mark your calendar

Laurel Park will slash the takeout rates for its upcoming Summer meet. Now that is reason enough to study up on the circuit. The meet will run from August 10-23. Hopefully, they do well and take steps to reduce takeout throughout the year. If one has to choose between 10% coming off the table, or, say, 25%, it's really not rocket science to deduce that the investor will speculate where her or she is getting more return on the dollar. I'll certainly look to get involved.

On the racing side, Preque Isle is to offer up some serious cash during its meeting this September. Never heard of Presque Isle? Don't worry, you're not alone. The new track is located near Erie, PA and will conduct its boutique meeting over a Tapeta surface - the same material down at Fair Hill Training Center in MD. I don't know if we'll have occasion to ship one of our runners out there this September, but given the figures involved, we'll certainly keep the option in play. I'll have to check the Erie Visitor's Bureau to see what they've got cooking.

As for activity at Fair Hill, Tim passed on that Mass Romantic is galloping away nicely. She's slowly getting into the program since shipping in a few weeks back. All is well physically and she's eating her Wheaties, as instructed. I'll get down there for a visit in the next few weeks.

makes too much sense

The Fasig-Tipton July yearling sale is taking place in Kentucky these days. One of the stories recapping day one of the sale, from bloodhorse.com, details a different approach that one outfit intends to take with its yearling stock purchased to pinhook at the 2yo sales early next year. Read the story yourself, of course, but the basic idea is that the horses won't be cranked to produce their best speed in the undertack shows. The owner, an advertising executive, Dayman Rayman, plans to breeze them easy 1/8th miles in company, as opposed to solo charging down the lane. The reason, which makes all the sense in the world, is to avoid the added stress of the fast work and prevent typical injuries that horses coming out of these sales often develop.

Let's hope he has some success, as I think that's the ideal way to develop young horses. Instead of drilling down on them so early and then being forced to stop due to injury or, more likely, the fact that 2yo races aren't carded in February, horses will be able to come along at a more sensible rate. It's for this reason that I've always liked the Adena Springs 2yo sale, where the approach is similar. It's unlikely that the concept will catch on, given the industry's obsession with early speed, but one can hold out hope.

road trip

Surprisingly, Nautical Agent did draw into that race at Colonial Downs over the weekend. She canceled plans to shampoo her hair that afternoon, made it to the paddock on time and turned in an improved effort from her last two, finishing fourth in a field of thirteen. She sat off of a pretty sharp pace and made a grinding 3/8ths run to finish up. Nautical did encounter some traffic from a number of the pace-setters backing up in her face, but the slight pause likely only caused her third place, if that. It wasn't anything brilliant, but it was good to see her enjoy some measure of success after the two flat efforts to kick off her season. We'll try to build on the effort running back at Colonial in a few weeks. Meanwhile, she'll see if she can re-book the hair appointment. I'm not getting involved in that one.

summer reading

Whether you're an old pro in the business or recently new to racing, there are a few books that I would suggest as must-haves for anyone interested in learning its ups, downs and nuances.

Bill Nack's Secretariat: The Making of a Champion is not only on THE book on Secretariat, but also represents some of the finest writing ever on racing. It takes you through his entire career, pedigree and the humans lucky enough to have had him in their lives. Originally published in 1975, it remains an absolute treat and I fully expect that my public praise will be detailed on the jacket of the next edition.

Horsetrader, written by Patrick Robinson and a bit tricky to find (I think you can put an order request in through Amazon), tells the story of British owner Robert Sangster and his run with the Boys of Ballydoyle (including Vincent O'Brien, perhaps the greatest trainer of all time). It details their rise and fall, exploits at the sales and thrilling days at the track with greats like Sadler's Wells, Golden Fleece, The Minstrel, Royal Academy and others. The research put in is impressive and it reads really well. You'll never look at a sweet-talking Irish guy or cowboy from Kentucky the same way again.

Bill Surface's The Track takes the reader on a behind the scenes tour of the backside, expertly detailing the ins and outs of the industry's heartbeat through a look at the day in the life on the backside of Belmont Park. He sheds light on the good, bad and sometimes ugly that goes down and shares well-crafted anecdotes highlighted by characters that one could only find at the track. It's from back in the 1970s, but time tends to stand still on the backside, so it reads as true as ever today. Allen Jerkens, who is in the book, was considered old even back then, which is pretty funny.

thanks for the kindling

Fortuna was back on the scene today at Delaware Park. Perhaps it was the storm moving in, or, more likely, her flighty nature (not like a fast flighty, unfortunately), but she put in a pretty disappointing effort. The race came up soft, money was down on her from across the country and she ran like a filly that needs to have everything her way to have any kind of impact. Well, things did not play out that way today, so she was rank through 3/4s racing just off the lead before packing it in and dropping back through the field. Thanks for coming. We'll see how she comes back and look to spot her where things might play more in her favor. We're like the Bush advance team now, seeking out that obscure little college where she'll be perfect for the commencement address. Alabama here we come.

For better or worse, Nautical Agent did wind up drawing into that race on Saturday at Colonial Downs. It came up tough for the level, but we'll send her out and see if she perks up after having been at the track for a few days. She shipped in well enough.

and i'll be coming around any day now, just you wait

Horses, just like kids, develop at different rates. Without fail, the kids that dominate sixth grade dodge ball find themselves soon surpassed physically (and usually mentally, too) by many of their peers come high school. The alpha kids peak and the rest of the pack slowly but surely matures and muscles up, leaving Ricky's parents wondering what in the heck went wrong. Sad stuff, really, but Ricky's folks will always have the middle school years to look back on.

With horses, you'll see certain precocious ones dominate their peers quite convincingly this time of year and even deep into the 2yo season, much like Ready's Pleasure did so in the Tremont last week at Belmont. I mean, there was no doubt that this guy was a man among boys on the day. He'll probably have many other days like that, too, running up at Saratoga this summer. Rest assured, though, that as the weeks and months roll by, his peers will catch up physically and mentally and prove much tougher competition. For $410,000 as a yearling he's a nice 2yo, sure, but you'll be hard-pressed to see him have an impact next season when the classics roll around.

Check out this article on his dam from the Form. She was purchased for a pittance off the racetrack, which goes to show that a bit of pedigree can go a long way in today's commercial market.

back to work

We're lighting it up in the entries. Fortuna is on the AEs at Delaware on Wednesday in the sixth. Her friend, Nautical Agent, is on the AEs at Colonial Downs on Friday in the nightcap.

Fortuna has drawn in to the race, which is nice given how the race came together. It will be a good spot to get her started back. Nautical might not be so lucky, but we should be able to find another spot fairly readily. She'll ship down to Colonial Downs in Virginia tomorrow.