Last Friday, Hear the Footsteps ran on the grass at Belmont. Rosie Napravnik was riding. I like Rosie. Nonetheless, she did not follow instructions.

She got Footsie out of the gate well and let him settle into third place. Perfect. We had told her to be positioned no worse than third. However, when another contender started trying to pass, she let that happen, rather than getting Footsie into a better position. Then another horse did the same thing with the same result.

Footsie was boxed in and acted a little intimidated by the horses surrounding him. After they turned into the stretch, she found a hole and, finally, got him going. Unfortunately, Barrel of Love was barreling around the pack and had much more momentum. So, as Footsie started his late stretch run, he was passed. While he couldn’t get to the lead, he did get to second place at the wire.

Footsie is always trying. In 16 races, he has finished first twice, second three times and third eight times, 13 out of 16 in the money!

Our double winner at Saratoga, Jess Not Jesse, is the 7-5 favorite in the 9th race at Parx in Philadelphia on the grass on Saturday. Stewart Elliot is scheduled to ride but my gut tells me it will come off the grass due to wet weather. If that happens, he will be scratched.

Ahvee’s Destiny is doing fine at the farm.

Have a lovely weekend!

Best,

A