It’s SO much more fun to post after a win, but this has to happen as well. You can’t win every race and our girl ran an odd one last night. The instructions were to sit off the early speed – and we had the 1 on the inside that we figured would go – and then get first run on them to the finish.
Belle decided that she didn’t like those instructions and pulled Quincy Hamilton to the lead. He tried to relax her and rate her speed but she was pressured on the outside and she decided to call it a day.
Interesting thing about that performance is that it flew in the face of everything we know about her. We know she’s a fighter and has a lot of heart and she really showed neither last night.
Positives: she came out of the race well last night and was walking just find this morning. That means we live to fight another day.
So…what happened? No real idea. It could be that after her last race, where she stumbled and cut herself that she remembered that experience and didn’t have the confidence that she could go full out without hurting. IF that’s the case, the race served her well.
She may have had a bad night. She had run three solid races in a row (say what you will about that last race, but she ran hard after she stumbled), maybe this time she laid an egg? It happens.
This would be a great time to be able to sit and talk with her and find out what she was feeling, but we can’t so Nevada will work with her, get her ready and when she let’s us know, we will enter and go right back at them!
In terms of a second horse, this will put those plans on hold for a little bit unless we can find something that we feel like we can’t turn down. Once another horse enters the mix, expenses double and that can drain the account quickly. I’d prefer to wait to make sure we have Belle back on track and can buy with some certainty and safety – well, as much as you can.
Canterbury Racing Club 
Brutal ride by Quincy. Get canchari next time
Ted,
A nice management approach and communication, Thanks.
That’s racing, the thrill of victory, the agony defeat, with high drama involved with both. Enjoying every second of this experience.
Peter and Tracy McDermott.
Ted, thanks for update on Belle. I thought she’d take it from just off the pace, and thought Quincy had made a big mistake when she rushed through for the lead — but she overestimated herself in the stamina department. Fractions were pretty quick, even for a “short” race. I’m glad to hear she’s well, but perhaps disappointed in herself that she couldn’t pull off another Secretariat’s Belmont. 🙂 Thanks for all that you do for the Club.
Lyn Cowan
Just like me. Some days you just don’t have the umph (happens a littler more often lately ha!)
Let’s get her back in a race as soon as possible and not wait 3 weeks.
John – 3 weeks is a pretty healthy interval for a horse to recover. Every two weeks is really pushing it and not something I (or Nevada or Clay) really like to do. You can maybe get away with it with some Minnesota breds that only race for these few months, but a horse that campaigns year round simply can’t handle that kind of wear and tear.