Undefeated Horse…Record Now At 16 wins

A few months ago at the end of 2015, I had the fortune…..make that misfortune of having one of my horses race and lose to a horse that had just won it’s 14th win.  After checking the results and looking at the winner, I was surprised and yet impressed by the record of the horse.  As a BTB writer, I could smell an article here.    So I contacted the owner of the horse and at first they were not interested and politely asked me not to write the article.  But us news writers are ruthless and persistent.  So I made some commitments and after a little back-and-forth we came to an arrangement.  The agreement was that I would not include the owner’s name nor the horses name.   The owner desires to keep both them self and horse private.

The reason for privacy is pretty straight forward.  The owner, who I will now name generically as “Pat”, which is a uni-sex name and can be either Patrick or Patricia, thus the owner’s sex is a mute point.  The owner does not want their horse targeted by other players.  With this long win streak the publicity will put a target on the back of the horse as players will try to be “the one” that ends the win streak.   To keep the anonymity of the horse, I will refer to it as “Amazing XYZ”.   Details to the races as to specific dates and locations are also altered although the description of the race performance and outcome are accurate.

One last agreement with Pat was that they had the right to approve the article before publication.  You are  now seeing the final approved article as approved by Pat which includes some exerts from emails between us.   Since being personally defeated by Amazing XYZ, the horse has moved on to earn a few more wins and now has 16 straight victories.  And these are not Hot Race, four horse fields either!

 

To start things off, I got some background information on Pat as to his experience with the game.  “I started maybe five years ago.  I was frustrated in the beginning, racing horses every week but got some advice through the chat room on how to play the game.  It’s a game of patience and development.   I haven’t been back to the chat room in some time, but do appreciate all the insight that was shared.”

Pat owns 12 stables and has nearly 100 horses.  I asked Pat about his progress and development of his stables.  “I started with one stable but quickly opened three more.  After my early failures and consultations with other players, I slowed things down.  I have a dozen now but I’m taking my time in growing them.  Kinda like learning from my mistakes.  I may open one, maybe two during this year.  We’ll see how things play out”.

 

So conversation moved on to Amazing XYZ.  “Can you tell me your thought process behind the breeding of this superstar” I asked Pat.  “The horse is a scratch bred and is my most successful one by far.   I got lucky in winning the auction and got a top named sire for 1,000 credits, I’m not sharing the name of the sire of course.  I wanted to hook the sire up with a D.S. that had a little A.P. Indy in the bloodline which I acquired and it turned out to be a very wise decision.  The D.S.S. was a share I had already owned that had connections to Forty Niner and that is all I am comfortable in sharing.”

 

Amazing XYZ is now four years old and one in his (yes, it is a male) first race.  The race was in early-2014 in a field of 12 where he ran 5f (all races so far have been on the dirt).  He positioned himself in the third spot and rallied to win by a stride and a half and score a 62 speed.  Pat commented on the debut “He put in a great run and I like how he pulled away from the field after taking the lead.”

A pair of months later, Amazing XYZ took on a full field of 14 and bumped the distance up to 5.5f.  This was an allowance race for NW2L.  The effort was quite similar, taking the fourth position early on and came rocking home to win by a half stride this time and a 65 speed.  “He had a little more competition this time facing a better field.  He was the third choice in odds so I didn’t get my hopes too high.  It was a nice win.” Pat stated reflecting back on the race.

By mid-2014, Amazing XYZ was prepared for his third start.  This was an open allowance race and the distance was a longer 6.5f.  “The longer distance concerned me a bit.  I wasn’t sure if I was pushing it, but the horse had no problem” observed Pat.  Indeed, this would become win number 3 for the runner and speed now hit the 71 mark defeating ten challengers and winning by just over one length.

Seasons changed and Amazing XYZ was now running 7 furlongs in the fall of 2014.   Staying in the allowance level, he squared off in field of 14 and took up his usual position, running fourth.  This was a tough race for him as he was still three strides off the lead as the field hit the stretch.  Amazing XYZ reached deep within himself and found a fire that scorched him to get the wire to win by a mere 1/4-stride.  “That was a close one” commented Pat “I did not think he would win that race.”  The speed numbers also fired up, notching an 82 this time.

 

2014 concluded with four wins and January rolled in with a run at 6.5 furlongs.  I asked Pat about trying a mile and he stated “This game is about discipline.  The horse has done terrific in sprints and I committed myself to keep him at this distance range.  He’s been successful with the distances, so testing longer routes was not in my game plan”.   Marked as the favorite in the field of nine, the jockey took the horse straight to the lead.  The decision worked as Amzaing XYZ won by two strides and an 89 speed.  “I was stunned to see him leading and knew it was a bad choice.  But afterward, I looked at the other entrants and there was no front speed.  I guess sometimes the jockeys do know something” Pat stated.

Early March came in and another allowance race was slotted with a distance of 7.5 furlongs, the longest distance thus far.  A field of eight was rather competitive and Amazing XYZ was the second selection.  He ran another patented race with a position of third early on and then tearing up the track to stroll off to a 2-1/2 length win with an improving 94 speed.

Lucky win #7 came in late April dropping back to 6 furlongs in a six horse field.  This would turn out to be the smallest field that Amazing XYZ has entered into.  This three year old hooked up into a speed battle early on but put away the foe by the half and took a win by 1-3/4 strides.  A bit slower speed at 92 was charted, but with the easy win, it did not need be any faster.

Race 8 followed in late May and Amazing XYZ took on nine challengers.  The distance was 6.5 furlongs and the track conditions came up sloppy.  “I’ve tried to avoid off-track races with my horse.  It’s been strong on the fast tracks.   I haven’t entered him into any race that had more than 15% chance of rain.  Turned out the chances went against me in this race”.  Running fifth in the early stages seem to indicate a dislike for the sloppy conditions that evolved at post time.  But in the stretch, he became determined and passed everyone ahead of him to win by a nice stride with a 94 speed.

 

A brief break and a nice summery fast track were ideal to extend the win streak to nine consecutive.  A moderate 6 furlongs and a total of ten runners populated the starting gate only to see Amazing XYZ drop into the third spot and bully his way to the lead going around the turn this time.   The heavy favorite won by three strides and clipped a 100 speed.  “I knew he would hit that 100 mark sooner or latter.  The breeding really supports the ability.  I was so glad when he did that!” Pat responded enthusiastically.

“I gambled a bit and entered him with only 3-weeks rest.  I was sure I would be kicking myself for that.  I don’t like racing horses with less than four weeks rest buy he just came up sharp so I made the entry.” Pat told me about the horses 10th start.  The early August race turned out to be a charm and mirrored almost every start he had already made, earning his tenth win with a 101 speed.

September would roll in and win number 11 would be pocketed with ease as the second betting choice would win with a 104 speed at 6.5 furlongs.   October would mark a dozen wins with a very impressive allowance win with a 109 speed going 7 furlongs and knocking out an unlucky field of 13.   The month of November bagged yet another win, making it 13 in a row at the same 7 furlong  distance with a 2 length win and 106 speed.

 

Now we are up to December where I first came across this runner.  A full field of 14 horses went to post.  I had my hopes up as my horse was third choice at 5/1.  Amazing XYZ got away fourth in the field with mine being one of the trailers.  I wasn’t worried as my horse was a notable late runner.  Going into the final turn, Amazing XYZ was advancing on the leader, but so was my horse (ok, I’ve left my horse name out intentionally from the article to protect the true identity of Amazing XYZ).  Going through the stretch, my horse had gained into fifth but was still three off of the leader with Amazing XYZ in a close second.  At the  wire, Amazing would have the upper hand and win by  1-3/4 lengths.  My horse would finish third, missing the second spot by a head.  A 107 speed would go to the winner.  “I’m sorry you lost, but not overly sorry” Pat would email me back when I asked how he felt about beating me.  Continuing he said “You have a nice horse and I would be ok if you beat me.  It’s all part of the game”.

 

Taking a month off, Amazing kicked off his four-year old campaign this past February with a winning effort at 6.5 furlongs and yet another allowance event.  A 2 length win and speed of 104 showed that he was more than ready for the new racing season.

Entering a ten horse field at the beginning of this month brought a little ‘March Madness’ to the game.  At 5/2 in a decent 12-horse field, Amazing XYZ ran third in the early going, and you guessed it…rallied in the stretch to win with a 108 speed.  This brings the unstoppable horse to an incredible 16 race win streak.

 

With all these wins and triple digit speeds, I just had to ask Pat why he has not ventured into the stake level of racing.  “Like I said a few days ago (edit note: referring to a previous email) the game is about discipline and development.  I’ve stuck with sprints because it works and there is no reason to explore any further.  I’ve stuck with the dirt for the same reason.   I’ve stuck with the allowance grouping for the same reason”.

“Don’t you want to see if he has it in him to compete with the big boys?”  I would write back.  “Yes, I actually do.  And I’m keeping with my discipline and development strategy.  He will have two more races at allowance and then do that listed stake race.  From there, I will take him to the graded level.  Wish me luck.”

 

I was pleased to hear that Pat will actually take a shot at the gold….that being the grade level racing.  I can’t help to think that an opportunity may have already slipped through his hands.  I wonder how many high level stake wins that Amazing XYZ could have tallied already.   I wish Pat the best for a horse who has truly been amazing.  (although ‘amazing’ is not it’s real name).