We step over the line from the first half of the racing year into the second half of the 2019 season. This week, the stable had three horses running and all two turning out to be the second betting choice and the other the third choice in their races. Always good to see that you have one of the favorites in your hands. Let’s see if they lived up to expectations!
Three year old, THE CHALLENGE TWO, who was bred by retiring a mare (A Kirby Prize) and breeding to a sire (Discreet Cat) that was obtained by exchanging sire cards in last year. He made his 9th career start for the stable this week in a $7,500 claiming race going 8.25 furlongs. A decent 7-horse field would compete on the turf with our horse entering the gate at 5/2 and second betting option. Last month, he switched back to the dirt after a series of three turf races and scored a win. Looking to repeat, he got off to a slow start and chased others from the 8th position. After reaching the half way marker, he started gaining on the leaders. As the field hit the stretch, he was within two lengths of the leader. He tried to gain but only slightly cut that deficit but made his way into the second spot and notched a 94 speed which is his new career high, improving off the 93 from his last start. 27 BP’s were cashed in and only one sire card which was a G.
Readers may recall last years challenge was to accumulate as many BP’s to breed a topline horse. AP’S GOLDEN MUMMY (American Pharoah x AP Indy x Mr. Prospector) was the horse that was bred and the three year old colt made his way into his 6th career start and was no less than impressive. I took him back to a sprint distance of 7 furlongs and in an allowance race with a field of 9, he broke away third and kept pressure on the two leaders by running less than a stride behind. He started moving forward and was only half a length off at the half and easily made the lead his own. He won by over a stride as the third choice at 5/1 odds and spun off a speed of 103. This easily became his career best speed, surpassing the 90-speed he posted back in March at the same 7-furlongs. Mummy is now 3-2-0 in six starts and we were able to squirrel away 40 BP’s. The larger field earned us 3 sire cards and got a nice E-card in the draw along with a pair of G’s.
Wrapping up the week, I took a gamble and moved TETE BISMARK into the allowance level which comes off a solid second in the starter allowance class with a 104 speed on the turf. This versatile horse can compete on both surfaces but I kept him on the grass and at the same 9f distance he ran in the starter class. The betters sent him off as the even-money second choice in the mini-five horse field. Only once in his 34-race career did he ever go out and set the early pace as he usually hangs out close to the lead. Wouldn’t you know that in his 35th career start that he would go for the lead. The prior time he tired in the stretch, finishing fourth. Things would be different this time as he took a good stride plus lead into the stretch and won by a half length with a 98 speed. Shipping costs caused a hit to the BP’s with only 5 received. But rewards came with the two sire cards that were selected…One E, One F!
Summing up the week, the stable earned 72 BP’s and card selections were nice with 2-E’s 1-F and 2-G’s. Adding the G’s to the 4 already on hand and trading up for an F, which gives the stable 4 on hand….then we toss in the F earned this week and trade that in for an E card which is added to the one already on hand making a total of 2. Added to these are the 2 E’s earned this week, making a total of 4. So what do we now have? The stable now has 2-D cards, 4-E cards and 1-F card. BP’s tally 1,275.
Since we entered the second half of the year, time to look at how the stable has performed. With 75 races this year the stable has 33 wins (44%…wish I could do that with all my stables), 12 places and 6 shows for an ITM % of 68%. Average field size is 9.8 and average horse finish is 3.7. The average odds of the starters is 2.7/1. Not bad at all and hopefully we can improve on the card selections during the upcoming weeks. Four hopeful runners next week could help us with that goal.
3-D, 1-E, 3-F and 4-G.
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