A Big Suprise in Little Kendall

Ladies and Gentlemen, we have ourselves a win streak…

Saturday night marked the strangest place I ever got word of how a horse finished: Standing at a jukebox at a bar in Kendall, Wisconsin (population 450). A group of us were up in that area for a little bike riding along a popular trail (see the gang in the picture). I was trying to find the right song to follow up “Got Me Under Pressure” by ZZ Top. I should have instinctively just went to ‘Over My Head’ by the Frey, but never got that far. The rest of our group (Laura, her brother Ryan, sister in law Jamie along with Schlitz and Liz) were hanging out at the bar (which was empty except for us). I was considering going with an old standby, “Folsom County Blues” from Mr. Cash when I heard Laura yell from across the bar ‘Winner, winner!’ ‘Danny just texted ‘Winner, winner!’ Apparently, Jamie was using her phone when the text came in. None of us (except Laura) got phone reception up in Kendall and I had asked Danny to text her number when the race was over. Winner, winner? I couldn’t’ hardly believe it. Two in a row??? The jukebox would have to wait. I ran across the bar and took Laura’s phone outside to call Danny.

In Over My Head was racing at Balmoral Park that night in a 3-year-old open event against some formidable foes. It was more or less a tune-up for our upcoming stakes event in DuQuoin this weekend. We were once again taking on My Boy Luke as well as a very talented horse named Doubletrouble and three other solid colts. The purse was small compared to some of our recent events ($7,000), but every dollar helps when it comes time to pay the bills at the end of the month. Once I got Danny on the phone, he gave me the verbal replay. Unlike our Springfield race, our driver (Marcus Miller) took Mo off the gate relatively cautiously and he fell back to 5th place going into the first turn. Much like Springfield, My Boy Luke gunned to the front. It stayed that way for until just past the half when Fox Valley Seth tipped off the rail and began a first over trip. Mo followed him and the favorite, Doubletrouble, followed Mo. That group of three slowly grinded toward the leader and at the head of the stretch, Fox Valley Seth had pulled even with My Boy Luke. That’s when Marcus decided it was time to send Mo to the outside and put the hammer down. The next quarter of a mile or so was fun to watch. Fun because we got a clear shot of In Over My Head just charging to the wire. He looked strong, he looked fast and as they crossed the wire, everyone else was looking up at him. He had just scored his second win in a row.

His final time of 1.52.4 was very good, just 0.1 off his best lifetime win mark. The number that caught my eye was his last quarter in 26.3. His stretch drive was amazing…just watching him charge home, giving it all he had. He showed strength, speed and heart. It was a thing of beauty.

The other positive part of that race was that he got a good trip and wasn’t used all that hard, which should make him razor sharp for next Saturday’s race in DuQuoin. The Hayes Memorial should have a purse of about $45,000 and I’m guessing a field of 8 or so. It should prove to be a bit tougher than Springfield, but I think Mo is ready. Maybe a State Fair sweep? We’ll see, I don’t want to put the cart before the horse.

A Race Day to Remember

I woke up in the middle of the night on Tuesday. I guess it would have technically been early Wednesday morning. I was reeling a bit from the handful of brews polished off earlier in the evening, but my mind was on something other than the lingering headache. It was a feeling I wasn’t expecting to experience after the events that took place just a couple of hours before: remorse. It was like we got too much…too much fun, too much excitement, too much purse money. It felt like I didn’t deserve it for some reason. Luckily, that feeling subsided after thinking about the path to get there. A path we wouldn’t have even been on if it were not for that painful race out in Pittsburgh on July 16th where we traded a certain 1st or 2nd for a last place finish. If we had won, we wouldn’t have shipped back to Illinois for the Review Stakes race. If we didn’t ship back to Illinois for the Review, we wouldn’t have had a chance to experience the events of Tuesday night. There was no reason to feel like we got too much of anything. We deserved it.

It isn’t often were you can go to a race where you have a full compliment of ‘fans.’ Danny and I had been out to the Meadows for a race, Laura and I had been to Pocono Downs, but this was the first time we had the full crew: Greg, Danny, Laura and myself. Also, John, Jackie and Tyler Butenschoen were all down in Springfield for the race. If that wasn’t enough, Danny brought along a couple of friends (Darryl, Parker and Tanner) to round out the unofficial ‘In Over My Head Fan Club.’ We were all there because we all had a feeling something good was going to happen that day…well, except the Butenschoen’s. They had to work and take care of the horses! They may have had good feelings too. Anyway, ask any horse owner about having a big group come down to see a race you have a good feeling about and they will tell you a story about a time when their expected celebration turned out to be an uncomfortable, somber evening. A situation where their horse was expected to do well and the race went horribly. Horse got a bad trip, made a break, any number of things can happen to ruin a night. We were hoping that day would not create another one of those bad stories.

The one thing the general public didn’t realize was that we had a secret weapon that day. That weapon was none other than Danny Carey, fully dressed in his new colors, and he would be warming In Over My Head up. Danny has 3 starts as a trainer with 2 wins and 1 second. Between him and the Butenschoen’s, we had the best in the business getting Mo ready.

Because of rain the previous day, they had to race about 10 races from Monday’s card before ours, which pushed our race back from an anticipated 6pm start to about an 8pm start. As much as I love watching the races, Laura and I decided to step away from the track for awhile and take in the State Fairgrounds the only true way: on the skyride! For just $5 per person, you can ride in that cable car looking thing that slowly glides over endless rows of deep fried food stands, hot tub dealership booths, an ‘international village’ (which surprisingly wasn’t too busy), the midway rides and a plethora of other booths and food stands. We ended up getting a ‘milk shake’ for $4.95 that, quite frankly, I could have got for $1.50 at Dairy Queen (it was just soft serve ice cream), but hey, that’s what State Fairs are for. We ended up timing the ride perfectly because as we came back to the start, we got to see a bird’s eye view of the start of a race on the track. Very cool.

After a trip through the fairgrounds, the rest of the day was kind of a blur. I bet a few races, cashed a couple of tickets, but before I knew it we were just a few races away from ours. When Danny was out warming him up, I started to feel it. Those nerves were setting in. Gone were the high flying fun times of the skyride. My body started to feel heavy. My stomach started to tighten up. We were nearing race time.

There is something so unnerving about being able to stand and look at your horse before a big race and that is what we had that day. You don’t get to do that at most tracks as they come onto the track from the paddock, which is located a quite a ways away from the grandstand area. That isn’t the case in Springfield where the paddock is open and close. We could sit on some picnic tables near the grandstand and see In Over My Head standing there. He was a mere 20 yards from me. He was active: ears perked, looking over the stall at his future competitors, throwing his head around and at times he just appeared to be calmly watching the races unfolding out on the track. He is such a sharp looking horse. With all of the people we had down watching the race, there was a lot of activity around Mo. I decided to keep my distance. We didn’t need too many cooks in the kitchen. I just watched…and got more and more nervous.

I swear, races 6 through 10 went by in heartbeat. We were in the 11th and when the 10th race was complete, the group gathered over near Mo. Greg, Danny, John, Jackie, Tyler and Danny’s friends. I walked over, but left quickly. I just couldn’t take it anymore. Too tense. From there, I headed over to the betting counter. I had a $20 in my hand and planned on putting $10 to win and $10 to place on In Over My Head. I felt he was at least the second best horse in the race. The favorite, My Boy Luke, was certainly a worthy adversary. In his last 6 races, he had finished first 2 times and second 4 times. His times were fast and he would be tough to beat. However, as I got to the window, I had a change of heart. “$20 on the 2 (In Over My Head) to win,” I said. “Wow, everyone seems to be liking the 2,” the attendant replied. To that, I said, “That’s good, because I own half of him.”

I met Laura and said it was time to head up to the grandstand. She suggested saying a little prayer before we left, which was fine, but I didn’t want to pray for Mo to win. That would be too greedy; I just wanted him to race well. Laura said she’d take care of the win part of the prayer.

We found a spot in the grandstand near the wire with a good view of the track. Greg joined us a couple of minutes later and we both spent the next 10 minutes in a world of agonizing nervousness. He said it best when he commented on the fact when you only have one horse, everything rides on that race. There isn’t a big stable to fall back on. I think that is something that people miss when they see us so nervous. I’d just say think about going to a casino. You plan on gambling $250 dollars that night, but instead of $10 blackjack bets, you just throw it on one hand. A little more intense, right? Well, that’s us. One horse, one bet and a bucket full of nerves.

The tension was so high, that I didn’t even watch the horses as they approached the starting line. Instead, I was just looking down at the ground, hoping we were about to witness something good. When they reached the start line, I looked up and liked what was unfolding: Mo had driven out to the lead. My Boy Luke was gunning from his post position #4 as well, but Andy Miller (who seems to be a master of getting In Over My Head out of the starting gate well) made him work a bit around the first turn before he cleared. The first quarter was a snappy 27.1, one of the fastest that day on a relatively slow track. After a rather exciting start, the next half-mile was actually kind of bland. My Boy Luke continued to lead the way as we followed and he slowed the race down to a near crawl. The time as we reached the ¾ mile marker was 1.30.0, which is very slow for this group even on a bad track. With those easy fractions, it would be a sprint to the finish line.

Now we know Mo is a sprinter, but the problem was he was locked in. My Boy Luke was in the lead, we followed and two horses had moved up from the back in the outer flow, pinning In Over My Head on the rail. A thought flashed through my mind…we won’t do any better than 3rd. Without racing room, there would be no chance to use our speed to try and sprint past these other horses and as they neared 1/8th of a mile to go, I was thinking our trip down would have an average ending at best. That’s when things changed. My Boy Luke was pouring it on and starting to separate from the horses challenging from the outside, but he wasn’t separating from us. That created an opening and Andy Miller masterfully jumped at it within a split second of seeing it. He pulled Mo off the rail and within just a few steps, he was gaining on My Boy Luke. The problem was that we were running out of race. They were charging to the wire, now in full view of us looking on from the grandstand. It was a two horse race. In Over My Head was gaining ground with each step: past the race bike, up to My Boy Luke’s back, to his midsection…we just needed enough track to finish him off. It was then Mo seemed to take a gigantic couple of steps that got him eye to eye with the leader. There was still 50 feet of track left and with our momentum, the favorite was toast. Mo stormed past him and as they crossed the wire, In Over My Head, with a perfect drive from Andy Miller, had just captured the first big victory of his life.

To be honest with you, the final couple of seconds and the immediate time afterward was kind of a blur. I remember when Mo pulled even with My Boy Luke and knew at that point, the race was ours. I think I yelled something to the effect ‘We got it!’ to Greg and he said something like ‘this way!’ and motioned for me to follow. Greg had done his homework: he had already mapped out the fastest route to the winner’s circle! Very impressive game planning. Apparently, we took off sprinting about as fast as In Over My Head down the grandstand platform to a set of stairs and started going down them like we were a couple of cops chasing a suspect. Then we realized we forgot something rather important: Laura. Oops. I ran back up the steps and yelled for her. She wasn’t too far behind and was on cleanup duty as I had dropped my sunglasses and race program in the sprint. Now back together, the three of us winded our way through the belly of the grandstand and emerged on the ground level near the winner’s circle.

Shortly after we arrived, we were joined by the rest of our group: Danny and his friends, the Butenschoen’s and the stars of the track: Andy Miller and In Over My Head. Andy gave John a quick fist bump as Mo was led into the winners circle. We all followed and lined up for the picture (which you can see below). Lot’s of happy faces in there.

It wasn’t until after we left the winners circle when I realized just how special the day had become. Not only had we just won an important race, we had done so together. It is kind of rare to get everyone together to go to a race. It is even rarer to win that race. It is even rarer for that to happen in a stakes event. I thought back to our brief, but interesting history with In Over My Head. This is what we HOPED might happen when we bought him. I think we all actually envisioned a time when we would all be together in Springfield to watch a big victory and it actually happened. It really was a dream come true. I know in the future there will be more horses. Hopefully more big wins, but I can tell you with 100% certainty, that the victory in Springfield that day and the shared excitement with all of together will be something I will never ever forget.

We were the last race of the day and once done with the picture, picture ordering and cashing winning tickets, we headed back to the barn. On the way were lots of phone calls (Kirk, Mom, Dad and Grandma) and text messages. Darryl was able to locate a few cold Miller Lites. We popped the tops and had a big cheers to In Over My Head…I can’t remember the last time a beer tasted so good. From there we headed out for a late dinner and numerous recounts of the race and all the excitement that surrounded it. It was one of those days that you really don’t want to end, but we all reached a point of exhaustion soon enough. The stress and excitement of the race can really wear you down. It was time to call it a day, but it would be a day that I knew would be remembered and reminisced about many, many times.

I took a moment to look at past champions of this event. The Review Stake is certainly not a major race, but a true stakes race. Some of the biggest names in racing won it: Tar Heel in 1951, Race Time in 1964 and Bret Hanover in 1965. Recent speedsters such as Yankee Cruiser (2003) and Jeremy’s Jet (2006) won it in the last decade. To be fair, it was a bigger event in the past. With the blossoming slot purses in states like Pennsylvania, less horsemen ship their horses back to Illinois for the State Fair races, but that doesn’t matter. We made history, even if it was a small sliver of history. And, it marked the 10 year anniversary of another Carey owned horse victory: Carey’s Card Shark who won it in 1999. Let’s hope we can find another ‘W’ sometime between now and 2019.

A Good Fifth and a Trip Back Home

I’m not sure exactly why, but I was thinking good things were going to happen on Saturday afternoon when In Over My Head raced at the Meadowlands. Due to planned trip to the Door County area with family, I was unable to watch the race and depended on the always timely calls/ texts from Danny as to what was going on. When I got the text that he finished 5th, I was noticeably bummed out. Not upset, but just bummed out. I thought a top 3 was clearly in the cards that day, but it just didn’t play out as we hoped.

The beginning of the race was a flashback to the early days of Andy Miller driving Mo from a far outside post as he swept quickly toward the front, eventually giving up the lead to the #10 horse that was also rushed out quickly. That two hole trip would normally be a thing of beauty, but the problem was as they turned for home. Mo was absolutely loaded with pace, but the horse he was following was on the last legs of his bid to be the first to the wire. As he began to give up ground to the charging pack on the outside, Mo also got pushed back. He did sneak through on the rail, but the outside momentum was too much. He finished a very game 5th, only getting beat 3 legnths and clocked his quickest lifetime mile in 1.51.2.

With that, we leave the eastern USA for a trip back to the Heartland. It will be Mo’s first trip back to the Land of Lincoln since he was shipped out east back in December of 2008 when he prepped for the January sale where we purchased him. The plan will be for him to go three starts: The Review Stake in Springfield for open 3 year olds, an expected overnight at Balmoral and the Hayes Stake in DuQuion for open 3 year olds.

Those three races should give him legit opportunities to do something he hasn’t done a lot of in the past few races: exceed expectations. He did plenty of that this winter and when he first came back in June, but we’ve left some better finishes on the track in the last few starts. In reality, none of it has been In Over My Head’s fault. Some bad breaks, bad draws and bad race luck have kept our hopes of 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishes under wraps. That’s the way it goes. As I talked about with Greg, one big race can change that in a hurry. John continues to keep Mo sharp and I really think we will pop for a big one soon. Springfield next Tuesday would be a great place to start a big run. Only time will tell.

Time to Reflect On a 45-Year Anniversary

This Saturday, the richest event in harness racing will take place at The Meadowlands in New Jersey. The Hambletonian, with a purse of $1,520,333, showcases the best 3 year old trotters in the world. It is the only live nationally televised harness race of the year. Muscle Hill is the heavy favorite in the race, but crazy things can happen in 3 year old trotting events. If looking for a pick that might pay, I’d keep my eye on Federal Flex. Just a hunch.

Oddly enough, my focus won’t be on the Hambletonian or any of the other première $100,000+ events that are being raced on Saturday afternoon. It will be on the race 13, where a field of 10 non winners of 4 races/ $65,000 lifetime 3 and 4 year olds will help fill out a star studded card. I bet you can guess who is in to race…that’s right, In Over My Head. We are racing on Hambo Day! It would be the equivalent of having a horse race at Churchill Downs on Derby Day. We didn’t draw real well (post position #9), but we are reunited with Andy Miller, who will be driving Mo for the first time since the Junior Trendsetter Final back in February.

This is the 83rd installment of the Hambletonian and marks the 45th anniversary of Speedy Rodney racing in the marquee event. As I mentioned before, Speedy was owned by my grandpa Wayne (as well as his brother and another investor). It is hard to imagine what is would be like to have a horse complete in this event. Here we are, 45 years later and Greg, Danny and I are just thrilled to be racing on Hambo Day. Our race is just an afterthought, but it still feels special. You have to have a really good horse to even be able to make that card (and we do), but we are a number of notches below the featured event. It just gives additional perspective on what Grandpa had to be feeling back in 1964. What a memory. Maybe someday we can get there too. Feels like a million miles away now, but as the old saying goes, crazier things have happened.

As you might imagine, I have searched quite a bit over the years to find any sort of story or bit of memorabilia that relates to the 1964 Hambletonian and the fact is there isn’t a ton out there. It was a different media world back then, but I have found a couple of links and a picture to share. The first is more of an official summary from the Hambletonian Society:

http://www.hambletonian.org/archives_hambo/h_1964.html

And one from Sports Illustrated…this is really interesting and I honestly have never read it before I did a search for this entry. Note the ‘Wisconsin owned’ comment in regards to Speedy Rodney and the fact that the owners ‘refused to sell’ Speedy to big money owners out east. I always knew Grandpa could be stubborn!

https://www.si.com/vault/1964/09/14/608358/the-winner-from-the-wrong-side-of-the-barn

Also, here is a picture of the start of the 1964 Hambletonian. As mentioned in the SI article, you can see Speedy Rodney gunning to the front on the far outside…a move that proved to be a bit too aggressive.

At the end of the day, the Hambletonian was a disappointment for Speedy Rodney and his connections, but he lived to race another day. He was actually at his best as a 4 and 5 year old and provided a lifetime of memories for Grandpa, his brother (co owner) as well as Greg who would have been about 10 years old.

With that in mind, it is kind of a good time to reflect on where we have been and hopefully where we are going with our own horse. The season started with an endless amount of promise: a 2nd place finish in the sire series followed by a 2nd and a 1st at Pocono Downs. Next came the 5th place finish in the 2nd leg of the sire series, which was disappointing, but not the end of the world. Unfortunately, that was followed by the trainwreck in the 3rd leg of the sires series that made us modify our plans for the rest of the season. That’s the way it goes. Strikes and gutters. I feel like we are on a bit of an uptick now…maybe that’s wishful thinking, but I know we still have a horse who in reality has yet to put together his best race. I want to see that race. I really think it will be impressive and will pull us out of our current state of mind and back to a level of ownership bliss (even if the stay there is temporary).

The next three races will provide In Over My Head his chance to show everyone what he can do. Starting with the Saturday race at the Meadowlands and followed by a trip back to Illinois to race at Springfield and DuQuoin. The races will go for $22,500, $30,000 and $40,000. Nice purses and races that he has the ability to win. Big performances can go a long way in setting us up for the rest of the season.

To compare our current spot right now to a normal sports team, we are kind of in the meat of the season. Preseason expectations don’t matter anymore. They feel a long ways away now. The first part of the season was filled with some wins and some losses. It kind of feels like we have a 5-3 record (if this was the NFL), which is good, but for some reason we should be 6-2. One more win doesn’t look like much on paper, but has a very different feel to it. We are happy, but not ecstatic. We left a big win on the field by dropping a game winning touchdown against the first place team back in the 3rd leg of the sire series and it still stings a bit. Stings can subside, though and the only way to do it is go out and race better.

What this stretch could (and hopefully will) do is set us up for a chance at the ‘playoffs’ at the end of the season. I don’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves (go 1-0 every week, right…how many coaches have said that to you…guessing about every one), but we have a chance to race in a couple of grade A events in November, but nothing is guarantied. The next 3 races should give us a good idea where we will end up. More to come!

One wedding and a 3rd place finish

I apologize for the slow uptake on the blog entry, but the last week has been filled with good times, new friends and even some polka music. Last Saturday, I attended the wedding of Laura’s brother Ryan and his new bride Jamie in St. Louis. It was a great day and everything went off perfectly. I even got to drive around some family relatives including Laura’s grandpa, who, wouldn’t you know it, is a harness racing fan! What are the odds of that? Not surprisingly, In Over My Head was making his return to the track after the last debacle (that led to the 5 Worst Experiences post) on Saturday night. So, I was obviously not going to watch the race. We had entered him in a non-winner of 4 races at The Meadowlands in New Jersey that went for a purse of $18,000. Not too shabby. This would be his first trip back at ‘The Big M’ since his huge 3rd place finish in the Junior Trendsetter Final last February. There is something very cool about being able to enter your horse to race at The Big M on a Saturday night. Although competition has increased at other tracks out east, it remains the première track in North America and being able to send a horse up there has kind of a feeling of pride to it. That pride can obviously disappear quickly if you don’t race well. Luckily for us, Mr. Mo did a good job in helping us forget the pain of the prior race.

Saturday night’s race marked the 5th time Mo has raced at The Meadowlands since we owned him. I love racing there, but I’ve only been able to watch him live once. Previously, I’ve missed races for a work conference in Phoenix, two basketball games and now a wedding. That’s the thing about owning a horse. It is so much fun to watch them (especially live at the track), but sometimes it just doesn’t work. Luckily for me, Greg and Danny were down at the usual spot in South Beloit and the plan was for Danny to give me text updates as they became available. I remember when the first one buzzed my phone. The problem was I couldn’t look at it. We were still in the middle of dinner and I didn’t want to be distracted. Of course, the text made me think. I thought back to the break he made in the Pennsylvania Sire Series on July 16th, I thought back to all the breaks he made as a 2 year old. What happens if he did it again? Another last place finish? What would we do? Maybe he was hurt after all. The fun of the wedding was able to push those thoughts out of my head until about 15 minutes later when the next text buzz occurred. Five minutes later, there was another one. At this point, dinner was winding down and my mind was racing (no pun indented). It was time to take a peak at my phone. My heart rate went up a few notches as I pulled up the texts. The first just said ‘about 15 minutes to post time’…guess I could have read that one when I got it. The next one carried the important message: ‘3rd raced good’. Whew…what a relief. And that’s what it was, a relief. This race wasn’t about celebrating or even hoping for a win. It was about making sure that In Over My Head was still healthy, still strong and still the racehorse we hoped he was. It turns out he just missed 2nd place (by a neck). He reminded us why we think so much of him.

Mo proved to us that he belongs amongst the top 3 year olds. Not the upper crust, but the next tier. He can complete and rack up top 3 finishes. The horses he raced against on Saturday night were virtually all 2nd tier stakes horses. Now, after being knocked out of contention in the Pennsylvania Sire Series due to nothing more than a fluke race in which he was tipped out too soon, we have formulated our backup plan. It is a plan that was validated by his competitive race on Saturday. Although a Plan B, the new plan hopefully will end up being a lot of fun as it will include a trip back to the Land of Lincoln (a place Mo hasn’t raced since that sad Thursday night last October talked about early in the blog). We will take him down to Springfield and Duquion to race in the 3 year old open events going for $30,000 - $40,000. I think he’ll be competitive and the cool thing is we can ditch South Beloit and go watch him race live. One more race next week out east first before he ships home. Heres to hoping the new plan actually turns out better than the old one.

Top 5 worst race experiences ever (which, unfortunately, includes last night)

I have to be honest, last night was too painful. I can’t write an entire blog on the race. It was the racing equivalent of being hit across the face with a 2x4. Maybe worse. I think I would have rather taken a 2x4 to the chops to be honest. It is at least a tie. No, the more I think about it, I’d take the 2x4. At least I could sit and watch the replay over and over while nursing my busted up face. That would make me happy, although it might hurt to smile. Anyway, from the ‘misery loves company’ department, here are my top five worst racing moments ever. Enjoy:

5 – This wasn’t specifically tied to a race, but it involved my first ever horse, Arizona Attack. We claimed Attack back in the summer of 2003 and put him back into race the next week. He finished 6th, which was kind of a tough way to start as owners, but that was just the start of it. The next morning, he banged a front leg somewhere (maybe the stall, it is hard to tell for sure) and was out injured for a month. So we buy him, race him once, make no money, then get shut down for a month and have to pay extra vet bills. I’m sure the 3 guys I brought in with me on that venture were veeeery pleased. Luckily for us, Attack came back to race pretty solid to lessen the overall financial pain.
4 – It was the summer of 2004 and I was living in Chicago. She Grins Again was coming off a strong 5th place finish going for $40,000 in Springfield (she was only beat a length in a very bunched up finish) and was down in Duquoin to race for similar money. I rented a car from someplace downtown after work on Friday and got up early Saturday morning to head down. Duquoin is at the very southern tip of Illinois, and is about a 4.5 to 5 hour drive each way. Undeterred, I cruised on down, hoping to see something good. I got down there, found Grinny back in the barn and watched a couple of races. There were only two races to go before her start when it started to rain. The fast moving storm blew over in about 15 minutes and the horses got back on the track. Five minutes later, it started to rain again. Another ten minutes later, they cancelled the rest of the races and I drove 5 hours back to Chicago. If I ever did a ‘trips that didn’t go as planned’ list, this may be #1. As if this wasn’t enough, they rescheduled the races for the next day and Rob Cook and I headed down to the betting parlor on Weed Street to watch Grinny go. She had drawn the rail and had a good chance at a nice chunk of that purse. Instead, she made a break at the start and finished last. My stomach literally just turned over thinking about it. Now that is a bad racing weekend, but it still does not crack the top 3.
3 – In one of our first big trips as horse owners, my brother, Rob, Schlitz and I headed down to Indianapolis to watch She Grins Again (Grinny with the not so great notoriety of making this list twice) complete in a $100,000 two year old event. We knew she had a very slim (to no) chance of winning, but for $100,000, even 5th place gets you $5,000. After leaving well to start the race, she found the perfect spot behind the heavy favorite, Arts Bid, just after the first quarter. John Butenschoen turned to me and said ‘we’ll see how long she can follow the leader’. Unfortunately for us, not quite long enough. She faded badly in the stretch and finished 6th. In case you are keeping track at home, 6th is good for exactly 0% of the purse money. My favorite quote of the night was from my brother. After heading to a bar afterward and putting back a couple of fruity shots at the suggestion of the waitress, he just turned and said ‘you got anything stronger than this?’ Whisky followed. It did the trick.
2 – Would have to be last night. We were in position to get a 2nd over trip and In Over My Head was full of pace with a half mile to go. Instead of safely tipping outside to catch cover (a move that would have landed him either a win or a second place finish…that is not an exaggeration, it was his race to take at this point), the driver pulled him too early and his front right leg clipped the wheel of another bike. This sent him into a gallop and he finished last, knocking us not only out of the race, but out of contention in the Pennsylvania Sire Series. Pretty sickening. It was so upsetting I could hardly talk afterward for about a half hour and still haven’t been able to bring myself to watch the replay. An enormous opportunity missed that we won’t get back. Ugh.
1 – Even after feeling completely deflated after last night’s race, I still have to say the worst ever was the Orange and Blue final back in 2007. The week before, Westside Gritty had won her elimination in 1.52.2, tying a 10 year old track record set by Ohyouprettything. In doing so, she beat the two best horses in her division, giving us hope that Gritty was actually the best. The Orange and Blue went for $260,000 and while I was only a 10% owner, a win would be a significant payday. Even more, the week before (after her big win in the elimination) a Madison paper did a small story about her. We were riding high as a kite, which made the ensuing crash the most painful ever. She drew outside that night and after leaving toward the front, no one opened up a hole for her to drop into. Sam Widger, in particular, absolutely screwed us that night by hanging us outside. Yes, I remember who the driver was and if you ask me 50 years from now, I still will. Anyway, she had no choice but to try and fight all the way to the front and she did her best, but the pace was too fast and she eventually succumbed to fatigue (any horse would have) and finished 8th. I remember another partial owner who had made the trip from Madison asked if we could go back to the barn and see the horses afterward. Reeling from my then shattered hopes and dreams, I responded with, ‘nope, I’m going home’ threw down my race program, got in my car and took off. Sorry KC, that was a jerk move on my part.

There you have it. The top 5 worst racing experiences ever. Hopefully there will be another good one soon so I can write the top 5 best moments. The feels like a million miles away right now. Ugh.

Not Even Jim Thorpe Won Every Time

Did you realize there is a town in eastern Pennsylvania named Jim Thorpe? Well, there is and guess what? Jim Thorpe never set foot in the town…well at least not until he was died. Upon his death, his family looked for a town in which he could be burred and renamed to memorize the early twentieth century star. He was called the greatest athlete in the world at the 1912 Olympics and later was considered the Athlete of the Century (a title Terrell Buckley attempted to take from him as a cornerback for the Packers…it didn’t go too well). Jim Thorpe is now a small tourist town and was part of the tour de Pennsylvanian Laura and I took last week. The trip also included a short stop in Scranton (no sign of Michael Scott, Dwight Schrute or Jim and Pam) and a night at Pocono Downs to watch In Over My Head battle in the second leg of the Pennsylvania Sire Stakes.

When the draw came out for this race, I knew Mr. Mo was going to be in for a real challenge. First, we drew post position 8, the farthest outside. Second, our field was full of more than capable challengers including River Shark (a real speed demon), Bunkmeister (finished second in the first leg of the series) and Picassos Boy among others. We hoped that we would be able to leave the gate aggressively and get toward the front within the first quarter of a mile. Doing so would allow us to avoid having to make up a lot of ground from the back, which is difficult to do when facing such a tough field. Sometimes the best plans just don’t work out the way you hope.

The trip to Pocono Downs started with Laura and I heading back to some of the on site barns to see John Butenschoen and In Over My Head in his regular home. He looked ready to race by the time we got there as he was just about to head up to the paddock (where the go before the race). From there we headed back toward the track and grabbed an outside table near the finish line for a couple of pre race brews. I was surprised how calm I was for the first race or two. Maybe is was the fact we didn’t have as much to lose that night. I was very hopeful for a big race out of Mo, but I also knew he was up against a tough group with the worst post position. Maybe Laura kept me calm, I’m not too sure. I do know that by the start of the 3rd race (we were in the 5tt) all of that short lived calmness quickly disappeared. The pre race tension was back in full force and we headed down to find a spot right on the fence.

Just like every race, the nervous anticipation in the last 15 minutes or so is just crippling. It is hard to even put together a full coherent thought. All this buildup for 2 minutes of race and as an owner, you have no control over what is about to happen. There is lots of pacing back and forth and looking at the program, which in reality just is a jumbled mess of letters and numbers at that point. It is hard to process much information that close to the start of the race. Laura and I watched him warm up and chatted about how I hoped the race would unfold. Hope, unfortunately, is not a strategy.

So after 14 hours of driving and a few hours at the track, I knew within the first 5 seconds that we really had almost no chance to win. Kind of a bummer, huh? The horse inside of us (the #7 horse) was acting up going to the gate to the point that our driver couldn’t take the chance to charge at the gate and attempt to get toward the front like we had hoped to for fear he might get run into. What a horrible stroke of luck that was. He had to institute plan B, which was to simply fall to the back and hope to make up as much ground as possible. A few seconds into the race, we were already over 10 lengths off the lead. As they made their first trip past the grandstand (where we were standing), I got a quick hint of hope: Pavia had tipped Mo to the outside and he was really building up a head of steam. He went from 8th to 6th and was on the move. At this point I was thinking we had a tiny chance, but things need to pan out perfectly. We needed a horse from the inside (preferably a top one like River Shark) to also tip to the outside and we would follow them towards (and hopefully all the way) to the front. Well, that is kind of what happened. Unfortunately for us, the timing didn’t work in our favor. River Shark did, in fact, tip outside, but he did so at a much slower pace then we were currently going (remember, we had already began our charge and he was just starting his). This caused our driver to have to pull Mo up and break his momentum. Imagine driving down a two lane highway. There are two cars in front of you that you want to pass. Your plan is to build up a head of steam and go past both of them all at once. Then, at the last second, the second car also moves out to pass and you have to hit the breaks. That’s kind of what happened and it was the last straw in our chance to make a major move.

In the end, Mo raced big and finished strong in a time of 1.52.1 (his personal best) to finish 5th. Fifth is still good for 5% of the purse money, so at least that helped. In the end, Bunkmeister won it in 1.50.4. I truly believe that Mo can race with any of those horses, but he isn’t necessarily better, so things kind of have to break your way sometimes. It is like an old saying Barry Alverez used to use: good on good. When Wisconsin football was at its best under Coach Alverez, they won a lot more than they lost, but sometimes you would face another good team that would just beat you. Good on good. That night, he just got beat. It happens, but he’ll be back, that’s for sure.

The next stop in our journey will be back at The Meadows on July 16th for the 3rd leg of the Pennsylvania Sire Series. This is really a big one. After the first two legs, we are currently ranked 15th per my unofficial ranking. That would put us in the $50,000 consolation in mid September. The top 9 make the $200,000 final, with the next 9 in the consolation. We have some pretty serious work to do to have a shot at the final. In reality, we need a win. Hopefully, we will get a little race luck to go our way on the 16th.

In other news, Danny and is now the winningest driver in the history of Wisconsin…at least when looking at overall win percentage. He is one for one! He piloted Mr. Prince to victory at the Mineral Point Matinee on Sunday June 29th. After getting to the lead and going a blistering first quarter pace of 37 seconds (sorry Danny, I had to throw one jab about that), he held off a couple of challenges and coasted home for at 2 length victory. Nice work!