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!
Sunday, January 29, 2012
Saturday, January 14, 2012
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!
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!
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