I Never Gave Up finished 4th yesterday in the 3rd at Oaklawn.
She broke well and Alex Birzer guided her into a stalking position down the backstretch and into the turn. As the field straightened out for home she was angled out a bit and had a straight shot to the finish line. For a moment it looked like she might just sweep on by but she tired and was unable to gain any ground on the leaders. She was nipped at the wire to for third.
The Club picks up a check for $1150 which will covering her shipping to Canterbury and a wee bit more.
She seemed to come out of the race okay but very tired so she’s not quite at the fitness level that she needs to be. Nevada, however, will take care of that in the mornings.
The timing for her first start at home looks to be good for opening weekend but we have a lack of races to choose from. There are several state bred maiden races but the only open maiden race is opening night in a maiden claiming $10,000. We want to get in action as quickly as possible but we also want to try and maximize the potential of our starts and if she can win at a higher level, we want to give her that opportunity. The other side of that coin, of course, is you can only run what is written.
However we won’t put the start before the horse (HA!) but get her and Mr. Ark up here, settled in and – weather eventually permitting – getting them training over the racetrack.
The Litfin stable will be packing up throughout the weekend and will hit the road early next week. Once they get settled in we will touch base with Nevada and see how the move went and how our charges are settling in.
Canterbury Racing Club 
New to the club… First time commenter…
Does it cost money to race? If not how does a track determine what horses get into the race? Is there an application process for races?
Great questions and we go through this during the backside tours but here are some short answers: Only stakes races have nomination fees; track publishes a condition book outlining the races they want to run and horsemen enter; there is no application process, only conditions outlining races. Please check this post which may answer some of your questions as well: https://canterburyracingclub.com/2018/03/30/the-condition-book-2/
There also is a preference system used to determine which horses make a race when it is oversubscribed. Here is a link to the condition book page describing that system: http://www.canterburypark.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/preference-system.pdf
Safe travels and thanks to the Litfins!
We can’t WIN if we don’t RUN – that is how we maximize our potential, and it looks like there
is another open maiden on May 5th, race 4.
That race is indeed an open race, as mentioned in the post, and we may run in that race. She has shown she can run with considerably higher class horses so the goal is to win as high as possible to maximize her potential. If we feel that she’s worth $20,000 why would we run her at $10,000? Sure, we’ll win a low level race but likely have the horse claimed and not be able to replace her by getting less money than she is worth. Protecting horses against a claim is never a consideration but losing horses for less than their worth is not acceptable either. We’ll have to wait until she ships up the snow clears and Nevada can work her some and see where he feels she’ll fit best.
In condition book 1, there are 13 maiden races for F&M – 5 maidens (1 sub), 3 MCl25 (1 sub), 3 MCl10 (all sub), and 2 MCl5 (all sub). There isn’t a ton here where she will likely be competitive based on her prior results (even though they were at better tracks). If the race goes, and she wins a MCl25, whats the next spot after that? It has to be a Cl10-15 in order to keep her competitive based on her current results. With that in mind, wouldn’t we be entering her for a similar pricewhen people are less likely to claim her out of a MCl than a conditioned claimer?
Losing a horse to a claim generally is not a concern. If you lose it, you lose it – it’s part of the game when you’re playing at this level. Ideally if you lose a horse you’d like to do it at the highest level possible: you don’t want to lose a horse for $10K that can be competitive at $20K, as an example – not saying that’s her, just an example. There is no question that horses move up a bit here than where they run at Oaklawn (last year, for an example, Brilliant Belle won a starter allowance in her first start here after placing 6th in a conditioned $15K claimer there. She would have been run off her hooves in an Oaklawn starter). What we also do not have yet are any “extras” written which won’t start until races are drawn so there will be more to choose from. Additionally, planning a second race before a first is run is a not a great idea. If she breaks her maiden by 12 as opposed to a nose could certainly change up the decision making process. Laying out a campaign for a stakes horse is one thing, trying to guess how a claimer will perform – especially a young, green filly who still has learning to do – is near impossible. Of course that’s why we have a trainer – a professional whose job it is to not only get a horse ready to race but to also determine at what levels she would be competitive. We could run at MCL10 or MCL20 – we simply do not know yet until she gets here, starts to work and Nevada evaluates her and the possible competition. After that, we’ll see where to go next.