Formal Dinner/ Sarah Kate 2010 Colt

Horse's of a Different Color

Two-year-old Splash of Vanilla has the distinction of being the first palomino ever cataloged for a Keeneland sale, and her breeder hopes she will sell today during the final session of the January horses of all ages sale and go on to a racing career. A palomino Thoroughbred is rare—there are 31 registered among the 34,350 Thoroughbreds in the 2007 foal crop, according o the Jockey Club.

HIP #1832: WHITE PRINCE
Photo by Z
White Prince, a white yearling Devil His Due colt purchased for $60,000 by Florida-based pinhooker Christy Whitman, was the session topper at the fifth session of the Keeneland January horses of all ages sale on Friday, which concluded with steep declines compared with last year’s session.

Good Week

Mongoose has had three winners this week and D'Wildcat had another 2 year old winner yesterday. Our 2007 foal crop is hanging tough!

Yearling pedigrees are online at http://www.obssales.com/. Here are my yearlings:

RJ - hip # 502

Bullwinkle - hip # 563

Cowgirl - hip # 732

Bullwinkle got the shaft... he's my best yearling and the first horse through the ring on Wednesday. Talk about bad luck! RJ is a mid-to-late Tuesday horse and Cowgirl will sell mid-Wednesday.

Perfect Circle Farm Yearlings for OBS August



Graeme Hall/ Raven Factor






Graeme Hall/ Sarah Kate










Gimmeawink/ Tamster






Yearlings

Priceless!

The evil one in action, caught on film! Just try to deny it!

You may just become a gelding one day!

Welcome Back Mass Cap!

Suffolk officials planning to bring back MassCap
by Steve Myrick
Suffolk Downs executives are trying to revive the Massachusetts Handicap and could announce their plans in the near future.
Shortly after developer Richard Fields acquired the largest ownership interest in Suffolk Downs, he signaled that he wanted to bring the MassCap back. The track’s signature race was cancelled three out of the past four years as the track struggled to pay purses for its standard overnight schedule.
Fields confirmed in a statement that the MassCap is part of his plan.
“Bringing back the historic MassCap is just one component of our extensive plan, just one of the steps we are taking to rejuvenate racing in Boston,” Fields said.
Details, including the date of the race and the purse money to be offered, still are being reviewed. Because it has not been staged for two consecutive years, the American Graded Stakes Committee declared the race ineligible for grading in 2007. It was a Grade 2 event when last run in 2004.
Before canceling the race in 2006, track officials announced a purse of $300,000 and revealed plans to move the race from its traditional mid-summer date to late September, where it would be positioned as a prep race for the Breeders’ Cup.
Steve Myrick is a Massachusetts-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent

Preakness Contest

The Preakness contest will be a little bit different. You will only pick two horses, one you think will be first, and one you think will be last. Fifty points for each right answer. The entries are below.

Mint Slewlep

Xchanger

Circular Quay

Curlin

King of the Roxy

Flying First Class

Hard Spun

Street Sense

CP West

Introducing!!

Here is a sneak peek at Catch Kara's foal. We have had some bad weather today, starting out unbearably hot for a newborn, and then HUGE thunderstorms. He and mom have had to spend most of the day inside and will have to go back in tonight. He is out to stretch his legs right now so I took a few pictures. More to come in the next few days.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers out there, but especially to our newest mother, Catch Kara. She had this D'Wildcat colt last night. Mother and baby are doing great. I'm not sure about our contest winner.. he appeared reddish last night, like a deep chestnut, but now that he is dry he is a lighter brown color than his mom. Perhaps we'll call it a draw.

Graeme Hall

Graeme Hall has sired a horse named Harrow Land in Saturdays G3 Lone Star Derby. Two of my yearlings this year are by Graeme Hall so I will be rooting for this horse to win. I'm not sure if it will be televised on any of the networks but if you have TVG/HRTV or live close to a simulcast facility you will be able to watch it at 4:47 Eastern time. The race is 1 mile and 1/16th for three year olds and is valued at $300,000.

Sunny skies, big crowd mark Suffolk Downs opening day
by Steve Myrick
A robust crowd of 16,437 turned out under sunny skies for opening day at Suffolk Downs, the first since New York developer Richard Fields assumed a significant ownership position in the East Boston Track.
Fields has begun to make good on his promise to invest new money in the struggling race track, and that investment began to pay off as the track recorded $869,954 in on-track handle and $2.3-million in total handle for the day.
The opening day crowd, many drawn to the facility by newspaper and television advertising, found fresh paint, fresh flowers, and new optimism throughout the plant.
Fields was on hand for the opening, after spending a day and a half meeting and greeting horsemen, jockeys, and track workers.
“Everybody had has unbelievable passion and commitment to this track,” Fields said. “We’re sitting with people, and asking what works, and what doesn’t work. We’re going to figure out how to improve the product, how to improve the facility, and most importantly, how to get the message out, because there’s a great product here, and start driving in customers, not just on opening day and Kentucky Derby [Presented by Yum! Brands (G1)] day, but every day. It’s going to take a lot of money. But it’s not just money—you’ve got to come up with the right program.”
Jockey Tammi Piermarini celebrated the return of live racing with four victories on the day, including the $25,000 William Almy Purse aboard Blind River Fox, who is trained by Paul Thornton.
Steve Myrick is a Massachusetts-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent

Catch Kara Foal Quiz

Well, Catch Kara has caught a dose of Derby fever and has decided to start thinking about having her foal. Anyone care to go another round of guessing on what the sex and color of the foal will be? Stallion info is on the weanling page at perfectcirclefarm.com.

Questions on her past foals are allowed, and the winner will receive one of the Derby Party shirts if they are 100% right on both sex and color. Wish Catch Kara luck for a healthy foal and an easy delivery!

Gimmeawink Foal

Kevin and Debbie Harbin had this Gimmeawink colt early yesterday morning out of their mare Footsie Cat. He is strong and healthy, and both mare and foal are doing well. Gimmeawink is a multiple stake winner of $531,000. He is also a half brother to current multiple graded stakes winner, Showing Up.

Catch Rikki

I got my first Stable Mail work for Rikki yesterday. He has a published 3/8th's work at Calder in 38.3. I spoke to Larry today and he said Rikki actually worked 1/4 and galloped out the 3/8th's. He worked with another horse that he handily beat. He also said that Rikki was much the better of the two and needed a stronger workmate for in the future. He didn't want Rikki to do too much in this work because he had a slight fever about a week ago and had three days off from training. By all reports, Rikki is well liked by everyone and is doing great!

Dominican

I am hoping this horse can upset Street Sense and Great Hunter in tomorrow's Toyota Blue Grass. He is a horse that we vetted out for Darrin Miller at last years OBS March sale. He is by El Corredor out of First Violin and was purchased for $150,000 by Darrin on behalf of the Hamilton's. Darrin Miller is one of the nicest guys you will meet in horse racing and well deserving of a trip to the Derby. Good luck to Dominican and his connections.

Toyota Blue Grass

This will be the most exciting prep race so far with a battle between Dominican, Great Hunter and Street Sense. Who are your picks?

entries:
1. Zanjero
2. Dominican
3. Love Dubai
4. Street Sense
5. Time Squared
6. Teuflesberg
7. Great Hunter

Arkansas Derby

entries:

1. Delightful Kiss
2. Curlin
3. Officer Rocket (GB)
4. Going Ballistic
5. Flying First Class
6. Storm in May
7. Olympic Chief
8. Slew by Slew
9. For You Reppo
10. Deadly Dealer

Sarah Kate's New Foal

As promised, here is a better picture. He is by Mongoose and was born in the wee hours of April 5th. He is much friendlier than Tamster's foal. He came out whinnying and whinnys every time he gets turned out in the paddock!

It's A Boy!

The long wait is finally over! This bouncing baby boy was born last night at 2:30 AM with no complications. More pictures to come.

They Call Me "Gus"

I just finished reading the book about Gus Gray(from the Alabama English post). I have known Gus for a few years now, and he is a great guy. Reading the book written about him opened up a whole new chapter of things I never knew about him. He grew up in rural Alabama in the 50's and early 60's in a very poor family. He was one of 14 children. His "mama" had 18 but only 14 survived. He had one brother who was stabbed in a "beer joint" just for being black. Discrimination was a part of his everyday life as a child, and he knew no different. His family was helped twice by Dr. Martin Luther King for two very unusual reasons. He worked for Fred Hooper for 30 years as the stallion manager and tour guide to Hooper Farm. I highly recommend reading this book. When you come to Florida I will personally introduce you to Gus. The author is Helen E. Wright. There are two copies of the book on Amazon.com.