summer holiday

And we're back. Sure, disappearing for three weeks certainly isn't the best way to cultivate a readership, but I've been mailing in the month of August for most of my professional life and old habits die hard. Spent most of the time up in Maine. First, in the southern coast area in and around York and then up by Acadia National Park for another week. Ate lobster. Went swimming. Got married. In Kate's defense, she doesn't read the blog.

The stable marched on in our absence, of course. It was a real treat trying to pick up mobile phone coverage in Maine to touch base on a few things. Plans had been made in advance of the trip for the fillies, but we tweaked here and there on the fly, which is always fun. Nautical Agent and Fortuna are now up at Finger Lakes in upstate NY. The purses are much better for them than anything they'd chase down here at comparable class levels, so we pulled the trigger and sent them up with Doug Nunn, a good guy and trainer that we've worked with in the past. Some of you may recall that Doug did a lot of work with Pretty Partisan back in the day at Overbrook Farm in Colts Neck. He's a hands-on guy much like Tim Woolley and gets the most out of his stock. Both fillies ran about two weeks ago. Nautical Agent ran a much improved third over a sealed main track and picked up a nice check. Fortuna tried to rain on the wedding festivities (she doesn't like it when others get attention), finishing fifth in her affair that day, but didn't run all too badly given some of the things she was up against (post, pace). Both came out of the day in good order and should run back soon.

Mass Romantic continues to log on the miles at Fair Hill Training Center in Maryland. Tim is pleased with how she's coming along. She's muscled up nicely and has put in a number of solid works since getting back on the tab. They had her for a half mile in 49 flat the other morning, which was probably one of her first chances to pick up the pace in her training since getting back into the routine. She'll continue to add on distance and throw in the occasional speed work over the next month. Still looking at sometime in early October for a return.

Veiled Reference is still down in Ocala with Bo Yates. We're just waiting on a van to come together at this point (ship costs less with the fuller load), but she's still to the good. She worked an easy 3/4ths in 1.18 2/5 a few weeks back, so she's got most of the foundation that she'll need for the fall. Woolley will sharpen her up once she arrives north and we'll shop for a spot at Laurel. They run those 2yo maiden races fairly regularly, so I don't anticipate too much trouble getting her in. I'll get down to see both fillies with Tim once she ships in. After inspecting yearlings earlier this month and recalling what she looked like last year, I'm really excited to see where she's at these days. As with any model, validation is key, so it will be interesting to see how she's matured, particularly with this year's big yearling sales fast approaching.

Until then, time for lots and lots of laundry. (And don't judge me should I shrink all of Kate's tops. Roles needed to be clearly established right out of the gate, okay?)