Bad Beats

A "Bad Beat" can be anything from being impeded by another horse just when it looks like you're going to win, to stumbling, to the jockey thinking the race is over too soon and letting up to host of other circumstances that make you feel you should have won but for (fill-in the reason for the bad beat).

Now, imagine if you will owning a horse for almost three years, during which time the horse wins only once, then having that horse claimed away from you and then a month later having another one of you chargers face that very same horse in a race at Saratoga.

This very circumstance happened yesterday when Awakino Cat, who was claimed from us little more than a month ago, faced Jesse Not Jesse (last year's two-time winner at Saratoga) at 51/2 furlongs on very wet grass.

The race set up in Awakino's favor, since the pace was very fast early. This type of pace makes it easier for a "closer" like Awakino to overtake tiring front-runners late in the race.

Jess settled into 2nd place behind this torrid early pace. Then, early in the stretch, he put away the leader to take what appeared to be a commanding lead. We were very happy for a moment or two... when the unthinkable happened... there was Awakino coming fast on his flank. Where's the finish line? Where is the wire? It should be over by now! But it wasn't.

Awakino was flying on the outside. As they approached the wire, it seemed like Awakino inched in front of Jess... or did he? It was a photo-finish!

The first few replays seemed to confirm our worst fears. We had been nipped at the wire by our former steed. Then another replay was shown and Rhoda screamed out, "we got him!" And, indeed Jess got the head bob and we (and Linda) got our first victory at Saratoga in 2013. Turned into a "bad beat" for the new Awakino team, lucky for us.

A few words about Jess Not Jesse. He was bred by Rob Koones (named for his son and brought up and raced by Rob until he needed to get out of the horse business). Jess has the heart of a lion (or whatever animal you think is fearless and resolute). He may be a terror in the barn but he's also a terror on the racetrack. HE DOES NOT LIKE TO LOSE. What a horse! Congrats, to all of us but especially to Jess Not Jesse, our very special warrior.

From the sublime to the ridiculous, Cameron Lucky ran in a lesser race last night at Saratoga Harness but you couldn't tell from the times. She was never competitive.

We've been very lucky. We've come up to Saratoga for 7 years and won at least one race in each year. That's a very heady record worth boasting about.

Let's hope our warrior comes out of this race well and can be ready to race again. Cornelio says he needed this race after his long layoff and he'll be much better next time. Wouldn't that be nice?

And now, to go to sleep and dream of taking more photos with winning horses...

Have a lovely weekend!

 

Best,

  

A.