I’m probably responsible in part for Jess Not Jesse’s first real failure at Saratoga. The only race he’d lost at Saratoga was by a nose when he got left at the gate, so I told the jockey, Cornelio Velasquez, to get him out of the gate fast. Well, it was too fast. He battled Mia Poppy for the lead and they set torrid fractions of 21 1/5, 44+, etc. They burned each other out with Jess finishing 7th and Mia Poppy last.

So far, Jess looks like he came out of the race OK. If he stays that way, we hope to race him again. We intend to retire him this year. So, it’s only a question of when.

Hear the Footsteps is scheduled to race in a $40K claimer in Wednesday’s 3rd race.which is scheduled for 1:32 on the grass. Jose Ortiz is the jockey and we’ll be the favorite or close to it. We could lose Footsie after all these years, if someone claims him. However, he hasn’t been himself this year, so Linda figures this is where he can be competitive. GO FOOTSIE!

We’ve been very lucky at Saratoga with at least one winner for seven straight years. We’re hoping to make it eight on Wednesday.

Here are the photos of the new yearling:

This is a filly by Candy Ride.

Colt by Include

Colt by Regal Ransom

They have all been shipped to Florida, as will be Ahvee’s Destiny’s colt next month. We have seen him (and her) quite often. He’s very sweet and we’ve taught him to eat the same cookies as California Chrome eats. Hope he does as well!

More to come after Wednesday’s race.