Carrying a Heavy Load

Is it possible to write a blog about one horse for over five years and still feel like you aren’t giving him enough credit?  I’ve created 130+ entries about In Over My Head.  Most of the time I write about how great he is, how much fun he has been for our family and his resiliency.  At times, I’ve touched on the additional fact that he’s been the horsepower (pun intended) behind our entire operation.  He IS the revenue generator.  I’m going to expand that line of thinking with a new analogy.  Try this on for size:

XYZ Company is lucky.  They have this old salesman (let’s call him Mort) that has been with the company or years.  Mort is not only experienced, but he’s a hell of a salesman.  When he working, he literally moves the needle for company revenue.  The only issue over the years is that Mort has had to deal with some health related issues and has taken a leave of absence on a couple of occasions.  The owners of the company originally thought it was no big deal…they’d just find another salesman.  Sounds easy right?  Well it wasn’t. 

The first new hire turned out to be a hothead who was a solid employee, but couldn’t close any big deals.  The second just didn’t pan out at all.  The third showed promise, but had issues of his own to deal with and didn’t make much money.  It all came back to Mort time and time again.  Despite numerous efforts to find Mort’s replacement, each effort has fallen flat on its face.  The company has reached a point where there is legitimate concern.  When Mort finally retires, do we even have a company left?

You can probably guess that Mort = Mo in this little analogy.  Just when I think I may have my hands on another horse that could move the revenue needle, something knocks it off its feet.  Who steps in to pick up the pieces?  In Over My Head.  Like clockwork, the old boy just keeps doing the heavy lifting.  It happened again last week.

Last fall, bought into a yearling (mainly due to Mo’s success) with John Butenschoen and a couple other partners.  As the winter went along our hopes for him continued to grow.  He was good.  Good enough to possibly add a decent amount to the revenue line of the horse business.  Unfortunately, he suffered an injury that will knock him out for the year.  News like that is never fun.  We were all disappointed. 

I heard the news of the young horse’s injury last Saturday afternoon.  Mo was scheduled to race on Saturday night at about 9:30pm.  He made sure that I wasn’t going to have to sulk for very long.

Mo had been off for three weeks and was again facing the ever powerful Al’s Hammered.  He also had a new driver, Hall of Famer Dave Magee, in the bike.  Things weren’t lining up to be a week were Mo was going to finally break through and get his first win over Al in 2014.   While we ended up being right, Mo still managed to put on a performance that made it feel like he won.

The field was small with only six horses and when the gate closed three horses shot to the front.  Dave took Mo to the fence with Al’s Hammered falling in behind us.  Just past the half, Bobby Smolin decided it was time to roll and Al took off.  We ended up following him and by mid-stretch Al had opened up three lengths on us and we were still in fourth.  That was when good old Mo finally hit his top speed (after he appeared to take a look at the tote board for some reason) and fired into 2^nd place.  By the time they hit the wire he was just ¾ of a length behind Al’s Hammered.  We were thrilled with the performance until we saw his last quarter time.  25.2. The fastest of his life.  Off a three week break.  Wow.  Extra thrilled.

Once again, In Over My Head stepped up when he was most needed.  He never gets tired of carrying the load.  We wish he could do it forever, but obviously he can’t.  Finding a replacement is necessary.   If we fail to find a replacement the business could shrink or slowly fade away.  Luckily we don’t have to worry about that yet.  As of now we can just continue to recite one simple acronym:  TGFM.  Thanks goodness for Mo.   

Mo is getting another week off since the Invite didn’t fill at Balmoral Park.  I’m guessing he will be in next week.  Until then he can enjoy running around and eating grass.  He’s earned it.

Let’s go Mo!

Hammer or the Nail

It almost feels like In Over My Head has been off for a couple months.  In reality, it’s only been three weeks.  I guess it shows how much we miss watching him race when he’s feeling good.

Mo will take to the track on Saturday night in the Balmoral Invitational.  The break was part our choice (we didn’t enter him after his two wins) and part not our choice.  We entered him last week, but Balmoral didn’t have enough horses to fill the Invite, so it was left off the card.  Hopefully as a few more horses get going it will be easier to fill going forward.

Saturday night will mark the reunion of In Over My Head and Hall of Fame driver Dave Magee, who last drove Mo in 2007 when he was a two year old.  Mo finished 2^nd that night in 1.52.2, but broke at the wire and was placed 4^th.  Either way, it served notice that the youngster had some serious talent (1.52.2 had quite a bit more meaning back then).

The question for the race this week is pretty simple:  Can anyone beat Al’s Hammered?  He’s continued to crush everyone he’s faced, including the dead game Fort Silky.  In a short field, Al’s raw speed is even more of a weapon since he will never be too far from the front turning for home.  His last quarter of 25.1 two weeks ago is freakish.  Last time we faced him, Mo get beat in a photo finish.  In Over My Head may be the only horse that can hang with Al, but I’m not sure this will be the week for him to prove it.  Three weeks off may be a bit too much.  He’ll have to be razor sharp if he’s going to turn the Hammer into the nail.

The In Over My Head vs. Al’s Hammered angle takes me to another very interesting duel that is set for this weekend.  One that is not only a national story (sorry Mo, not too many people pay attention outside of Chicago), but an international one.  Sweden’s Sebastian K vs. US based Market Share.  The ‘us vs. them’ angle is a marketers dream and something that has rarely presented itself in harness racing.  I think the Meadowlands has done a good job to get some promotion out there and my real hope is that these two lock horns more than once this season.  The only thing that could make it even better is if Ready Cash, the French phenomenon, makes good on their plans to race here later in the summer.  His connections have stated that he is a couple lengths better than Sebastian K.  While I find that statement nearly impossible to believe, I sincerely hope they repeat it and talk as much trash as they can.  Nothing gets people’s attention more than an antagonist and there aren’t too many of those in harness racing.  So head on over Ready Cash and tell everyone who will listen how good you are.  Win or lose, people will be paying attention.

A Force with Issues

There is nothing better than heading into a week off after two straight wins and that’s exactly what In Over My Head has delivered in the past two weeks. 

His win at Maywood two weeks back was the typical dominating performance he has put up at that track.  After going winless in his previous five starts, he was able to drop down in class and fit the Maywood card.  He came in and took care of business.  Danny made a nice video of that win:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yk1LvByki5o

Last Saturday at Balmoral, he was assigned an outside post position (#9), but it didn’t do anything to slow him down.  As the horses turned for home, he showed his class and went right by.  We don’t have a youtube video of that one up yet, but if you’d like to see the race, just follow the link below:

Click the link, then April 26^th and Race #8

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

Mo’s success has also earned some nice press coverage.  Take a look at the following links for more.

Going into the Maywood race:

http://www.harnessillinois.com/node/1461

Going into the Balmoral race (at the end of the article):

http://www.harnessillinois.com/node/1467

As much as I’ve enjoyed seeing those articles, I think it was this quote from Casey Leonard in the second link that was maybe the most important for me. 

“In Over My Head does have a lot of issues that we have to keep working on but when he’s right, he’s a force out there.”

It is very, very easy to forget that Mo’s success is somewhat fragile when he looks so darn good on the track.  If you just tuned in to watch him race, you’d probably never know.  Your only tip might be that we race him rather lightly (always giving him ample weeks off to stay healthy), but he doesn’t show it.  It is a testament to the Leonard’s, who like the Butenschoen’s before them, have done a great job keeping him fit, healthy and happy.  Let’s not forget that last one.  Mo deserves to be happy!

I’ve said it before, but I’ll say it again. The key to this whole thing is to just really enjoy success when you have it.  We are having it yet again with In Over My Head.  He is such a special horse.  We truly are lucky to have him. 

Mo still has some dragons to slay, most notably Al’s Hammered.  He looked like a monster on Saturday night as well, closing in 25.4 (same last quarter as Mo).  Mo will have his chances to lock horns again soon.  Look for him be back next Saturday at Balmoral Park.

Let’s Go Mo!