Oaks Post #3: Winning Season

3 – WINNING SEASON	ODDS	OWNER	WIN%	JOCKEY	WIN%	TOP SPEED	AVG SPEED	RANK
	22/1	CDragon	16.7%	F.Gossett	23%	94.5	88.7	8
	RACES	WINS	STAKES	WINS	SIRE	DS	DDS	EARNINGS
	11	4	10	3	Lemon Drop Kid	Private Account	The Minstrel	$494,330

I am never late. That is just a fact with me. If I’m ten minutes early I still feel late. All of that being said, it has been a crazy week. I started out the week in Arizona writing up a two year old GIII race for fillies. I hopped a plane to Kentucky where I found that my luggage was somewhere between the two places. Fortunately I have my trusty laptop as I am writing up horses in both the Derby and the Oaks along with the opening race on the Derby Day card, the Television Stakes for two year olds. All that being said, I showed up late for my interview at the stables with CDragon, the owner/trainer of Winning Season . Having never met the owner, I was certainly worried about the name CDragon and what I was in for by showing up late for an interview. Did I mention that I am NEVER late?

I received my first surprise when I met the owner and she was a lovely young lady with a ponytail of her own named Laura. She greeted me with a twinkling smile and never mentioned the fact that I was more than an hour behind schedule. After all, what does she have to do, it is only Derby Week?!?

We walked over to Winning Season’s spacious stall and I received my second surprise. I had only seen tapes of the big brown filly’s races and in person she is just gorgeous. The late afternoon sun was filtering through the stall door and flashing on her chocolate flanks making it appear that she was brushed with gold. It didn’t take long to see how attached these two were to each other as the big filly moved over and nuzzled Laura right away upon our arrival.

”She’s a big softy off the track”, commented Laura, “but when she puts her game face on for race day…look out.”

I asked her about the breeding and name of the horse and she once again flashed me that great smile. “It’s funny,” she said, “I usually avoid cloning real-life horses in the SIM like the plague. However, Topicount, who was a GII winner, GI placed mare by Private Account out of a The Minstrel mare, who was one of my favorite racemares of all time when I was little, had a stakes winning daughter of Lemon Drop Kid named Winning Season. I also fell in love with Winning Season. So, I decided, on impulse, to breed a Winning Season clone. If this is the result, I should try it more often.”

We moved away from the stall as the frenzied movement around the barn with a myriad of workers moving to and fro looking like an ant colony getting ready for winter. Both Laura and her prized filly just seemed to calmly take it all in. Of course this is not the first time around for this owner so she has a pretty good idea what to expect.

Without hesitating, she quickly recalled, “Winning Season is my fourth Oaks starter – Galloping Ghost was third three years ago, and Surf N Sand and Cair Paravel both finished off the board last year. It doesn’t get any easier but I wouldn’t miss it for the world. There is absolutely nothing like Derby Week”

I asked her about her filly’s career and her recent struggles in her past two races. Once again that smile and she told me, “I was pleasantly surprised when she won her debut, and she continued to provide thrills throughout her juvenile year. I remember agonizing over whether to enter her in a 20 horse field last year – I decided to leave her in the race, and was delighted when she won, becoming a G1 winner. She ended up fifth in the big dance (Breeders Bowl), then won another graded stakes this year. I’ll be blunt – I messed up her training in the Fantasia, so I take full responsibility for that poor effort. Not sure whether her last race is a sign of her going off form, or just a much-needed race to get back on track after the Fantasia debacle. If it’s the latter, I think she’s got a shot. But, win, lose or draw, she’s accomplished so much more than I realistically hoped for.”

I mentioned about the year that her jockey Gossett is having, his best in nine years of racing. “I’m very happy to have Gossett on board, as he rode Fly for Buda to victory in the Middle Jewel Stakes last year. I’m hoping that’s a good sign.”

Laura and Winning Season still had plenty planned for the day. I didn’t want to hold her up any longer as I knew that she had been waiting over an hour for me so we parted ways with a promise of getting together again down the road…perhaps at a couple more triple crown races later this year. Besides I had to find either my luggage or a clothing store so that I wouldn’t be stuck in the same clothes for the rest of the week!

See you at the Derby!

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PazJazz