Happy Thanksgiving

I'll start by answering a simple question:  What are we thankful for this year?

In Over My Head of course.

We are thankful he has been able to make 11 starts so far this year.  We are thankful he is still healthy and going strong.  We are thankful for the great care he is getting from the Leonard family.  We are thankful Mo and Casey have really hit their stride as a driver/ horse combo.  We are also thankful for the surprise drive we got from Marcus Miller.

Since I am on location for Thanksgiving festivities, I have to keep this short, but just a quick comment on the race from last week.

That marks 3 wins in Mo's last 5 starts.  He proved (yet again) that he is as fast as about any horse in a short sprint and that he really likes to beat other horses in photo finishes.  I'll circle back and post the video link here next week, but I'll summarize the race very quickly.

He got off 4th.  Stayed 4th until deep stretch.  Casey found a seam and shot him to the center of the racetrack, got him straighten out and he powered by 3 other horses to win at the wire.  It was another one of those races where we thought at about the 3/4 pole, "well, we aren't going to win tonight".  We were wrong.  Again.  We love how Mo keeps surprising us.

The other really cool thing about this race was that it was the first race our son Jordan ever watched live.  Since Mo was in an early race (the 2nd) and we were in the central time zone, the race went off before his bedtime.  Even though he can't talk yet, I'm sure he was saying "Let's Go Mo" in his head.

Danny also had a fun experience as he watched the race on his phone at a wedding with a group of 8, some of which had never seen a race before.  That's always a risky thing to do since you never know how a race will go, but when he won, it was a blast for Danny and his table.

It is always fun to go into a 2 week break off a win and we have enjoyed this one.  The next stop for Mo is the Invitational and the plan is to enter him next week.  He's sharp.  Those top horses better watch out.

Let's go Mo!

A Little of This and a Little of That

Quest Achieved

In Over My Head accomplished something special on Saturday night.  It wasn’t his game effort first over into a headwind on a sloppy track.  It wasn’t his ‘never give up’ attitude that propelled him to a third place finish when it appeared that he would be 5^th or 6^th.  It was simply the fact that he finished the race.

Why is that important?

He completed his quest.  A quest he has only completed one other time in his six year racing career.  It was a quest I laid out for him a couple months ago…the quest for double digits.

http://inovermyheadracehorse.blogspot.com/2013/07/the-quest-for-double-digits.html

Saturday’s race was Mo’s tenth start of the season.  While that may not seem like a lot to some of the horses he races against (hats off to Major Monet and Old Man River with 36 and 35 starts this year respectively), ten is a lot for Mo.  And he’s still going strong.  By all accounts, he came out of the race well and should be in next week.

Tougher Competition

Mo has no climbed to a level where he simply cannot swoop everyone in the final stretch….and that’s just fine by me (even though he can still swoop most).  It means he’s at a level where he is racing against the best Chicago has to offer.  It’s where he belongs.  While Saturday’s race was technically a non-winners of $12,000 last five races, it was in reality an Invitational field. 

Best Man Hanover beat us again, but I still think Mo is a better horse.  Best Man was well placed and had the jump on us at the ¾ pole.  Mo closed 3 lengths on him, but it wasn’t quite enough.  Best Man was drafting behind Time To Roll, who is a legit monster of a horse.  He could race anywhere in my opinion and if the connections just happen to be reading this, I think you should give him a shot at the new Meadowlands! 

Looking Back

This year marks the 4^th anniversary of In Over My Head’s improbable win in the Windy City Pace at odds of 55-1.  I’ve covered that topic many times (probably too many) in this blog over the years, but in thinking back I came up with an interesting question.  Do other owners/ connections remember a big win like we do?  If you think about it, dozens of races each year offer a purse of as much or more than the Windy City did ($225,000), so in theory there are hundreds of people that have had a part of that ‘Big Win’ experience.  Do they reflect back every year and remember how incredible that feeling was like we do? 

I’m guessing that we take it to more of an extreme for a number of reasons.  It was so improbable (sometime if you win as a favorite, you almost feel as much relief as pure excitement).  He was our only horse and we’ve never come close to repeating that victory in the 4 years since.  The next biggest race he was in (from a pure purse perspective) was the final of the Exit 16W series at the Meadowlands that went for $88,000.  He finished 7^th and shredded his leg that night.  That is probably another reason why we hang on so tightly to our one big time win.  There is nothing else to get in its way.

The only personal comparison I can make was from my time as a coach at Madison Memorial High School.   Over 8 years we won three state titles and were runner up four times.  That’s a lot of success and lots of memorable games.  I can say that I often do think back to the biggest wins and love talking about them with other people who were involved.  I can’t say that they are any less special just because we had more of them (as opposed to the one major win with Mo).  Certain wins will always mean more for any number of reasons and I think if I coached another 50 years, nothing would ever top this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03XyAMaSZRU

Regardless of the reasons why, we will probably relive that for many more years.  Thanks to Danny, it was captured beautifully with the 3^rd portion of his 3 year old highlight video.  Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hT5_wn3-pI 

Looking Ahead

Look for Mo to race again next week either in the same class or in the Invitational.  It just depends on who enters and how Balmoral shakes out the fields. 

It’s been a great run so far in 2013 and we hope to keep it going.  Let’s Go Mo!

New Fans and a 2012 Flashback

Over the past five years, we’ve covered a lot of ground in the story of In Over My Head.  We’ve been with him for 49 races and in some way I’ve covered them all right here on this blog.  Soemtimes the focus is just about the race itself.  Other times, more focus has been placed on the ancillarily factors surrounding the race.  It could be a background story of some sort or memorable scenario that ends in me telling someone, “I have to go watch my horse race.”  Here is one of my favorites from 2009 (http://inovermyheadracehorse.blogspot.com/2009/09/exciting-end-to-interesting-day.html).  This weekend we added another one of those stories…and much, much more.

Laura and I were finishing up at a neighborhood party on Saturday night when I got a text from Danny who was in Mineral Point watching the races with Greg, “Ya ready?” it asked.  It was about 20 minutes to post and my answer at that point was, no, I wasn’t close to ready!  We still had to pack up the car and get back home.  As Laura could attest, my personality immediately changed from relaxed to semi-frantic as the minutes ticked away and post time crept closer.  In the excitement, our friends asked us why we were leaving so abruptly.

“We have to get home so we can watch our horse race.”

“What?”

It is a common exchange that I haven’t experienced in quite awhile, but one I always find funny.  The cool part about the exchange this time was that everyone there was really interested in the whole thing.  “How did you get into horse racing?”  “Where does he race?”  “Is he any good?”  “That sounds like fun.”  I love talking to people about horse racing and really wanted to answer every question that everyone had, but there was only one problem.  At that point we were only 12 minutes to post…we had to move!

In retrospect, we should have just stayed in the Mill Glenn community pool parking lot and watched with everyone on our Iphones.  To be honest though, I’m not sure the impression I would have made on our new friends if I started screaming into the phone as Mo was charging down the stretch…which is pretty much exactly what would have happened.  And what if he went another bad race?  He had finished 1^st and 2^nd his previous two starts, but had struggled before that.  Should we have been worried?

In typical In Over My Head style, his response was “Don’t worry and don’t be so nervous?  I’ve got this.”

This race was also special for a totally different reason.  It had a very 2012 feel to it.  Tyler Butenschon and Penny Perrin were both in attendance.  Tyler had one of John’s horses racing the American National elimination and Penny came along…well I think she came along just to see In Over My Head.  The other part of the flashback was that Marcus Miller, who happened to be in Chicago for the same American National elim, was available to drive.  Our normal driver, Casey Leonard, had another horse in the race and decided to let Marcus drive Mo given their history together.  The only thing missing was Danny, Kacy, Laura, Laura’s grandparents, myself and “Call Me Maybe” playing over the sound system.

Since this was Flashback to 2012 night, Mo also decided to stay in character.

Leaving from post 8, Marcus pushed him off the gate a little bit, but a hole never opened up.  Instead of falling to the back or charging to the front, Marcus did what he has done many times with Mo:  just relax and ride on the outside.  Eventually some cover emerged from the rail and turning for home, Mo was 3^rd over and ready to make a charge.  He was nearly 7 lengths off the lead, but with open race track in front of him (unlike the week before when he was surprisingly knocked off his course by a breaking St. David Hanvoer) it was time to put the pedal to the medal.  The result was shocking.  Just when you think you know everything you could possibly know about In Over My Head, we learn something new.

Mo is even faster than we though.  And that’s saying something.  Check it out for yourself:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii8Dcr-Axhk&feature=youtu.be

At 7 years old and after 2 major ligament injuries, In Over My Head did something on Saturday night that he has NEVER done in his entire life.  He came home with a last quarter of under 26 seconds.  25 and 3/5^th seconds to be exact.  That was enough to leave everyone else in his substantial wake as he won by a length and a half. 

Since Laura and I spent some time with folks new to horse racing this weekend they are probably wondering:  just how fast is that?

Often times when someone sees harness racing for the first time, they assume that the horses aren’t going all that fast.  “It just looks like they are speed walking” is a comment I get pretty commonly.  While I can’t comment on what they LOOK LIKE, I can tell you that they are moving at a pretty fast clip.  Let’s work though the math on that one.

His last quarter was 25.6 seconds.  Over a mile that would be 102.4 seconds.  There are 3600 seconds in an hour, which clocks In Over My Head’s last quarter at 35.12 miles per hour.   Fast enough to get pulled over in a school zone.  Good thing we keep him on the track. 

When thinking about how fast that actually is, don’t compare it to sitting in a car.  Being in an enclosed area doesn’t do it justice.  Think about the last time you were on a scooter for example.  When you had that think opened up and you were going downhill, you were probably going about 35 mph.  With the wind in your hair, it is a very different experience.

As a comparison to a thoroughbred horse (which many people are more familiar with), they can cover a quarter mile in maybe 22 seconds, which works out to 40.91 miles per hour.  While it is certainly faster (16.5% faster to be exact), it isn’t as dramatically faster than it appears to many folks are new to the game.

I have to say, it feels great to be back on a roll with In Over My Head.  Saturday’s win was a huge validation for us.  It validated this entire second comeback.  Think about the time and effort that went into it.  He was off from July of 2012 to July of 2013.  While he started hot, he tailed off and tested our patience.  However, everyone involved stayed the course (with a tip of the hat to the Leonards for some well-placed training changes) and on Saturday we witnessed speed from Mo like he has never shown us before.  It is simply amazing.  A horse with that amount of talent BELONGS on the race track.  It would be a waste to take away that opportunity. 

Staying true to our schedule to not over-race him, Mo will get next week off and will then either take one or two steps up in class the following Saturday.  He is so razor sharp right now that I’m not sure there are many horses in Chicago that can beat him with one exception.  A horse in his own barn by the name of Fort Silky who is also trained by the Leonards.  He’s be virtually unbeatable lately and is not only fast but tough as nails.  An In Over My Head and Fort Silky neck and neck stretch run would be a joy to watch.  Could Mo beat him?  Well I think he COULD, but I’m not saying he will.  At this point, who really cares?  Three weeks ago we thought we were looking at a retirement of our old boy.  Now, he writing a whole new chapter to the book of Mo.  As we’ve said many times before, it’s best to just jump on and enjoy the ride.  And each week that goes by, Mo is picking up new fans.  It just makes the whole thing that much more fun.

Let’s Go Mo!