Our family had tough travel on Sunday, December 18, 2016. AFTER we got to the airport at 6:40AM, Jet Blue bumped our kids and grandkids from our flight. Then, Jet Blue canceled their 6AM Newark flight the next day. They ended up flying to Miami with American and getting to the hotel about 8PM, killing two days of their vacation.

In any case, we got to the hotel about 3PM. Barely in time to get set up to see FlatteryWillGetYou‘s race at 3:43… but we could not access the live stream on the hotel computers or on our I-pads. Hotel IT security had stopped access to those streams! We had to call Linda Rice to get her verbal call of the race.

Flattery‘s race was impacted right at the start. She was in the #6 Post position and Court Dancer was in the #8 Post. As soon as the gate opened, Court Dancer tried to rush to the front and get to the rail. Unfotunately, this move impeded us and the #7 contender, so they both had to take back, losing momentum.

Court Dancer got to the front and went unchallenged for the rest of the race. Flattery made up ground and passed the others but could not catch the winner. Jose Ortiz, Flattery’s jockey, lodged an Objection but the Stewards did not change the order of finish. Too bad, because Court Dancer‘s jockey, Angel Arroyo, did the same thing yesterday. His horse won again but they disqualified him this time. They should have done the same thing in Flattery‘s race.

We had lots of fun on our family vacation and also after the family left. Lots of golf with my son, breakfasts with the girls and the grandkids, dinners and a lunch with friends from Connecticut, Delaware, Saratoga and Florida, seeing special relatives like my dad’s sister and my mom’s first cousin, etc.

We were hosted by good friends for 3 nights at their place at the Polo Club and had a group lunch at Gulfstream racetrack. We didn’t make any money there but a waiter at our hotel, the Boca Beach Club, suggested we play the “Pick-4” where you have to pick the winners in the last 4 races,at Santa Anita’s opening day because there was a guaranteed pool of at least $1 million. Rhoda suggested we follow the selections of noted broadcaster and friend, Steve Byk. It was a $72 bet and when we checked the results, lo and behold, it won and paid over $750!

Next stop, Pat Hoppel’s farm in the Ocala area to visit Another Genius and two of Ahvee’s Destiny‘s progeny, Aussie Ahvee and the City Zip filly we call Zippy at this point.

Here I am with Another Genius. She’s the first horse we’ve had to win her first two races… after we tried to sell her because we thought she was not going to succeed for many reasons. Well, she proved us wrong! She’ll be back soon to get ready for turf season.

We returned home Friday night and set out for Aqueduct yesterday to see Ransom Note run in his second race. We’d been surprised to see in the ntries that none other than Cornelio Velasquez was to be the jockey. We’d looked for Cornelio at Gulfstream but he was not there. Turns out, he went to Dubai to run for a Sheik and when that contract was up, he headed for New York.

In any case, many of the professional handicappers remembered Ransom Note’s last race where he got bumped and pinched back at the start. So, his odds dropped to 4-5 at one point, eventually going off at 8-5.

When the bell rang to open the gate, Cornelio got him out quickly and took him to the lead. There he stayed until the stretch turn. Two contenders came after him with one seeming to get his head in front. Cornelio worked him to get back into the lead. Then, he got him to change his lead and he drew away slowly to a one length victory. Changing his lead means that he changes his stride to lead with the opposite leg. So, when the leg he WAS leading with gets tired, he has some renewed energy bu changing his lead to the other leg.

Cornelio also recommended blinkers because he said that Ransom Note was waiting for the other horses to run with him. According to Cornelio, he could have gone around the track again and none of the others would have passed him!

WHAT A WAY TO START 2017. YAY!