Monthly Archives: September 2013

ASK EDDY Enjoying Hawthorne

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According to Clay, EDDY has settled in very nicely and recovered well from his traumatic last race. He is coming back from the track bucking and playing and Clay feels that he may be enjoying himself more than he did in Minnesota.

The plan for EDDY is to bring him up to a race in the next couple of weeks, an open $5000 claiming race going long where he should be very competitive. This week we will have the group and our 5% owner, Curt Sampson, licensed in Illinois and be ready to go.

Given how late in the year it is, I do not foresee picking up another horse since we have to make sure that the Club is dissolved by the end of 2013.

Jeff and I have also had some preliminary discussions on the design of the 2014 Club and I will share those with you once we have the details worked out.

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August Financials

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Please find the August financials below. In September we will have the additional revenue of the MUNDY claim. Hopefully in the next few months we’ll have EDDY contributing a bit again as well – hard to say how much better he would have done had he not had to fight through the bleeding. That showed an awful lot of heart and grit that I’m still impressed about.

CBY RC Running Financials – August

Canterbury Closes; EDDY Moves to Chicago

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As the 2013 season sets on Canterbury Park, our ASK EDDY is resting in the Brinson barn before heading out to Chicago to take on horses at Hawthorne Park.

EDDY came back from the race a little uneven. Juan noticed that he was coughing pretty good so Clay order a scope to determine if there were any breathing issues. As it turns out, EDDY had bled through his Lasix during the race and, on a scale of 1 – 10 with 10 being the worst, EDDY’s bleeding was a six.

This doesn’t mean that EDDY is through, only that adjustments are going to need to be made for him. It also means that he showed a lot of grit, heart and determination to close the way he did under the duress he must have been under.

After some rest, EDDY’s Lasix does will be upped and he will be equipped with a figure eight bridle as well as a tongue tie to help him breathe. There are a several types of adjunct medications to go with the Lasix as well that Clay and the vet will go over to see what will be best. There is no reason that EDDY won’t be as good as new – or at least as he was!

I wish we could have won more and I especially wish that MUNDY would have worked out better than she did, but I thoroughly enjoyed working with you all live this summer and I hope that we have the opportunity to do it again next year – at least for those of you that decide to come back and not form your on groups, go out on your own or join existing partnerships (and I know someone that can help you with that!). As always, feel free to contact me at ted@grevelisracing.com with any questions that you have – about the Club or racing in general – and I’ll do what I can to answer you.

The work doesn’t end here, however. I will be working on getting our group licensed in Illinois over the next couple of weeks and we will have more races to run before the 2013 Canterbury Race Club draws to a close.

See You In Silks

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The Club will have a part of Silks tomorrow night for EDDY’s race.

Group 1 is back up for the paddock but the last few races we have been sparsely attended so keep an eye out if you’re out here; if the paddock looks thin, come on out and join us. We don’t want to overwhelm, obviously, but if it looks thin again, come on out and enjoy the Club’s last day of 2013 racing at Canterbury!

Hopefully we can get one last picture taken too…

ASK EDDY in His Canterbury Finale

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EDDY will have nearly a full house to contend with when he takes to the track Friday night in the 5th race, his last in front of the hometown fans. You wouldn’t necessarily think that a $5,000 claiming group would be overly contentious for EDDY, but it has certainly come up that way. Here’s a look at the field.

1 – Peaks of Legend (Hemba/Shepherd): Was claimed 3 starts back at Prairie Meadows, came back and won going away moving into state bred company and then was 6th in his Canterbury and turf debut at $7500. Drops in at his claim price in this one.

2 – ASK EDDY (BRINSON/HERNANDEZ)

3 – Geocache (Pfeifer/Shino): Speedster rounded back into form with two starts under Denny Velasquez. With Denny out he gets Ken Shino, his 4th pilot in 5 races. He does his best running on the front end, which we would like here.

4 – Jack and Max (Scherer/ ): Minn bred moving out of a conditional $5000 claimer to an open. He’ll be closing from deep.

5 – Don’t Bluff (Robertson/Canchari): Morning line 2nd choice is dropping to his lowest level in a year after two solid efforts over the turf in $7500 claiming races. Alex chooses this guy over EDDY.

6 – Joshua’s Journey (Lund/Escobar): Another one who wants to flash some early speed, he’s tired late in his last few attempts with a running style akin to MUNDY.

7 – Seeking the Reward (Rengstorf/Ocampo): Winner of 2 in a row in $6250 (conditioned) company, he faces open company for the first time here. Another who will try and come from far back

8 – Awesome Year (Van Winkle/Barton): Winner of 3 in a row (though was DQ’d in one) and 4 of last 5, including two over ASK EDDY, he drops a class level after a win. Usually this is a sign of a problem but in this case I think they just want another win before the end of the meet. He may just get one.

9 – Magnet Cove (Hemba/Martin Jr): A nice off the pace win at Prairie Meadows two back at the unusual distance of 2 miles. His first Canterbury start this year was over the turf where he closed well but needed more distance. His only Canterbury appearance this year over the main track was a win in a $4000 conditioned claiming event in July.

10 – Syd Licious (McShane/Butler): Winner of two in a row over the Canterbury surface since coming up from Iowa, this guy will want to stay close to the pace and make a late run.

Can EDDY win here? To be honest, I’m hoping to hit the board and grab a check. This is a tough group with horses that should be moving up in class moving down and really making things difficult.

I will say, the pace is going to be honest. With Joshua’s Journey and Geocache setting the fractions, I’m hoping that the other stalkers (not us!) get burned out trying to stay close and we get to pick up the pieces at the end. What may be more likely, however, is that the field let’s those two fry each other up front and have the rest of the field play out a ‘race within a race’ waiting for the leaders to back through the field. If this happens, I do like our chances of hitting the board, but I’m much less sanguine about the possibilities of us winning.

This is a tough one to be sure. I will drop a note on here tomorrow if we have a spot in Silks for the finale.

Good luck!

MUNDY Claimed

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MUNDY once again spurted out to a lead only to fade badly in the stretch. As each race has progressed this season, she has been more aggressive in wanting the lead and less apt to hold onto it.

For those of you that noticed, we did have a late jockey change and Juan Rivera was injured in a previous race and was unable to ride MUNDY. Given the full field we were fortunate to get Rusty Shaw aboard and, while he did what he could, MUNDY could not relax on the front end at all.

She was claimed out of the race by her former trainer, Mike Chambers and most likely will be heading back to AZ with her. My guess is, after racing 10 times in a little over 8 months, she will get 60 – 90 days off before returning to the races, which she probably needs. Given our status as a single year racing club, I think that we are better off with the claim since laying her off would have effectively meant that she was done for the year.

Best of luck to her and her new/old connections and we look forward to ASK EDDY on Friday night.

Some of you have asked if we will claim another horse and the short answer is: I don’t know. I’ll give the finances a once over this week and maybe see what EDDY does on Friday night. Perhaps we claim a consistent $7500 sort that we can run right back and see if we can get a win or two before the end of the season.

ASK EDDY to Help Close Season

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ASK EDDY drew into a big 10 horse field Friday night (yup, Friday night). It’s a $5,000 claiming raced going a mile and 70 over the dirt. It’s salty field with some real speedsters as well as a couple of closers, but our boy certainly has a shot – more on that later this week.

The race Friday night is race 5 and we’ll see if we can get Silks for the penultimate night of the Canterbury season.

MUNDY Looks to Get Off Slide

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Group 4 is up Saturday afternoon as MUNDY heads postward in a $7500 claiming clash going 7.5 furlongs over the turf. Yes, this is the lowest tag she’s been offered for. Is she worth more? Probably, but not to us. She has hard a tough time dealing with the heightened competition and greater early speed here at Canterbury and there is no reason to expect that she will do any better at Hawthorne. Should would, however, be a nice pick up for an outfit heading to Arizona where she has shown she really enjoys the Turf Paradise surface.

Needless to say, I would be okay with a win and a claim here.

Win. Can she win? Let’s take a look:

1. SMARTY PRANCE (Rhone/Hernandez) – MN bred has shown decent early speed in her longer efforts but as she has shortened up she’s found it harder to keep up. Drawing the rail is nice if she breaks well; problematical if she doesn’t.

2. I’VE HEARD RUMORS (Becker/Martin Jr) – Making her 2013 debut. She ran competitively at a much higher level last year before tapering off. As she dropped down the ladder the worse she got before being badly beaten in a $5000 claiming race at the end of the Hawthorne meet. She’s been off ever since.

3. DINA’S TYPHOON (Spencer/Stevens) – She drops back in class after taking a huge leap to try the HBPA Distaff in her first lawn attempt. Hard to tell if the lawn was the issue or the class hike. Competitive at this level on the dirt.

4. NEVERRGUEWITHRICHIE (Riecken/C Goodwin) – Two seconds over the Canterbury turf. 1 for 3 this season, but at $5000 over the dirt going long.

5. MUNDY (BRINSON/RIVERA)

6. MORGANS A BLUMIN (Robertson/Shepherd) – a very potent combo late this season, Morgan will be coming hard late from the clouds.

7. HUSKER RIDGE (Liftin/Velasquez) – Huge winner last out, albeit in a $2500 claiming race in Columbus, Nebraska. Comes to Canterbury to try the turf for the first time. Has some breeding for it but a big step up in competition.

8. BUCCELA (Lund/Escobar) – First try over the turf and at the distance. Winner two back sprinting in a conditioned $6250 claiming race.

9. LADY JORBURG (Rhone/Olesiak) – Would automatically be considered a front runner if not for the lack of speed in her last three. However this was against higher class competition and maybe she needed this type of relief to perk back up?

10. PASSION TALK (Rengstorf/Butler) – A very competitive turfer at this level, this race can be hers if the pace is right for this deep closer.

11. MOONSHINE PROMISE (Rarick/A Canchari) – Bat this group last out so she’s certainly capable of doing it again. Post 11 could be a big hindrance for a horse that likes to stalk the pace.

12. PEARLOFTHEORIENT (Biehler/Keith) – This oft claimed mare was just claimed off of Clay the last start and returns at this level. Likes to be close to the pace, but coming in from the way outside.

ALSO ELIGIBLE: SERA’S TUNNEL (Cole/Ocampo) – If she goes, she’ll be on the far outside. Had some speed and likes to be near the pace. Dropping in here and should figure if she gets in.

So can our girl win? That’s always the question I try and answer and the answer in here is certainly yes. There appears to be some speed other than her in here, but they all have questions: Does SMARTY PRANCE have speed when going shorter? Is NEVERARGUEWITHRICHIE going to have speed over the grass and up a level? Will HUSKER RIDGE have speed moving way up from $2500? Can the speed on the outside get over in time to make a difference?

Now all these answers have to be “no” but they very well could be. She’s breaking from a nice spot in the middle/inside and should be able to get to the lead – hopefully with enough cushion to allow Juan to slow it down and then let the closers try and close futility while our mare has plenty left in the tank to ward ’em off.

Group 4, I will see you before the race. If I’m not mistaken we will have Silks from coffee and donuts through racing that day. Also, you will all be a witness to history as Angela becomes the first woman in North America to ever call an entire thoroughbred race card. Let’s hope we hear her calling our name!

Coffee, Donuts, Mundy

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ASK EDDY did not get into the $5000 claiming race that was in the book for Saturday, but MUNDY made it in to one of the extras: $7500 claiming on the grass going 7 1/2 furlongs. She drew post position 5, right in the center. Some familiar faces in this one including last race winner Moonshine Promise – a surprising drop after a win at a higher level.

The race is #6 and now we’ve got a reason to stay all day!

Don’t forget to RSVP for the coffee and donut event at ted@grevelisracing.com.

See you Saturday and good luck!