Small Town Filly Trying To Make It In The Big Time

A HORSE RUNS WITH HIS LEGS, COMPETES WITH HIS HEART, & PERFORMS WITH HIS SOUL

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RE: Folk Tales(jpn), dark bay filly, born: 2005, by: Sunday Break(jpn), out of: True Heat (by Dixieland Heat X Is It True), #107606

Who am I?  My name is Keely.  Many of you (mostly GSR members) know me.  Some of you know me as Kbsweet.  I have been playing this amazing game since March of 2001, when I opened my first stable (kbsweet).  I was in the spring quarter of my freshman year in college back home in Washington (state, not D.C.).  Since then I have opened an additional 12 stables… that’s my cutoff! J  You’ve most likely seen my ponies run under the stable names: hillylua, trauma92, lrh, troy5, wishing, moonkissed, tigerstar, kbwish, kbsbargain, sasscass, spewu, & iluvced.  I don’t get many chances to grace the top stakes with my presence very frequently, but I have numerous classy allowance horses.

I consider myself a small operation; I love the breeding aspect of this game.  A lot of research is put into each of those horses, and I’ve yet to get my Bluegrass Derby horse or my Breeder’s Bowl horse as most everything useful I bred turns out to be a dirt sprinter that can barely win low-level stakes races!  J  Regardless, I have had my small share of the limelight; my first ‘big’ horse was Crafty Assault out of the ‘bastard’ crop of Came Home (when he snuck into the Sim stables and covered mares the year he was still racing… that crop was a mere 17 horses large and I proudly bred Crafty one of Came Home’s best sim horses to date).  He came out running.  The GSR will always fondly remember the colt for two things: (1) being the darling of the Cream of the Crop mini-series that I annually sponsor, and (2) his demonic speed (he was first out of the gate in each of his first 14 starts).  Crafty was welcomed into his 3yo season as a top Bluegrass Derby prospect after his 2^nd place finish in the G3 Giant Slayer followed up 2 weeks later with his G2 smash in the Golden Gopher Derby.  That, Folks, was my first graded victory!  Anyway, this isn’t a story about Crafty; I’ll do that another day.

My 2^nd ‘biggie’ was Our Invader, another GSR darling.  He captivated the GSR crowd with the help of my big-talking mouth and his continual rivalry with Opcon’s talented Sir Joker.  That rivalry welcomed the beginnings of the ‘Pink Thong Match Race’ (the Invader won) that has since been run a couple more times whenever there’s a big-talking trainer in town that has something to prove. J

Two more horses to mention… First is the 2yo starlit, Hollywood Catfight, by Forest Wildcat.  She won 4 of her 5 starts as a 2yo—she swiftly worked her way through her conditions, winning her maiden at first asking, followed by easy wins in an allowance, stakes, and then the G1 Run Run Run Less Than One event… making her undefeated in 4 starts, my first G1 winner (and only 2^nd graded win); Catfight’s season earned herself a spot on the Sim’s 2yo dirt Filly Eclipse ballot.

Lastly, is Night’s Desire, my current ‘big horse.’  You all may have noticed him recently.  I bred him 2 years ago for Barndog’s GSR feature: the 4yos Need Love Too contest.  He debuted with a win as a 4yo, but was mediocre the rest of the year, showing me glimpses of some nice potential.  The GSR declined Night’s Desire an entry into this year’s Equinics which I suspect hurt his ego, because when he later made his 5yo debut he lit up the board like it was going out of style!  He went on to make his 5yo career 4 for 4, earning me my 3^rd graded win: a G3 to complete the package.  Now I just needed a duel-grade winner.  He made his shot at that.  In his most current start, 5^th race of the year, he ran against some top colts in another G3.  He finished up 2^nd beaten by a length.  Not too shabby.

So that’s me.  Now, for the reason I even started writing this little ditty, my new little starlit: Folk Tales(jpn).

Folk Tales is surprising me more and more each time I send her out.  Last year I bred her dam, True Heat, to Sunday Break(jpn), because the mare was ‘cheaply’ bred and Sunday Break was nicely bred himself, yet “cheap.”  I thought it would be fun to see what this little mare of mine had to offer for a “bargain-bred” price.  As you can see I didn’t think too much of the new filly (the mare’s first foal) other than “this may be a really nice breeding point claimer for me.”  Thus she debuted in a maiden claiming race for a tag of merely $15K.  This little girl proved me wrong and turned out to be one of my faster 2yos of the year, jumping the gate and wiring the field, pulling away from them with each stride, earning a respectable 74sp over 5.5F dirt in the process.

I was so impressed with the ease that she appeared to do that with that she jumped straight (and prematurely) into stakes competition next.  Again, Folk Tales jumped the gate first, but by the time they rounded the turn for home the closers begin to put her away and she managed a humbling 7^th. 

Her final start of the year was back in her appropriate allowance level (2L) going the furthest bit of ground yet (7F), again on dirt.  As predicted, she took the lead from the gate and by the first call had already opened up a 3L lead on the field (her largest to date).  By the 2^nd call she was 4 in front.  She finished 3^rd w/a 77sp, not quite able to hold off the closers. 

Folk Tales was given a 6 week rest before I unveiled her as a fresh 3yo.  I popped her into her first 2-turn start, 8F around the main track.  Going to the post with 6-1 odds, Folk Tales gave the bettors a show by going head to head with another filly the entire length of the race.  My little claimer had her nose in front at each call, winning by less than 1 length and posting career best sp # of 90.  At this point I knew a few things: (1) the filly could get 5.5F to 8F, (2) she had an affinity for the main course, (3) she loved the lead and had that amazing jump from the starter’s gate, and (4) she had a ton of heart and class to be challenged in 3 of her 4 lifetime starts thru the entire race only to lose to closers that relished the speed-duel.

Once more, my foolishness got in the way and I anxiously dropped the filly into the G2 Davola Dane South.  Little did I know that her prior big run had taken more out of her than I had factored.  Naturally, Folk Tales broke first.  Other speed horses threw challenges at her whom, that day, proved too much for Folk Tales who finished up the track a well beaten 7^th that was accompanied by a poor 78sp.  After that escapade I decided to drop her back in distance; her next start was around 7F.  For once in her career Folk Tales didn’t break on top – she was 2^nd, behind by a head, at the first call.  But all seemed okay, she didn’t throw in the towel like a lot of my other frontrunners do when they don’t get the lead they want.  Instead she challenged the leader the entire way.  The fight was tough and Folk Tales’ legs tired, bringing her home 5^th, and losing by 3L with an improved 84sp.  Maybe, just maybe, that 90 she posted 2 back wasn’t a fluke after all.  This race was a good learning tool for Folk Tales and for me.  By now I was thinking that I probably did have a talented filly, but still had only chalked her up to be a nice allowance mare.  At this point she had won 2 of her 6 lifetime starts, faltering in her 2 stakes tries.  Perhaps a turf switch would benefit her.

I’m not sure why, but I decided to give 8F’s another go around, except this time it would be on the green.  I found a nice 2x allowance 2 weeks later and entered her.  Folk Tales eagerly broke first and pulled away down the lane.  Only one horse proved to be a match for her thrilling speed.  She fought gamely, but finished 2^nd with an 84sp.  I’m not too studied up on turf runners as most of my trainees are dirt lovers… but I do know that turf races tend to run slower than their dirt counterparts… so I was pretty happy with this race which was run a tenth of a 2^nd slower than the 8F dirt race Folk Tales had won 3 back.  Nice.  A longer rest was well due.

Four weeks went by, and Folk Tales was once more thriving in her morning work outs.  I thought about it carefully and decided to give her one last chance in stakes competition.  In my searches, I found what appeared to be a fairly softer field for her turf feet wet in; it was the 8F Granny Final Handicap covering 8F of ground.  Wednesday evening I checked the race card, and, to my surprise, I saw that the top 3yo turf sprinting filly/millionaire, Super Gold, was also entered.  Lovely, this is going to be interesting, I thought to myself.  Super Gold appeared to be another that enjoyed taking the lead or, in her versatile style, could lay back and just breathe down the frontrunners’ neck.  Just what little Folk Tales needed. (hint of sarcasm) 

When the gates opened and the dust cleared, Folk Tales was in front with Niimimaa on her tail.  Super Gold relaxed into her stride a few lengths back in 3^rd, but Niimimaa kept the pressure on Folk Tales, who by the 3^rd call, had established a mere ½ length lead.  As the field swept past the 5F pole, Niimimaa made her attack on Folk Tales, taking over on the front end and started pulling away.  I figured Folk Tales would pack it up, but I was wrong.  My filly dug down deep, switched leads, and surged past the other filly, once more regaining the lead, and then began the task of opening up daylight as they rounded into the home stretch.  Super Gold came at the two of them, making her bid at the lead.  Storm Hunter followed suite.  With 20 yards to go, Folk Tales still had the lead… 10 yards… 5 yards… Super Gold and Storm Hunter were fighting, breathing down Folk Tales’ neck.  One yard to the wire… GO!  Hold on! Keep fighting!  Just a little bit further… (Yes, I was yelling at the computer… who wouldn’t when long shot David is taking on Goliath?)  The wire flew past overhead of a 3-horse blanket.  Wow!  What an impressive run by the former claimer that had been making a living off of small-moneyed purses.  The stewards looked the photo over for a good 10 minutes before declaring Super Gold as the winner by half a nose, Storm Hunter 2^nd, and then Folk Tales. 

Folk Tales had done me proud, taking on the top sprinter, fighting her heart out, only to lose by the slightest of noses.  After Niimimaa (a ½ L behind Super Gold), the fillies had put a 3-1/2 L distance between them and the rest of the field.  That was impressive in my book.

I tried to get Folk Tales to settle down and take a nice 5 week breather, but she wanted none of it and continued in her stubborn way to train better and better each morning.  By week 2 she was tearing down the stall walls.  What did I have to lose?  I entered her in the G3 Nell Gwyn Stakes, again over 8F turf.  This was the first time the filly was to be shipped out of the US.  And, me being the silly American I am, who doesn’t really know European racing, I hadn’t realized that this was a top prep race for the 1000 Guineas.  Oh, bother, more top running turf fillies…  This was a big deal.  If she did well here, then who knows what was next!?  I am not one to pick jockeys normally because I say “if a horse is going to win, it’s going to win”, but in this situation, it was a must.  J  When the race was carded I found I had gotten a really decent jock to ride my filly (he must see her talent, too).  The reporter doing the write-up in the BTB also alluded to some potential in Folk Tales.  Morning line odds stacked her up as 10-1.

Surprisingly, I wasn’t too nervous come Saturday morning as I patrolled my stables checking on each of my starters.  Folk Tales was happily snoozing in the back of her stall after finishing her light breakfast.  Her dark bay, nearly black coat looked glossier than ever.  This was a happy and healthy horse.  Her workouts had been perfect leading up to today.  The trip over the Atlantic hadn’t appeared to affect her in the least.

The handicappers were having a very difficult time picking the winners here.  The favorite was a warm 4-1 and the 2 long shots were 23-1 & 26-1.  The rest of the 13 horse field landed between 7-1 & 13-1.  This was going to be a tough one.  Folk Tales had drawn an inside post.

To no one’s surprise, when the gates opened, Folk Tales was on top of the dog pile.  Long shot Jump My Guest tried to match strides with her, but that was pure crazy talk; Folk Tales would have none of it, there would be no challengers for the lead today, she decided, and quickly stormed away to an ever increasing lead with each stride.  There was no turning back for this little lady; she was a maniac on the lead.  As they all rounded the turn for home, Folk Tales had opened up a 4L lead on the pack.  But, as bettors suspected, Black Pearls, Blackpool Lights, and Street Away were gathering themselves to make a run at the pacesetter.  They ate away her lead in a matter of yards, Folk Tales was spent. 

Black Pearls won by 2, leaving the other 3 fillies in a fight for 2^nd… another photo to decipher Folk Tales fate.  In the end, my girl had landed 3^rd—she had held off the Blackpool Lights!  Amazing!  I was more than happy to accept a 3^rd place finish in a G3.  And to my delight, Folk Tales had posted a lifetime best of 94sp.  Very nice, indeed, I thought.

So now what?  I’m not really sure.  My filly hasn’t even broken the $40K mark in earnings, but she has run like a million-dollar winner in my opinion.  I think that she’s earned a spot with these top fillies.  Lord knows she has the guts, heart, and class to match strides with them.  I would like to give her a 4 to 5 week break, but that of course is up to her.  If I do give her that long of break, she will be passing up the 1000 Guineas, but then again, that race was never thought to be in her future (which is looking brighter for her each race).

Potential races in the next 5 weeks are:

G1 1000 Guineas over 8F turf (2 weeks rest)

G3 Woodpecker’s Edge over 8F turf back in the US (3 weeks rest)

G3 Filly Turf Bonanza over 8F turf (4 weeks rest)

G2 Celine Stk over 8.5F turf (5 weeks rest)

Or drop her into stakes or allowance level rather than another graded race.

What do you think?  This small town filly is ready to make her statement in the big time. J