mo. I won’t give it away, but if you watch it is pretty easy to figure out which one he is.

Another short post, but we are just a few weeks from the start of our season. Stay tuned and Let’s Go Mo!

Not a Lot Going On...But a Quick Update

Well, I wish I had a little bit more to share with my loyal blog readers, but in a way no news is good news. In Over My Head had a great week of training last week due March-like weather. This week wasn’t quite as good, which is bound to happen with a Chicago area winter. Gary Rath is handling the training duties at the time with the Butenschoen’s down in Florida (lucky). It is kind of a fun reunion because the last time Gary worked with Mo was before his Windy City Pace victory. He thinks that Mo looks great and is training well, which means a lot given his past history with him.

In other news, I wanted to link an article about one of our past competitors (in the final race of last year). Last week, Well To Do Guru was named the Illinois Horse of the Year. Take a moment to read the linked article. Great story about a great horse and great people who take care of him. Hopefully we will get a few chances to race against him this year and even win a couple!

http://www.barntowire.com/2012/BPnotes120208.html

For the next few weeks, I’ll check in when I can and try to come up with a story or two. It is certainly harder to come up with high quality stuff during the off season, but we aren’t that far away from racing again. The target remains early to mid March.

Let's Go Mo!

2012 Schedule Released

I’ve always liked the comparison of owning a race horse(s) to owning a sports franchise. As a matter of fact, think that is how I first described horse ownership in this blog when we purchased our most important on field talent In Over My Head. It was just over 3 years ago that Greg and I had the highest bid at the Meadowlands winter sale for what seemed like an eternity before the gavel crashed down and the auctioneer belted out a classic “SOLD!”. Trust me, it was just like you’d see in the movies (with the rather large exception that we had to go into the sales office and make an actual check afterward…).

One place where a horse franchise differs from a regular franchise is your ability to set your own schedule. It is something that I personally enjoy and allows me to spend lots of time playing with dates and numbers in spreadsheets (I love spreadsheets) and it is also something that can be a total waste of time for any number of reasons. Unlike a team who will play on a certain day regardless of what happens to the team members, a horse racing schedule is 100% dependant on the horse. And with no ‘backup’ to step in and take his or her place large chunks of a schedule can be changed or totally canceled based on injury, sickness etc.

We’ve had a few opportunities to make a race schedule for Mo. Some have gone almost exactly to plan and some went over like the Hindenburg. Here is a quick trip down memory lane:

2009:
o Plan: Race him at the Meadowlands in January and February, give him a break, pay him into some mid level stakes races and finish the year going after a couple of ‘slot machine’ level stakes events back in Chicago.
o Result: He raced well at the Meadowlands and it was hard to quit, but we stuck to our guns and gave him a nice break. He had mixed results in the mid level stakes events (won in Springifeld, 2nd in DuQuion and a leg of the Pennsylvania Sire Series) and hit triple 7s by winning the Windy City Pace at the end of the year.
o Scheduling Grade: I think that was a clear “A”

2010:
o Plan: Start the season at the Meadowlands, race through the spring, take a break, then focus on high level races out east with a target at a few stakes races.
o Result: It started well. 2 wins in 2 starts before suffering a potential career ending injury.
o Scheduling Grade: That injury was bad and nearly ended it all. While not our fault, we get an “F”

2011:
o Plan: We didn’t do too much planning. The only schedule we had was to somehow make it back to the races and find the winners circle again.
o Result: We thought it was over 3 or 4 times, but somehow we made it back. It wasn’t pretty early (7th, 5th, 7th), but old Mo returned and finished the year going win, win, third and a fourth.
o Grade: Feels like another ‘A’ to me

This brings us to 2012 and another chance at a more traditional schedule (as opposed to last year). We have high hopes for a great year as we think he really proved he still has ‘it’, but we aren’t getting too ahead of ourselves. Step one is to start the process of training Mo into racing shape and that process will began late last week. We expect it will take about 6 weeks to get there, which puts his return to the track sometime in early March. After some good discussions, we’ve also decided to keep him in Chicago for the start of the season and will test the waters out east if and when he shows that he’s ready.

In summary, the season could end up looking like this:

- Now until early March – get into race shape
- March through May/ June – Race in Chicago
- May/ June – August – Potentially head out to the Big M to chase bigger purses and see if he can handle some tougher competition.
- September – November/ December – Race back in Chicago

The good thing is we should have lots of opportunities to see him race in Chicago and could even take a trip out east to watch him there. We are also kicking around the idea of making him eligible to a couple of big events for two reason: (1) it would be fun and (2) if he is racing like his old self, it would be extra fun to give him the chance to take on some of the best and see what he can do. The issue is those races are expensive, extremely difficult and you must make payments in the spring even though the races aren’t until summer/ fall. There is definitely an element of risk associated with doing that…especially with a horse like In Over My Head. Having that said, it has worked quite well for us in the past (see the Windy City Pace) and we can always choose to not race him in any event if we don’t think he is up for it when the time comes. We will see. We have until February 15th to decide and will have to talk to the Butenschoens about it first.

So there you have it, the 2012 In Over My Head schedule. As we have all learned, nothing horse racing related is written in stone (more like carved into a block of ice sitting outside on a summer day), but it is a lot of fun to think about the near future…especially with Mo. We are hoping 2012 will be a year with a lot of camaraderie and a lot of fun at the track. Keep checking in for updates.

Let’s go Mo!

An Update and a Story

An Update and a Story

Hello In Over My Head fans! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. Mo certainly did. He received an all expenses paid trip to a resort that had big rooms and swimming pool…otherwise known as the training facility of the Leonard family. He’s been swimming away and given the nice winter weather (at least up until yesterday) he’s been able to get some jog miles in as well. Given the fact he's stayed rather active, it shouldn't take too long to get him back to the races. The plan is to start maybe start training as early as next week. In a perfect world, he’d be ready to go in about 3 weeks. However, given the fact it is winter, it could take twice as long. We will just play it by ear and get him back healthy. We are extremely excited for a (cross your fingers) full healthy year with Mo.

Since there isn’t too much to talk about on the current racing front, I thought I’d go back and share a story from this summer. This story is 100% true and speaks of one of the strange coincidences that have often surrounded our story with In Over My Head. Enjoy!

The Spider

Do you remember the book Charlotte’s Web? It was one of those first novels kids tend to read in their grade school years about a pig and a spider. The pig started as a playful little squirt, who grew into something more useful to the farmer: bacon. Based on the friendship they had built over the years, Charlotte, a spider living in the corner of the pig's barn, began weaving messages into her web to try and save the life of the pig. “Some Pig” was one that I remember. The pig’s life was spared due to his new celebrity, but in excellent children’s book irony it was Charlotte who ended up passing away from old age (per a quick Google search, the average lifespan of a spider is 1 to 2 years).

Well, apparently Mo has is own little ‘Charlotte’ and she lives in my garage. Let me be very clear about something: I don’t like spiders. I wouldn't go as far as to say I have a fear of spiders, but if someone gave me $50 to watch the 1990's movie ‘Arachnophobia’, I’d tell them to keep their money. Let me take you back to July of this year: Mo’s comeback timetable was continuing to get extended and we didn’t know when, if ever, he would finally make it back. I came out of the house into the garage and in the window right next to my driver’s side door was a new spider web…with a rather large spider living there. My normal inclination when I see a spider is simple: kill. However, I was in a state of mind that day that led me to make the following assessment: I’m going to let this spider live because maybe that will create enough good animal kingdom karma to let Mo make it back to the track.

It wasn't until later that I made connection between my new garage spider friend (who is there to freak me out every single morning when I get in my car to go to work...I named her Spidey) and the Charlotte’s Web reference. As July became August and then September, I half expected to walk out one day and see ‘Go Mo’ weaved into the web. It never happened. But on the Sunday before Mo was going to go in for his ‘make it or break it’ qualifier on September 21st, something weird did happen.

Laura and I had just returned from the mall with a brand new elliptical machine in the back of the Trailblazer. After backing into the garage half way and dragging the box out of the back, Laura looked up at the window and said, ‘wow…look at that spider, it’s huge!’ It made me realize that Laura had probably never seen the spider before because it's view was blocked by the Trailblazer.  On the rare occasions that she drove it the spider was likely tucked up in the corner of the wall and the ceiling (she’s up there about half the time). I then told Laura the story of the spider and how I decided not to knock down the web as a peace offering to Mother Nature in hopes it would somehow help Mo’s chances to make it back from injury. She laughed (probably thought I was nuts) and I hopped back into the truck to pull it out of the garage so I could work on the new exercise equipment.

I was in the truck for a total of about 20 seconds and never touched the radio. Whatever channel it was on before I got in was just random chance. However, the song that played gave me goosebumps and put a big smile on my face. I sat in the drivers seat for an extra couple seconds to listen as Laura looked at me wondering what I was doing. When I got out she asked why I sat there so long.

“Good song was on” I said.
“What song?”
“Over My Head by the Frey” (Mo's unofficial theme song)
“Woa...that’s weird…”

Coincidence? Maybe. Some people might say probably. Others would say of course it is a coincidence, do you think that Mother Nature somehow contacted XM radio's 'The Blend' channel and had them play Over My Head during that 20 seconds I got in the car just after I told my wife about the spider story?

I'd say that's exactly what happened! OK, maybe not, but I thought it was just a pretty interesting story that I'd share with everyone. Hopefully it at least made you go hmmmmmmm....

That's all for now. More updates (and maybe more stories) to come.

Let's Go Mo!