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Monday, May 29, 2006

All Signs Positive

- Great news from the Billy Turner barn, where Highland Cat is reported to be up and eating well, after being spotted asleep on the floor of his stall on Saturday morning. That initial report gave me a scare, but the latest report is “all signs positive,” and that’s great news. It makes perfect sense that the horse would be tired after really exerting himself for the first time ever; he was really driving at the end to defend his second place finish.

One decision that lies ahead is to whether to move him up in class to maiden specials, or at least a higher claiming price. The thought of him being claimed for $45,000 seemed absurd before Friday’s effort; now, that amount seems way too cheap for a horse with a new lease on life. Highland Cat is eligible to improve after his first attempt on the grass, and, as suggested by a reader here the other day, perhaps a stretch out to one of those 1 3/8 mile maiden special marathons could be to his liking.

2 Comments:

Anonymous said...

With all due respect, be very careful. It is exciting to dream but take it one step at a time. Remember the capital call.

There will not be any maiden claimers on the turf at the Spa (at least there never have been in the past), so if he fails to handle the rise you may wait a long while for another chance at this level. You can not just project his time out like that, there is a huge difference in class involved. He will be facing all those Middle Eastern, Clement and Mott horses in a MSW marathon.

Try to get a win out of him while you can, the chances of a 45k claim out of a maiden claimer are miniscule, and you would have taken that amount in a heart beat last week.

If he wins impressively and does not get claimed you can then try him once at the marathon route.

Alan Mann said...

That sounds like extremely sensible advice, thanks. You're certainly right about having taken the 45K in a heart beat last week.