Chronicles of a New Stable Owner (Week 3224)
Last week my plan was to get all 5 horses entered to start working towards completion of the 20 races required before being able to dump the poor performers in the auction. I did manage to get all five horses entered this week and ended up with two of them getting claimed. FIONA THE SECOND was claimed after running 14th in a $5,000 maiden claimer and RATE CROWN was claimed after running 14th in a $2,000 claimer. Goodbye and good riddance! For the remaining three the results were about as bad as I expected:
LIGHT BOARD (4 0-0-0 $0) was never a factor and finished 14th with a 30 SP in a $2,000 maiden claimer at 9.5 furlongs on the dirt. I will try to enter him next time at a mile on dirt as those are the conditions where he earned his lifetime best SP of 61. This appears to be one that I need to dump into the auction as soon as my 20 races are completed.
JOURNALISM (22 1-1-4 $11,369) finished 14th as well in a $5,000 claimer over 9.5 furlongs with a blistering 56 SP. I need to drop him down to the $2,000 claimer level and look for a NW2L. Another one probably destined for the auction.
ROYAL ALPHABET (IRE) (36 3-2-4 $41,856) Ran fifth in a $3,500 claimer, which doesn’t sound too bad, except there were only five horses entered! But still managed to earn 5 breeding points and $54 – my first purse winnings! Speed rating was a not too impressive 63. He was mid pack much of race, then absolutely died in the final corner, which shouldn’t be surprising from a horse that hasn’t run in almost two years. Recently, his best speed figures have been on the dirt, so will try him on the dirt and hope for some improvement after his first race back after a long layoff. I’m not anticipating much….
I also planned on trying to grab some cheap claimers who could hopefully run regularly and consistently earn some additional BP’s. I did submit five claims this week, but was only successful in acquiring two additional runners, essentially replacing the two I lost. The two new additions:
SUNDAY FREAK is a 4-year-old mare (TIGER RIDGE X POLISH PRECEDENT X BOLDNESIAN) (14 2-2-3 $22,489) dirt sprinter who had run 85 or higher SP’s in her last four outings in allowance company. She dropped down in class and I was able to claim her for $2,000 in a race where she ran third with a 90 SP. I look to bring her right back in another dirt sprint, just not sure at what level to enter her – will probably try a smaller allowance race first to see how she does as right now she appears to be the best horse in the barn.
MALIBU VICE (28 1-4-3 $33,128) is a 5-year-old mare that I claimed for $5,000. She’s another dirt sprinter who bounces back and forth between claimers and allowance. I look to bring her back again in a NW2L claimer. In looking back, I don’t recall for sure what it was that I liked about her that prompted the claim – must have been her breeding and possible future broodmare use? (MALIBU MOON X MARQUETRY X VICE REGENT)
Since all are listed as ready to go, I will look to try to get them entered back this week again. Overall results for the week were a loss of $326, but more importantly a dismal loss of 9 BP down to 41. I need to be more diligent about not spending BP on travel costs.
I received some good suggestions on the forums in response to my initial article that I’ve begun to implement. For one, I’ve already added two additional stables (yeah, I know – I’m hooked!). But I will continue to only write about the bergd stable for purposes of this column. Another suggestion was that rather than trying to find claimers to fill the barn, some cheap purchases can be made through the auction that will accomplish the same thing. So I did spend some time searching through those this week and managed to pick up one auction purchase for one of my other stables. If nothing else, searching through the claimers and auction horses provides a good opportunity to research and learn about the sires in the game.
I am very anxious to begin breeding, but need to wait until I’ve built up more BP and/or credits. My biggest interest lies in breeding, training and following the 2-year-olds I’ve bred throughout their career. In looking for claimers or auction purchases, I tend towards females with decent breeding with an eye towards future broodmares as my understanding is once I have them in my barn, even if I lose them at some point I still have the possibility of using them for broodmares once they retire. But I’ve got a lot of reading and research to do before I’m ready to even think about breeding and will be looking for help and advice in that area! Not even clear at this point on the pros and cons of breeding from scratch versus from a broodmare.
That’s all for this week. Hopefully better results ahead!