"does this make my ears look big?"

Veiled Reference is set to make her debut tomorrow afternoon at Laurel Park. She had a final work over the weekend, breezing 3/8ths from the gate in 38 seconds. Woolley said that she was better out of the gate than her last effort, so at least she's trending the right way in that department. I don't envision her blazing out of the gate tomorrow, but if she can at least stay in the mix in that first eighth of a mile it will help the cause.

I was chatting with Bo Yates today and mentioned Veiled Reference's OCD, which was news to him. He never spotted it down in Florida, but fillies can be funny with new environments and routines, so it's possible that it came on with the move north. Anyway, he passed along that he had some success using a fly mask on a nervous filly that he once had in the barn. Apparently, she felt like she was hiding from the world with it on and totally chilled out in her stall. ("You can't see me, but I can see you. I'm hiding behind my forcefield!!") I mentioned it to Woolley and we might mess around with it just to give it a shot. It looks like the goat is no longer an option, as word is that the help would serve it up in a stew shortly after its arrival. I should have thought of that...I guess pigs are out, too, then.

Nautical Agent and Mass Romantic are both fine. We might enter Nautical to run at Finger Lakes sometime next week; the spot is a bit tougher, but it beats having to ship her out of town. Mass Romantic has come out of that first start back in good order. We'll shop around for her in a few weeks.