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!