Chronicles of a New Stable Owner (Week 3238)
It was an up and down week for my stables this week, beginning with my first feelings of frustration early in the week. I was having no luck picking up anything in the auction – everything that I was initial bidder on would end up going for more cash than my three stables had combined. This, along with the fact that the runners I do have in the stable haven’t shown any ability to even earn a breeding point, was causing frustration to rear its ugly head.
I did end the week on a little better note due to two things: (1) I was able to win at auction FIONA THE SECOND. Some may remember that she was one of the original horses in my stable, but was claimed away from me first time out in a $5,000 maiden claimer where she ran poorly. She came back the next week and easily won a maiden special weight under new ownership, then immediately ended up in the auction. So I lost her for $5,000 and got her back for a $102 auction bid. The second positive event of the week was the performance of my only entry this week. Going off at 28/1 in a maiden claimer, LIGHTBOARD almost wired the field, fading at the end for a third place finish and earned 11 breeding points. My first on the board finish in 10 starts for this stable (and in 24 starts overall for my three stables) and earned $240! I know, not much, but it’s a start! Since he was the only runner this week, with the reacquisition of FIONA THE SECOND, my stable looks like this:
LIGHT BOARD (5 0-0-1 $240) finished 3rd in a $2,000 maiden claimer at 7 furlongs on a sloppy dirt track, nearly winning wire-to-wire. Will rest this week and look for a similar spot next time out.
JOURNALISM (23 1-1-4 $11,369) did not race this week. He is sharp this week so trying to get him entered in a small claiming race 8-8.5 furlongs on the dirt.
ROYAL ALPHABET (IRE) (37 3-2-4 $41,856) did not race this week. He is sharp so will look for get him in a small claimer switching to the turf following an 11th place ran last time out and hope for some improvement.
SUNDAY FREAK (15 2-2-3 $22,489) did not race this week. Still a little groggy from stupidly running in back to back weeks, so will rest again this week.
MALIBU VICE (29 1-4-3 $33,128) did not race this week. Will rest again this week as still recovering from back to back weekends of racing as well.
FIONA THE SECOND (15 1-1-5 $20,460) did not race this week and will rest again following breaking her maiden on May 26th. I will then look to find a NW2L race for her as soon as she turns up sharp again.
Overall results for the week were 1 0-0-1 with $240 in earnings and $102 spent at auction., but no travel costs or claims, and gained 11 breeding points.
Still studying the whole breeding issue and am anxious to get my first homebred in the stable and those credits in my account are eating a hole in my pocket! But I’ll probably wait another couple weeks before doing anything there as feel I need to get much more knowledge before breeding my first runner. Hopefully by this time next week I’ll be ready to throw out some breeding prospects for feedback from others. Thanks again to all those that have provided very helpful information regarding breeding through the forums.
Otherwise this week I will continue to browse the auctions looking for good buys. However, since I seem to be having some trouble getting my stables filled just through the auction, I will take a look at some of the cheaper claiming races as well, especially at a mile or more, to see if I can’t add a BP earner or two that way.
On to another week!