Refresh, refresh, refresh……

The whole experience of of harness horse ownership has changed dramatically since the back in the late 1950s when Grandpa purchased his first racehorse.  From that point up until probably the early 1990’s you had two options to find out how your horse did in a race:  go to the racetrack or wait for a call from your trainer.  Even making a phone call was more hit or miss.  The trainer had to make his way to a pay phone and likely call the owner's home phone number....and the owner had to be home.  Lots of chances to miss each other.

In the early 90s the advent of Off Track Betting parlors became popular.  Oftentimes that would be the place to watch a race, which was particularly true for us Wisconsinites given the OTB that used to be in Rockford, IL.  It was a much shorter drive than going all the way to Maywood or Balmoral Park.  Despite the fact it was easier going to watch a race still involved an hour + drive each way.

In 2013, staying on top of your horse’s success (or lack thereof) couldn’t be easier.  We have the internet, cell phones, text messages and so on.  This is great, particularly for those owners like myself who currently live hundreds of miles away from the tracks their horses are racing.  It can, however, also lead to some rather obsessive habits. 

Take last night for example.

Our 2 year old was making his first start in a qualifier at Maywood Park.  A first qualifier is nothing to get too excited about, but after waiting since last October to see the youngster on the track it is worth paying attention to.  Since you can’t see the qualifiers live, you just have to go to ustrotting.com or maywoodpark.com and wait for the results to be posted.  Now, you could be patient and check back every 20 minutes or so.  Or you could be like Danny and I:

Refresh, refresh, refresh…..

Let’s just say our web browsers got a workout last night.  And you can’t blame our trainer/ driver Casey Leonard for not getting back to us.  I think he drove every single race last night.  Not a lot of time for phone calls to owners.

When the web page finally revealed the results, Don’t Tell Wayne (or Little Wayne as he’s now been called by Danny) had a very solid first effort.  He posted a 2.00.3 mile after getting impeded in the stretch (impeded means that another horse got in his way, thus impeded his progress).  Little Wayne showed good manners handling that less than smooth stretch run.  After watching the replay this morning, he was revved up and really rolling before getting backed into.  This was also against horses much older than him.  All in all, we were very happy.

And how is Mo doing?  He continues to move forward.  He trained in   My last prediction was a little aggressive.  We are still likely a month or so out from a qualifier.  He trained in 2.24 this week.  No issues to report, which is great news.  It shouldn’t be long now…

Let’s go Mo!