Posted by Avram Freedberg
Two horses, two jockeys named Lopez, two different races, same result. Yes, by the end of each race, the jockeys were able to whip out their cameras and take photos of all the horse tails in front of them to form a beautiful montage of horses derrieres. Should make a nice poster you can send to your favorite horse’s ass. I know who the biggest horse’s ass is… unfortunately, it is the majority owner of these two nags! All the loving in the world and their good breeding has not turned them into race horses. I apologize to my partner in these horses (and his dad, who tends to back them strongly at the betting window), to my partner in life and to my daughter who named Arielle’s Song.
Yesterday, Conseated Lady was out of the gate fast and vied for the lead for more than half the race. Then she felt a little winded and decided it was time to fantasize about a cold beer or some iced tea. There was actually one horse who finished behind her.
Today, Arielle’s Song was perfectly placed in fourth. She seemed to be running well, started to come on into third and ran into a wall of those same beer cans. As they say, she emptied out (I guess to make room for the beer). She finished last. Ugh!
The good news is that the Queen of the Stable is back in training and breezed 3 furlongs barefoot on the grass. Even barefoot, she was fastest of the six who worked that distance today on the grass. She has a tiny bit of heat in her left front foot but as long as it doesn’t get worse, she should be fine. She’ll probably get horse shoes glued on soon. They seem to be working well on Canadian Ballet, her archrival in Linda’s barn. We’re currently aiming for a $100,000 race at Keeneland in Kentucky. However, I’ve heard that for each of the last two years and she’s never made it there.
Holy Blitzer should be entered to race at Aqueduct soon. Hear the Footsteps will begin galloping shortly. Katy’s Office Girl gets a week off from breezing because she’s getting too thin (not a problem I’m familiar with).
As for the two 2-yr. olds, Pat still loves It’s Truly Ahvee. Pat says he’s high strung (he better be careful or Linda may be looking to clip him. Next thing you know, she’ll be doing circumcisions!). As Pat puts it, “high strung… like lots of the really good horses!” There’s long way to go, but we can dream. Cricky’s GoldenEyes is also coming along. A decision on whether he will be sold at the Baltimore sale after the Preakness will be made in the next 2 months, once we see how he performs in training.
So, it really is the beginning of the racing season. Now someone’s gotta tell my horses!
Best,
A.
Avram C. Freedberg
