Linda Rice meeting

Posted by Avram Freedberg

Linda is a beautiful woman as well as a leading trainer. I made a lunch date with her while Rhoda was busy with her friends at the Fabulous Fillies luncheon. We had a nice lunch and then she took me to look at yearlings on display who would be sold at tonight’s auction. Finally, she invited me to see her apartment. Well, my fantasies were in full gear as we went up to her beautiful apartment. She gave me the tour, including the Master Bedroom but I was precluded from even fantasizing when her parents greeted me. Oh well!

At lunch, we reviewed the horse situation with special emphasis on last week’s mistake riddled situation with Ahvee’s Destiny. I hit the trifecta with Ahvee’s Destiny last week. First, she was entered in The Finney Stakes for Sunday. She was the defending champion and, since the race is named for a repeat sponsor of the Saratoga Meet and the Racing Secretary said they expected 8 or 9 horses to compete and the weather was forecast to be good, I did not authorize spending $500 to enter her in another race at Penn National. Well, that was the first two parts of the trifecta… the Finney Stakes did not get sufficient entries and did not run and we had no alternate race. The race in Pennsylvania came up with a soft field, except for Canadian Ballet, who ended up winning the race in a time that would have made Destiny very competitive.

Then came the coup de grace… Linda had me spend $1500 to enter Destiny in a race in Canada, plus there were licensing fees, etc. Figure we spent $2000. However, after seeing the entrants, Linda did not want her to compete and scratched her from the race. No race, no action, $2000 lighter!

So, I am here for two weeks with not one race (Arielle’s Song was entered but there were too many horses). That and the trifecta above cause much frustration. Then I thought I found races in which Linda should have entered Destiny. However, she showed me I was wrong about the conditions. I felt really foolish.

Then, we spoke about the other horses. Hear the Footsteps should race on August 7th. It’s Truly Ahvee, the two year old colt will point for a race August 14th and Destiny will either race at Monmouth on August 15th or at Saratoga on August 18th. Arielle’s Song will be entered as soon as the appropriate race is scheduled. Unless she does well, she is headed for a lesser racetrack and eventually out of inventory. Linda says the same will have to be the situation with Holy Blitzer, whose knee is deteriorating.

Of the two remaining Obviously New York Stable 2-yr olds, Millie Money will likely get to the races first, if she starts eating again and Obviously Tuesday should get to the races by the end of the Meet.

I’ve come to the realization that my expectations were not realistic. The past two years have seen us come to Saratoga one day and Ahvee’s Destiny would win a Stakes race the next day. The camaraderie we’d had with other owners is still there, just not as constant or as strong as it appeared to be. The trainer is a star, so I can’t expect her to be spending lots of time with us. So, we’ll have to settle for what we can get. C’est la vie.

As for the house, it (and even the pool) are in shape and ready for the guests about to arrive. I can see we’re likely to be going back and forth after the 15th. That is the reason we took the house for the whole season. Now, if we can just win some races…

Best,
A.
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