I have to apologize for pulling a disappearing act for the past few weeks. I wasn’t trying to dodge the blog (and my loyal 8-10 readers), but this is one of those things that just has to happen naturally. The writing and stories aren’t exactly that of a skilled technical writer (which is painfully obvious when I go back and read some past entries), but a fun way to capture a rather interesting experience. As you can probably tell by the title, things at In Over My Head Headquarters have not been great recently. As a matter of fact, we had all began to accept the sad fact that it was over. Mo would have to be retired. I had already begun to outline in my head how to write the final chapter to this whole story. That was until Sunday night.
You may remember a couple of entries ago, we had gotten to the point where a final schedule to racing had been set. Any material deviation from that schedule would more or less mean the end of Mo’s racing career. On August 10th, Tyler took him down to Balmoral for a training mile. He was to go in about 2:05 and set himself up for a qualifying mile shortly thereafter. In short, it didn’t go well. We gave him some time and waited for Tony to come up to take a look at him. We were all being hit very hard with reality: Mo wanted to be his old self again…it was obvious to Tyler or anyone else who sat behind him, but his body was getting in the way. We could have quit then, but decided to give him another week to 10 days off, swim him and bring him in for one more training mile. John came in town jogged him. He agreed that one more chance to a fast training mile wasn’t going to hurt anything. The plan was to do it at Maywood Park, the site of his greatest achievement, on Thursday September 1st. We would go down and watch him train in what very well would be his last mile.
For a number of reasons, it turned out the Thursday did not work for us. That timed with the fact that Dr. Tony thought it would be best to go on a mile track (something John always wanted to do anyway) ended up moving his training mile to this past Sunday at Balmoral. I was up in Fox Lake with Laura and her family that night and did everything I could not to think about. We were out with some friends the night before and one asked how Mo was doing. My answer was that tomorrow is make or break. If he can’t finish the mile, we have to retire him. It was a very sad thing to say, but we had all come to grips with it. Greg had told me a few days before he was having a good feeling. I gave up trying. When he struggled on the 10th, it was a crushing blow that is kind of extinguished all the optimism I had left.
When Tyler and I finally connected at about 10:30, the news was not at all what I expected. Mo was solid on his first trip. Buzzed a last quarter in 29 seconds. No issues. Marcus Miller took him the second trip. To the half in 1:01 to the three quarters in 1:31 and came his last quarter in 27 seconds. He said it so calmly.
“Wait a second…what did he go in?”
“Went in 1:58”
“And a last quarter in what?”
“27 seconds”
He then went onto tell me that Mo was definitely sore afterward and despite the good mile, we would just have to wait and see how he comes out of it. At least I think that what he said because I couldn’t really pay attention. All I could do was envision Mo charging down that home stretch and ripping off a 27 second last quarter all by himself. The old boy still has it, I thought. Despite the fact it could still be his last mile, I had a smile from ear to ear. If that was it, he went out with at least a little bit of a bang. It was amazing how good that made me feel that our beloved race horse who loves nothing more in life but to race was able to go out and fly to the wire one last time.
With some surprisingly good news in hand to mix in with bad news, I was kind of a jerk and strung Danny along when giving him the update. “Well…some good and some bad….” I said before giving him the run down. “Wait a second…what did he go in?” That seemed to be the repeating line of the night. To be clear, Mo hadn’t really accomplished anything that anyone outside of our little group would care about. So he trained a good mile. So what? Well, after a year and a half of setbacks it was just an awesome feeling that he busted through a hurdle. At that point, it was just going to be a waiting game to see how he came out of it. My prediction was he’d be sore, have filling in his leg until later in the week and we’d have to make a decision as to what to do next (if anything). Well, I was wrong again.
Today, Dr. Tony was back up at Marengo and Mo was feeling good enough to go out and jog…and he jogged 4 miles showing no signs at all of any soreness whatsoever. Tyler said it was the best he’s been since he got him months ago. Greg told me that just about an hour ago and I nearly fell out of my chair.
The thought going into last weekend was that if Mo had one more miracle in him, now was the time. He was literally down to his last chance. To be clear, Mo isn’t out of the woods yet. I mean, he hasn’t even got to a qualifier, much less an actual race, but this is an exciting turn of events. As I mentioned earlier, I had not only began to think about the final entry to this blog, but I had accepted it. On Monday morning, while out for a run, I got to thinking how nice it would be to end by emphasizing that final training mile. I would try and paint the picture of Mo in full stride with the wind blowing back his mane as he battled through some pain to hit the wire in front of his invisible competitors. As I got to Chief Kuno Trail and started to turn for home about a half mile out, my Ipod flipped to a new song. There were 430 songs in that list on random and when his unofficial theme song came on (Over My Head from The Frey), I stopped thinking. I took that mental story outline, crumpled it up and threw it into my mental garbage can. This thing isn’t over quite yet. We’re already on borrowed time and maybe only have one more week before something bad happens again, but so what. We finally got some good news and it was a heck of a lot of fun. If somehow, someway, Mo can make it back to the winner’s circle just one more time after everything we’ve been through…well, words can’t describe just how special that would be. Danny and I decided we’d carry him back to the barn like a football team carries their coach off the field. Might almost be time to get your cameras ready.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Friday, August 5, 2011
Strange Happenings Are Back
I’m a big fan of the movie The Matrix. I found the two sequals to were focused on the ever deepening story and special effects, but the original that was just close enough to real life (at least in the beginning of the movie) to make it feel more real. One part of the movie that sicks with me is when Neo sees a cat cross a doorway not once, but twice. He blew it off as déjà-vu, but in the land of human vs. machine, it is not déjà-vu. It is a glitch in the Matrix that can mean impending danger. Why bring up an obscure scene from a 90s movie in a horse blog you ask? Just to point out that often times things go on around us that we don’t notice. It may or not mean something. Call it a coincidence, a fluke, maybe some sort of impending fate or maybe nothing at all, but sometimes things happen that simply make you go hmmmmmm…
Now, this used to happen all the time two years ago with Mo. It seemed like every race something would happen that made us scratch our heads or pause and wonder if something bigger than us was pulling the strings on the puppets around us. I’d refer you back to some specific blog post, but I just realized how long this thing has become. Sixty-eight posts over three years. Where the hell did I find the time to write all of this??? Don’t ask my boss that question. At some point I’ll sit down read this thing start to finish, but I might as well wait until our run with Mo is over (hopefully 4 or so years from now).
Anyway, we went down to watch Seanie race on Wednesday night. It was his 3rd lifetime start in a non- winners of 2 race going for $11,000. We were tense as usually, but not off the charts. We had a nice crew down at Beloit including Greg, Danny, his friend Aaron, my friend Schlitz and myself. Now, for the record, we haven’t had any of those ‘hmmmmm’ moments in quite awhile. I honestly can’t remember the last one (guess I can go back and read the blog!), but things were different last night. Consider the following:
• The Meadows racetrack was on a TV near us and we could head the great Roger Huston’s race calls. It reminded Danny and I about the time we went down there to see Mo race his 3 year old year. We had a great time. Mo finished 2nd that day after brushing to the front and not quite being able to get up to the eventual winner, Upfront Hoosierboy.
• Our driver that night was Doug Snyder, a regular driver at the Meadows. He was great that night…not so much later on in the year as we still joke about.
• In the race before Seanie’s Wednesday night, Greg pointed out that none other than Doug Snyder was driving. Kind of strange as he only had TWO drives at Pocono ALL YEAR and both were that night. His other 192 drives were all at the Meadows.
• About 5 minutes before the start of our race, Danny gave me a look like he was half spooked. “Listen to the song,” he said. I couldn’t hear it. It was the background song that Pocono Downs feed had going on in between races. He turned it up: “Over My Head” by the Frey. It is a song that will forever make us think of In Over My Head (obviously). That was a little more than a hmmmm moment for me. Not ‘make the hair on your arms stand up’ either, but somewhere in between. Popular song, I though, but rather interesting timing.
• So the race starts and Seanie leaves out of the 5 hole for the top (as you could probably guess by now, Mo had the 5 hole that day at the Meadows and went right to the top). He sits behind the leader the whole race and couldn’t get to him in the stretch, finishing 2nd by about 2 lengths and besting the 3rd place horse by even more than that. Mo finished 2nd by about 2 lengths and bested the 3rd place horse by more than that as well.
• Now the times weren’t a spot on match: Seanie was in 1.53.3 and Mo was in 1.52.4 that day, but since the Pocono track was about a second off last night due to sloppy conditions, that’s pretty damn close.
Now doesn’t all that strike you as at least a little strange? I think it does, but have absolutely no idea what it means. Does it mean that Seanie is going to take a similar arc to success as Mo? Does it mean that all these subtle references to Mo mean he will be back soon? Is it just a way to remember him and that great year he had? Those questions can only be answered in time, but there has to be something there. This whole blog started on a hunch…a feeling that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but for whatever reason I felt totally compelled to start tracking a story that at the time had yielded nothing more than a 5th place finish in a nw2 by a horse we had just dropped $28,000 on. Since then we have experienced completely unexpected highs (like what we never even imagined highs) and utterly devastating lows (like it was almost time to close up shop lows). And during all those times, these strange little occurrences kept happening. Maybe we were looking so hard for them that we kind of created something out of nothing. On the other hand maybe we just became a little more aware because of the excitement and camaraderie that we felt following our four legged friends.
So I’m going to end this post with another hunch. This thing isn’t over. Far from it. I’m telling you I woke up Thursday morning absolutely jacked about the race. It was just a second place finish…we picked up about $2,500…so what??? Well, just call it another hunch. I don’t know exactly what form it will take, but I think we are heading back up. Seanie will continue to get better and keep the fire burning until the Champ returns. That’s when this thing can really take off….it will be like déjà-vu all over again.
Had to add this special addition to my own post since I finished it yesterday…I was thinking a lot about Mo this afternoon after talking to Tyler Butenschoen on the way home.. I was just feeling so much confidence that things were going to be OK….that he WILL be back like he was before and that our ride is about to take off again. So I get home and decide to go for a run. About 3 miles into it, I come up to a rather long hill, which was a little bit intimidating. At about the same time, my Ipod finished up one song and started another. The song?
“Over My Head” by the Frey.
I can’t make this stuff up. Let’s go Mo!
Now, this used to happen all the time two years ago with Mo. It seemed like every race something would happen that made us scratch our heads or pause and wonder if something bigger than us was pulling the strings on the puppets around us. I’d refer you back to some specific blog post, but I just realized how long this thing has become. Sixty-eight posts over three years. Where the hell did I find the time to write all of this??? Don’t ask my boss that question. At some point I’ll sit down read this thing start to finish, but I might as well wait until our run with Mo is over (hopefully 4 or so years from now).
Anyway, we went down to watch Seanie race on Wednesday night. It was his 3rd lifetime start in a non- winners of 2 race going for $11,000. We were tense as usually, but not off the charts. We had a nice crew down at Beloit including Greg, Danny, his friend Aaron, my friend Schlitz and myself. Now, for the record, we haven’t had any of those ‘hmmmmm’ moments in quite awhile. I honestly can’t remember the last one (guess I can go back and read the blog!), but things were different last night. Consider the following:
• The Meadows racetrack was on a TV near us and we could head the great Roger Huston’s race calls. It reminded Danny and I about the time we went down there to see Mo race his 3 year old year. We had a great time. Mo finished 2nd that day after brushing to the front and not quite being able to get up to the eventual winner, Upfront Hoosierboy.
• Our driver that night was Doug Snyder, a regular driver at the Meadows. He was great that night…not so much later on in the year as we still joke about.
• In the race before Seanie’s Wednesday night, Greg pointed out that none other than Doug Snyder was driving. Kind of strange as he only had TWO drives at Pocono ALL YEAR and both were that night. His other 192 drives were all at the Meadows.
• About 5 minutes before the start of our race, Danny gave me a look like he was half spooked. “Listen to the song,” he said. I couldn’t hear it. It was the background song that Pocono Downs feed had going on in between races. He turned it up: “Over My Head” by the Frey. It is a song that will forever make us think of In Over My Head (obviously). That was a little more than a hmmmm moment for me. Not ‘make the hair on your arms stand up’ either, but somewhere in between. Popular song, I though, but rather interesting timing.
• So the race starts and Seanie leaves out of the 5 hole for the top (as you could probably guess by now, Mo had the 5 hole that day at the Meadows and went right to the top). He sits behind the leader the whole race and couldn’t get to him in the stretch, finishing 2nd by about 2 lengths and besting the 3rd place horse by even more than that. Mo finished 2nd by about 2 lengths and bested the 3rd place horse by more than that as well.
• Now the times weren’t a spot on match: Seanie was in 1.53.3 and Mo was in 1.52.4 that day, but since the Pocono track was about a second off last night due to sloppy conditions, that’s pretty damn close.
Now doesn’t all that strike you as at least a little strange? I think it does, but have absolutely no idea what it means. Does it mean that Seanie is going to take a similar arc to success as Mo? Does it mean that all these subtle references to Mo mean he will be back soon? Is it just a way to remember him and that great year he had? Those questions can only be answered in time, but there has to be something there. This whole blog started on a hunch…a feeling that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but for whatever reason I felt totally compelled to start tracking a story that at the time had yielded nothing more than a 5th place finish in a nw2 by a horse we had just dropped $28,000 on. Since then we have experienced completely unexpected highs (like what we never even imagined highs) and utterly devastating lows (like it was almost time to close up shop lows). And during all those times, these strange little occurrences kept happening. Maybe we were looking so hard for them that we kind of created something out of nothing. On the other hand maybe we just became a little more aware because of the excitement and camaraderie that we felt following our four legged friends.
So I’m going to end this post with another hunch. This thing isn’t over. Far from it. I’m telling you I woke up Thursday morning absolutely jacked about the race. It was just a second place finish…we picked up about $2,500…so what??? Well, just call it another hunch. I don’t know exactly what form it will take, but I think we are heading back up. Seanie will continue to get better and keep the fire burning until the Champ returns. That’s when this thing can really take off….it will be like déjà-vu all over again.
Had to add this special addition to my own post since I finished it yesterday…I was thinking a lot about Mo this afternoon after talking to Tyler Butenschoen on the way home.. I was just feeling so much confidence that things were going to be OK….that he WILL be back like he was before and that our ride is about to take off again. So I get home and decide to go for a run. About 3 miles into it, I come up to a rather long hill, which was a little bit intimidating. At about the same time, my Ipod finished up one song and started another. The song?
“Over My Head” by the Frey.
I can’t make this stuff up. Let’s go Mo!
Wednesday, August 3, 2011
It's Go Time
I thought for awhile about the proper analogy to use for this entry when describing the current state of affairs with Mo. A final inning baseball comparison? No, too overdone. A last second drive in football? Nah, more of the same. Then I realized something else: hopefully this isn’t any kind of ‘last hope’ at all, but the beginning of a second career. So how about this one:
“I don’t know if it will make any difference…but I figured it was time for me to start playing ball again.”
Can you name that fictional character and movie? It was none other than Jimmy Chitwood in one of the greatest underdog stores ever told in Hoosiers. Now why would I use a basketball movie as an analogy for In Over My Head. First, I had a hard time finding usable quotes from Seabiscuit (maybe because I don’t speak horse). Second, I love basketball and lastly, In Over My Head has always been an underdog story. If he comes back, his story will only be that much better. And if you are a fan of Hoosiers, you will remember that it was after Jimmy came back to the team that Hickory High went on that incredible run that ended with a state title. Now that is an arc of success we would love to see Mo follow.
So you have to be wondering, what’s new with Mo? I really haven’t wrote too much about him and the reason is he really kind of flattened out over the last few weeks. He needed some additional treatment; he couldn’t train at all and has only been swimming. Showtime Shark has stolen the spotlight of the blog that was made for Mo in the first place, but that was really out of necessity. Things are about to change.
As of yesterday, we have been more or less green lighted by our vets to lace up the sneakers and get going. We have been patient, but have been told additional patience will do no more good for him. His leg is as good as it is going to get. It’s time to roll. At this point one of two things will happen: we will be racing in probably four weeks or we will be quitting with him for good. The days of ‘let’s just give him another few weeks off’ are over.
This is kind of a nervewrecking place to be. The basketball analogy comes back into play when looking at the next few weeks. We are entering our conference post season tourney and the only way we have to make it to the Big Dance is to win em all. How do we ‘win’ you might ask? Well, train well this week, and next week, then qualify once or twice, then 2 races, all in Chicago. If he can survive that gauntlet, he will make the Big Dance, which in our case is sending him to John out east at Pocono Downs to race for bigger purses once again. If we come out of any of those weeks and his leg shows major signs of injury again, we’re done. It is a sad thought, but it is as simple as that.
On the eve of Seanie’s third career start, a start he could possibly win, our attention is again back on our former champion who needs a little good fortune so he can get back to doing what he loves: Getting in behind that gate, besting his competition using his superior speed and guts and crossing that finish line first. He is one hell of a good looking horse and one that deserves a few more trips to the winners circle to get his picture taken. Cross your fingers Mo fans, those trips may not be too far away.
“I don’t know if it will make any difference…but I figured it was time for me to start playing ball again.”
Can you name that fictional character and movie? It was none other than Jimmy Chitwood in one of the greatest underdog stores ever told in Hoosiers. Now why would I use a basketball movie as an analogy for In Over My Head. First, I had a hard time finding usable quotes from Seabiscuit (maybe because I don’t speak horse). Second, I love basketball and lastly, In Over My Head has always been an underdog story. If he comes back, his story will only be that much better. And if you are a fan of Hoosiers, you will remember that it was after Jimmy came back to the team that Hickory High went on that incredible run that ended with a state title. Now that is an arc of success we would love to see Mo follow.
So you have to be wondering, what’s new with Mo? I really haven’t wrote too much about him and the reason is he really kind of flattened out over the last few weeks. He needed some additional treatment; he couldn’t train at all and has only been swimming. Showtime Shark has stolen the spotlight of the blog that was made for Mo in the first place, but that was really out of necessity. Things are about to change.
As of yesterday, we have been more or less green lighted by our vets to lace up the sneakers and get going. We have been patient, but have been told additional patience will do no more good for him. His leg is as good as it is going to get. It’s time to roll. At this point one of two things will happen: we will be racing in probably four weeks or we will be quitting with him for good. The days of ‘let’s just give him another few weeks off’ are over.
This is kind of a nervewrecking place to be. The basketball analogy comes back into play when looking at the next few weeks. We are entering our conference post season tourney and the only way we have to make it to the Big Dance is to win em all. How do we ‘win’ you might ask? Well, train well this week, and next week, then qualify once or twice, then 2 races, all in Chicago. If he can survive that gauntlet, he will make the Big Dance, which in our case is sending him to John out east at Pocono Downs to race for bigger purses once again. If we come out of any of those weeks and his leg shows major signs of injury again, we’re done. It is a sad thought, but it is as simple as that.
On the eve of Seanie’s third career start, a start he could possibly win, our attention is again back on our former champion who needs a little good fortune so he can get back to doing what he loves: Getting in behind that gate, besting his competition using his superior speed and guts and crossing that finish line first. He is one hell of a good looking horse and one that deserves a few more trips to the winners circle to get his picture taken. Cross your fingers Mo fans, those trips may not be too far away.
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
We Are Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ok, I’ll go ahead and address some things right away in this post. A few questions a reader might be asking as you read this post.
Aren’t you over-reacting a little bit?
Yes
We are only taking about a maiden race. It isn’t like Seanie was racing in the Meadowlands Pace!
I fully understand
One good race doesn’t necessarily mean that you are back.
I disagree
So what am I talking about you may be asking…before I get to Seanie’s second lifetime race, I have a little something special to share with you. It just so happened that there was a video camera in the car when Greg, Danny and I drove back from watching the race last night. I think it really captures our excitement so I posted it on youtube. Take a look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op-4iqRCDV4
I’m not really sure what to think about Danny’s song at the end, but it sure was nice of him.
So what are we back to you may be asking (or more than likely you’ve figured it out already)…we are back to the winners circle! Seanie made his second lifetime start last night at Pocono Downs lit up the board by winning at 16-1 by a head. Now, through the wonders of screen capturing technology, I give you Showtime Shark’s first win (he is the #8 horse and spends the first half of the race in 2nd to last):
Man that is fun to watch. I think all three of us have had a smile on our face all day today. It has been 522 days since the last time a horse Greg and I own has graced the winner’s circle. It was In Over My Head’s win on February 12, 2009. That is a looooong time ago. Now, we can finally focus on the present. We have Seanie who is showing some nice promise and Mo’s first start back is inching closer. The timing of Seanie’s win was good as Mo had a bit of a slow down in his training, but it is not anything serious. It will just be a couple more weeks. Until then, keep going Seanie…we need some more races to enjoy!
Aren’t you over-reacting a little bit?
Yes
We are only taking about a maiden race. It isn’t like Seanie was racing in the Meadowlands Pace!
I fully understand
One good race doesn’t necessarily mean that you are back.
I disagree
So what am I talking about you may be asking…before I get to Seanie’s second lifetime race, I have a little something special to share with you. It just so happened that there was a video camera in the car when Greg, Danny and I drove back from watching the race last night. I think it really captures our excitement so I posted it on youtube. Take a look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Op-4iqRCDV4
I’m not really sure what to think about Danny’s song at the end, but it sure was nice of him.
So what are we back to you may be asking (or more than likely you’ve figured it out already)…we are back to the winners circle! Seanie made his second lifetime start last night at Pocono Downs lit up the board by winning at 16-1 by a head. Now, through the wonders of screen capturing technology, I give you Showtime Shark’s first win (he is the #8 horse and spends the first half of the race in 2nd to last):
Man that is fun to watch. I think all three of us have had a smile on our face all day today. It has been 522 days since the last time a horse Greg and I own has graced the winner’s circle. It was In Over My Head’s win on February 12, 2009. That is a looooong time ago. Now, we can finally focus on the present. We have Seanie who is showing some nice promise and Mo’s first start back is inching closer. The timing of Seanie’s win was good as Mo had a bit of a slow down in his training, but it is not anything serious. It will just be a couple more weeks. Until then, keep going Seanie…we need some more races to enjoy!
Saturday, July 9, 2011
A Purse Check and Mo Update
Well, we have to start this blog entry with one important announcement: We have received our first purse check in a loooong time. Young Seanie made his first start out at Yonkers on Tuesday and picked a check for 5th place. $700. It may not seem like a lot of money, but it is hopefully just the start of good things to come. He was raced very conservatively, as is common with first time starters and we all expect him to be even better next time out. It will be fun watching him mature and continue to show us what he can do.
As for Mo, he just keeps getting closer and closer to getting back to the track. Actually, he did make his first trip to the racetrack in a long time on Wednesday night. His training miles are fast enough at this point that it is better for him to train at Balmoral (or Maywood) than on John’s track in Marengo. So, he got to enjoy the trailer ride down to Balmoral on Wednesday and trained before the races started. The mile wasn’t the best as the track was a little off at the time, but he’ll be doing the same thing next week. After that, it may be time to qualify him. Honestly, it makes me both excited and nervous as hell just typing that. I can’t believe how close were are, but everyone involved feels the same way at this point, that he will make it back. What happens at that point opens up a whole new set up questions (will he be as good as before…how long will his leg hold up…will he reinjure it…maybe it won’t bother him much at all and not be a problem). We can deal with those questions when the time comes. All I know is our boy is on a path that puts him just a few short weeks away from racing again.
Kind of a short entry, but just wanted to check in. More to come…hopefully a lot more!
As for Mo, he just keeps getting closer and closer to getting back to the track. Actually, he did make his first trip to the racetrack in a long time on Wednesday night. His training miles are fast enough at this point that it is better for him to train at Balmoral (or Maywood) than on John’s track in Marengo. So, he got to enjoy the trailer ride down to Balmoral on Wednesday and trained before the races started. The mile wasn’t the best as the track was a little off at the time, but he’ll be doing the same thing next week. After that, it may be time to qualify him. Honestly, it makes me both excited and nervous as hell just typing that. I can’t believe how close were are, but everyone involved feels the same way at this point, that he will make it back. What happens at that point opens up a whole new set up questions (will he be as good as before…how long will his leg hold up…will he reinjure it…maybe it won’t bother him much at all and not be a problem). We can deal with those questions when the time comes. All I know is our boy is on a path that puts him just a few short weeks away from racing again.
Kind of a short entry, but just wanted to check in. More to come…hopefully a lot more!
Monday, June 20, 2011
Look At Me!!!
Well faithful blog readers, it looks like we have a little jealously forming. Apparently, younger brother wants some attention. After seeing page upon page with stories of Mo, pictures from Marengo, stories of his training, poor young Seanie was starting to feel left out. We’ll, like any good younger brother (as most readers know, Mo and Seanie aren’t actually brothers, but since they share the same ownership, they fall into a similar ‘family’) he decided to do something about. What did he do? Well, he got himself ready to race in very short order.
Today, Seanie was scheduled to make his first qualifying start since last summer. Not only did he perform well, he did it in about 2 to 3 second faster than everyone thought and did it on his own. Take a look at the chart yourself.
Now is also a good time to remind everyone that Seanie’s real name is Showtime Shark, however, it is safe to say that his nickname will be used quite often. If you want to know why, here is a link back to the entry when we bought him:
http://inovermyheadracehorse.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-addition-to-our-stable.html
Anyway, I know it is just a qualifier, but for the first time in about a year we can go on USTA’s entry page and actually see one of our horses listed. That, my friends, is what I call progress. Another qualifier next week and then Seanie should be ready to race for real.
So, to try and keep things fair, I will only make a brief mention of Mo this entry. He trained in 2:20 this weekend and continues to progress well.
Today, however, we celebrate Showtime Shark . In the ‘it’s a small world’ bit of information of the day, the #5 horse in Seanie’s qualifier Jus Being Joe (who finished 4th) is a half brother to (same mom as) I Am A Fool. I Am A Fool is In Over My Head’s sire. I may not be the only one to find that somewhat strange. Just a coincidence I guess…maybe the first of many. Rumor has it Seanie sent Mo a text message after the qualifier that said, “Ha, ha…beat your dad’s bro my first time out and I wasn’t even trying.” Gotta love a sibling rivalry.
Today, Seanie was scheduled to make his first qualifying start since last summer. Not only did he perform well, he did it in about 2 to 3 second faster than everyone thought and did it on his own. Take a look at the chart yourself.
Now is also a good time to remind everyone that Seanie’s real name is Showtime Shark, however, it is safe to say that his nickname will be used quite often. If you want to know why, here is a link back to the entry when we bought him:
http://inovermyheadracehorse.blogspot.com/2009/10/new-addition-to-our-stable.html
Anyway, I know it is just a qualifier, but for the first time in about a year we can go on USTA’s entry page and actually see one of our horses listed. That, my friends, is what I call progress. Another qualifier next week and then Seanie should be ready to race for real.
So, to try and keep things fair, I will only make a brief mention of Mo this entry. He trained in 2:20 this weekend and continues to progress well.
Today, however, we celebrate Showtime Shark . In the ‘it’s a small world’ bit of information of the day, the #5 horse in Seanie’s qualifier Jus Being Joe (who finished 4th) is a half brother to (same mom as) I Am A Fool. I Am A Fool is In Over My Head’s sire. I may not be the only one to find that somewhat strange. Just a coincidence I guess…maybe the first of many. Rumor has it Seanie sent Mo a text message after the qualifier that said, “Ha, ha…beat your dad’s bro my first time out and I wasn’t even trying.” Gotta love a sibling rivalry.
Sunday, June 5, 2011
Big Day For Mo
For the first time in a long time, I can see it. I can actually see the shore. We’ve been floating around at sea for many, many months and while there is still plenty of paddling to do, that beautiful beach known to horse owners as an actual pari-mutual start dead ahead. We knew Showtime Shark was getting close. He trained in 2:15 this weekend and is probably just 3 weeks away from qualfiing. The bigger question mark remained In Over My Head. He had flattened out the last couple of weeks. Much of that was just all of us being cautious, but at some point everyone knew we would have to speed him up and see what happened.Laura, Danny, Kacy and I made the trip down to Marengo together on Saturday morning to watch Mo train. Greg was originally going to join us, but ended up having to be at work. When the alarm hit at 6:15 I was thinking it was a little early for a Saturday, but since we were going to see Mo, it was just fine. Danny had been down to train him the week before, but Laura and I hadn’t seen him since our trip to Florida in January (which is when we had to quit with him due to a flare-up of his injury). As soon as we got there, he treated Danny and I with a familiar attempt to nip us…same old Mo. He looked great. Gone was the horse equivilant of a beer belly he picked up during his time off. He looked like his old self. Big, strong and muscular. After walking around for a bit Danny came up and let me know what was in store for Mo that day: two training trips, one in 2:40 and the 2nd in 2:25. John (who sets all the training schedules) had decided it was time to try and test him a little bit.
The first trip for Mo was easy. As Danny described it, he was a sports car who was crusing around in
2nd gear, just waiting to be asked to go faster. After some time to catch his breath and get a nice bath from Penny, he was ready to go back. As they took him out of the barn, I was getting that familiar feeling that happens before a race. Some nerves, some tension. Not nearly as intense as a race, but a mile in 2:25 is a big deal for Mo. As I said to Tyler as we walked out to the track, it was really his biggest day in a year and four months. Danny warmed him up and turned to go. I had the 2011 version of an old stopwatch (my Iphone) and hit the timer as Danny went past. After the half, Tyler asked how he was doing: 1:14 seconds. Heading to a 2:28 mile, but Danny asked for a little bit more. As they came around the final turn, Mo was rolling along easy. They crossed past us and I hit the timer. Unofficial time: 2:23.9. Mo had set a new benchmark in his comeback.Coming off the track, my eyes were locked on his right from leg, but he didn’t show any signs of soreness. Just another day at the office. We looked at Danny who said something along the lines of: yeah, he’s good. We walked him back to the barn and by the time he got to his stall, I think he was ready for another trip. He was back nipping at Danny and I in no time…just not Penny. She’s the only one who isn’t greeted with his teeth.
It was just a great trip down to the farm. Great to see everyone down there who I hadn’t seen in
awhile and great to see Mo (of course). It was a little hot and Laura and Kacy were great sports about hanging around the barn for 2 and a half hours (maybe not every girls’ dream Saturday morning, but Danny and I are pretty lucky). While it was just a couple of training miles, it was a huge day for him. He really isn’t THAT far from heading into the track to train on a faster surface. A few more weeks probably, but if Saturday was an indication, he’s getting close. Much closer to the shore than he was the week before. While we need to keep thinking one week at a time, we can see it now. Cross your fingers In Over My Head fans…it may not be too much longer before we can be cheering him on at the track and not just the farm.
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