- I've been down to a piece of just one horse, Just Zip It, since I cleverly sold my share in Highland Cat; that was three wins ago, so nice move there. However, I'm happy to announce some additions to my thoroughbred empire. I've mentioned my buddy Bob here a few times, most recently in connection with a tragic day at the Big A a couple of months ago. Things have been looking up for his Kasey K stable since then, highlighted by a win by Primal Peak ($26.20) on March 4 at Philly Park.
Despite our strict instructions to our wedding guests that there should be NO GIFTS, Bob violated that rule and offered to bequeath to me a percentage of his present stable as a gift. Oh yes, I fought him tooth and nail on this, but he stubbornly insisted on not only giving me a percentage, but on exempting me from any cash call obligations on any of the horses. Can you believe the nerve of this guy?
So I have three new horses: Primal Peak and Foolish Bid, both presently with trainer Keith LeBarron at Philly Park, and Mr. W.B., who is under the care of Scott Volk at the Big A, but who shipped to, and ran third at the Pha on Monday. Bob claimed Primal Peak for $25,000 three races back; Foolish Bid he got for $12,500 in a David Jacobson clearance sale (he won at Philly his next time out), and Mr. W.B. was haltered for $25,000 last summer. The latter's race on Monday was for $10,000, but he's had three seconds and two thirds for Kasey K. There's also a broodmare involved who I'll discuss in further detail at a later time.
So, this should be a lot of fun (especially since I stand to reap only the benefits). And Primal Peak is entered in the 9th at Philly on Saturday, a NW3x allowance race. The purse is an already generous $46,000; but since Primal Peak is a Pennsylvania-bred, he'll be running for an additional 40% bonus, making for an effective purse of over $64,000! That's more than a lot of overnight stakes races!! Unbelievable....and no wonder Bob is all hepped up. It's not an easy field for him, as he's taking a big class leap from the $25,000 claiming level at which he won his last race. But the horse is doing well, and, besides, Bob really claimed him with the grass in mind, and that will hopefully be coming up after this race. So, I'll obviously have more on this upcoming race and the further developments and exploits of this trio of horses as the events unfold. And thanks again, obviously, to Bob!
RSS Feed for this Blog
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
LATG Stable Expansion
Posted by Alan Mann at 9:49 AM
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
10 Comments:
I've been looking for an excuse to get my workmates to the track - we may cheer on your Philly Park-based horses in the near future.
What a great gift!
I see future bidding wars between The Mann and Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
Kudos on expanding the stable! With the success of Just Zip It why not add the more the merrier
FL Derby positions drawn and Big Brown gets the outside post - 12th. Tomcito is going to break from the far more desired 4th PP. Yet Big Brown is listed at the ML fav with 3-1
A very ominous stat cited by the DRF with Gulfstream: "No horse has ever won [any] race going 1 1/8 miles at Gulfstream from post 11 or 12 since the racetrack was reconfigured and lengthened to 1 1/8 miles in 2005."
Barbaro is the only horse to win at Gulfstream from the extreme outside, and I was there!
Might we be meeting Alan at Philly Park in the near future?
It's not much to look at but yoiu can get a nice lunch and a good table right on the finish line. It's never crowded, which I consider a plus.
There's also the casino on the premises -- the poker machines are great fun.
Let me know when you're coming.
One other Philly park note: some cheap little syndication deal keeps running the 8-year-old Valleyman who can no longer compete. He was a nice horse in his day, earning $250,000 for his career, but this is sad.
re: "Barbaro is the only horse to win at Gulfstream from the extreme outside"
TB Times Mar 29, 2006 - actually Barbaro broke from PP 10 in the Florida Derby with another to his outside.
The DRF remark said PP 11 and 12 never had a winner.
Since there have only had something like 18 races with 11 horses going 1 1/8 at the Gulf, it's not clear how much to read into that.
But, it certainly doesn't help. We might know if BB is great or just good after the FD.
I highly suspect BB will be scratching and running elsewhere. Mr. Frankel loves to cry about weights, PP etc, no need to run here, he will head to NY or KY.
Remember, he NEEDS earnings, they can not afford to take a shot of running huge and being 4th by a half length while 9 wide on both turns.
Even if he does run and somehow wins, I will not consider him "great".
A little nit picky I know, but prefer to save that term for horses that have beaten more than a bunch of NW2 eligible sophomores.
Despite the comment by Onecalicocat, you don't want to be at Philly Park on Sat. or Sun. Although it's not actually crowded, the horseplayers are jammed into a relatively small area. Not a pleasant experience.
On Mon & Tues, on the other hand, it's as quiet as a library.
Be careful of gift horses Nothing is free
Post a Comment