TENS WILD is in opening day at Hawthorne Race Course. He’ll be in the 8th race, a $16,000 claiming affair going a mile and a sixteenth over the turf.
TENS drew post position 6 and will have Denny Velazquez on board. Approximate post time is 5:40 pm.
All systems are still go for TENS WILD.
He worked the other day (9/20), four furlongs in :47.4 which was the fastest work of the day at the distance. There were only 8 works that day, but still…
He’s certainly ready to go and we’ll enter next Tuesday for Friday. Heather and I will be Las Vegas for a trade show during the week, but we land at MSP on Friday morning and will be heading straight for Hawthorne.
As of right now we’re looking at racing rain or shine, turf or dirt.
We are pointing TENS WILD to opening day at Hawthorne. There is a mile and a sixteenth on the turf on Friday, October 2 at $16,000 which is right in our boy’s wheelhouse. He heads out tomorrow night or Wednesday, will get settled in and he’ll get trained up to that race.
This was discussed in the comments but I’ll put it up as well so we are all on the same page:
With great appreciation from our part, Canterbury Park does a lot for us when possible. We all get free admission and a place to gather for the race as well as paddock and winners’ circle access. This is not the case at other tracks.
Should anyone go to Hawthorne, we’ll have to pay admission and we won’t have paddock access. That said, there really isn’t any paddock access at Hawthorne except for trainers and grooms. It is inside and underground so there are only stalls and a small walking ring. Should we win, however, we can get in the picture, so be sure and smile! Entries are not drawn until September 29 so we won’t know for a couple of weeks if the race goes so stay tuned.
Click on the below for the August financial statement. In a shocker, we actually got an on-time vet bill so we are pretty much up to date!
TENS WILD went over to the track this morning and worked four furlongs in :48.4 seconds, the 3rd fastest work of the day at that distance. In case you were wondering, if he had the fastest work of the day at that distance, there would be a black dot – or a “bullet” next to the workout at the bottom of his past performances, hence the term “bullet workout”.
We’re looking to get a race in at Arlington before Hawthorne opens on October 2. He’s ready to roll and we were ready to go, willing to push him up to $20,000 if necessary, to get him one more in before Canterbury closed. However that race didn’t go and, rather than risk getting him claimed (right now) at less than he is worth or running him way over his head ($35,000 optional claiming) we’re going to shoot for Chicago.
As an Illinois bred, TENS is eligible for bonus money much in the same way Minnesota breds are at Canterbury Park.
For example, in the first Hawthorne condition book a $16,000 claiming race at a mile and 16th over the turf carries a purse of only $12,500. However, because TENS is an Illinois bred, he is competing for an additional $4,320 dollar, making it much closer to Canterbury’s $20,000 level.
The barn will be shipping out on Tuesday, September 15.
Enjoy closing weekend – we’ll see you out there!
It looks like we’ll be waiting for either Hawthorne or Arlington for TENS WILD’s next race. The $20,000 claiming race didn’t fill and was not brought back as an extra for the final day of the meet either. There doesn’t appear to be a race that fits him at all that last day unless we drop him way down (too early for that) or way up (not sure he’d be competitive).
So it will be on to Chicago and see what we can do there.
TENS WILD is doing very well. He came out of the race fine and we’re going to try and see if he can come back for the last weekend of racing before the barn ships to Hawthorne.
If all goes well and we think he’s ready to go we will enter for Friday evening going a mile and a sixteenth over the turf. The class level will be a little higher, but that’s what out there and who knows who is still going to be around by the last couple of days of the meet – it could come up easy or really tough.
TENS is training well, though, and we don’t want to wait until October for Hawthorne and Arlington is a bit of a disaster so why not run in front of the home town fans one last time and give Group 3 a chance to get in the paddock one more time too!?
Entries are on Sunday so we’ll know sometime Sunday afternoon.
Canterbury Racing Club 