Today was going to be a post in breaking down the condition book.  However – fun intervenes and we get to talk about our first race of the new season for Kipper Key.

First off, K2 had a routing maintenance work this morning.  Clay sent him out for four furlongs which he accomplished in :50.2, the 36th fastest time of the 44 works at the distance.

The workout was more to get him out and let him unwind a bit as opposed to trying to get him fit, etc. so there was no need to ask him for any real speed.  Races aren’t win in the morning anyway and trainers are much more concerned about how a horse comes back from a work and the manner in which he accomplished it as opposed to the work time.

As an example, Horse A works five furlongs in :59.4 and earns a black dot next to the work (a “bullet”) as the fastest of the group going that distance that day.  He comes off the track huffing and puffing and takes quite a bit of time to recover.  Horse B goes the same five furlongs in 1:00.2.  He comes off the track breathing so lightly he couldn’t blow out a candle but finishes 16th of 35.  In the past performances Horse A may appear more impressive but Horse B is unquestionably more fit.  The time of the workout is less important than whether or not the horse got out of it what the trainer wanted.

We entered today in a starter allowance which is race 6 on Thursday’s card at Oaklawn.  The conditions of the race are for horses that have started for a claiming price of $7,500 in either of their last two starts.  As a starter allowance none of the horses are eligible to be claimed.  K2 drew the five post and will have jockey Glenn Corbett aboard in a field of 12.  A cursory look at the past performances indicates that there is a decent amount of speed in the race which will hopefully set up nicely for our late run.  A more detailed breakdown of the race will appear here on Wednesday.

Good luck!