The Agony and the Ecstasy

Greetings!

Friday afternoon and evening showed both sides of horse racing, or as ABC used to say the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat!

 

Hidden Music, our expensive claim of a few months ago, took off from the start went as fast as she could, fighting Jose Ortiz all the while. She kept trying to "get out." This is just as it sounds, she wanted to go to the outside, rather than run in a straight line.

 

Jose could not control her speed. At one point she was in front by 7 lengths. Of course, to the viewer, it looked like she might runaway with the race... that certainly would have been ecstasy for us! Too bad, we thought, that we weren't at Belmont for this breakthrough performance.

 

The only thing that broke through was her stamina. By the time she came around the stretch turn, she was finished. I think she may be still running! She would barely have been first in the next race. That's agony.

 

In the 8th race, Hear the Footsteps was going against a tougher crowd than his last race... at least on paper. I had to get to synagogue and dinner in Scarsdale, so we couldn't be at Belmont for his race. We had to watch it on the computer.

 

Jose took him out near the lead and then settled back into 4th, except this time he was further back than in his last two races. I got worried by how far back he was running. Then Tom Durkin, who calls the races, said, "Hear the Footsteps is uncoiling that stride of his" and I knew were coming on.

  

Jose took him wide around the stretch turn. Was it too wide? He was still in 4th place and now they were running out of stretch, but he kept coming on. By the 1/16th pole, he was in front by a long nose and kept the 2nd place finisher at bay, expanding his lead to win by 1/2 length. Yay Footsie, three in a row! Not even the Queen (Ahvee's Destiny) managed to do that.

  

Yup, that was the ecstasy... three wins in ten weeks, after 2 1/2 years without a single victory. Linda found spots where he could shine in 6 and 7 furlong sprints. He certainly rose to the occasion. twenty-one starts, five wins, three seconds and nine thirds. Quite impressive, Footsie. Good boy! 

  

Best,

  

A.

  

Sincerely,

Avram Freedberg

Everything's Cricket Racing