Francua Chornicles: The Barn has Gone Cold
This week had another shot at stakes company in which we came up short but encouraged. I’ll get the elusive stakes victory at some point even if it’s by accident! This week wasn’t as kind to me as last week. I did have some quality runners go but due to trainer experience I screwed the pooch on a few of these. Next week will be a much better week (I think); I have the likes of STRIKE PAY DIRT, ESPIRI, and NEW MEXICAN MORN coming back.
This week’s Record: 31-2-2-1
Last Weeks’ Watch List:
AMERICAN CHAOS (AMERICAN PHAROAH x WILD AGAIN x RAISE A NATIVE) – I think it’s safe to say he doesn’t want any part of the 7 furlong distance. He ran hard through the first two calls but couldn’t sustain the pace for the final 3 furlongs and finished 9th by 9 lengths. We will cut him back to 5 furlongs and hope for some improvement.
BECAUSE REASONS (SPEIGHTSTOWN x UNBRIDLED x GREEN DESERT) – He just keeps running into some buzz saws. First it was his stablemate STRIKE PAY DIRT in which he finished a good 2nd to and this week it was mellown’s BROKEN PRISON who beat him out in the stretch. Not sure if I should give him more distance or let him continue at the 6-7 furlong range.
TWO STONES SALOON (NYQUIST x TAPIT x HARLAN’S HOLIDAY) – Originally a 30K claimer who ran a decent 3rd with allowance NW2L’s in his first attempt. I brought her back to run against Allowance NW2x’s going 7 furlongs and she took out the other 4 horses with relative ease winning by about 2 lengths and posting up a 94 speed fig. We are going to see if we can keep building her confidence up and drop her into a Starter Allowance in her next.
NUMBER CRUNCH (ELUSIVE QUALITY x POLISH NUMBERS x EL PRADO) – Not much running done by this guy going 6 furlongs in the debut as he’d go on to finish 4th in a 5 horse field. There’s some turf in his pedigree so we will give that a go in his next.
WILD SAMURAI (WILDCAT RED x DEHERE x FIRST SAMURAI) – First crack against stakes company and the jump up in competition might have been a bit steep as she’d finish 7th by 4 lengths. Even with the 7th place finished I was encouraged by her performance as she managed to improve the speed fig to a 75.
WINTER DREAM (SIYOUNI (FR) x MEDAGLIA D’ORO x MALIBU MOON) – It was pretty clear the stretch out helped her in this one as she’d pass her tiring rivals for a 5th place finish going 8 furlongs on the turf. She does have a very heavy dirt influence from the back end of her pedigree so we will give her a shot there in her next.
SEGWAY (EXCEED AND EXCEL x MONTJEU x LEMON DROP KID) – Cut the distance a bit in hopes it would help him out. It didn’t, he’d do about as much in this one as he did in his first finishing 11th by 10 lengths and only managing a 58 speed fig. I’ll give dirt a shot in hopes that some of that LEMON DROP KID blood found its way into his veins.
IMPOSSIBLY DASHING (HONOR CODE x DANEHILL DANCER x DYNAFORMER) – Gave her a shot on turf in her first due to the heavy backend turf pedigree. She showed she didn’t really care for the turf running a 56 speed fig in an 11th place finish so she gets the switch to dirt going 6.5 furlongs. I learned a thing or two about her as she really enjoyed the dirt bumping up to 67 speed fig but pretty much walked after running 6 furlongs. Her next run will certainly be at the 6 furlong distance on dirt.
Studs:
GRAYCENTRATED (GRAYDAR x PULPIT x POINT GIVEN) – Claimed for 12.5K I thought I had something by stretching her out with allowance company in her first few tries. I was wrong and after 3 tries at 9 furlongs with different competition I decided to give an extra furlong with 17.5K claimers which worked. She’d go on to dominate that field and win by 5 lengths on an off surface which I know she’s not a fan of.
SUNDAY JAZZ (KING OF JAZZ (ARG) x ZENNO ROB ROY (JPN) x EASY GOER) – She’s not really a “looker” but she had a nice performance finishing 2nd going 5 furlongs against 10K 2-year old claimers.
Duds:
SHEER SPITE (SMARTY JONES x TALE OF THE CAT x LANGFUHR) – She runs just like her name suggests. In two starts this year she’s scored a 47 on the dirt and a 49 on the turf. Your guess is as good as mine as far as what to do with her. Maybe rest and bring back at 3 years old in hopes for improvement.
DUDE CAN RAKE (HARD SPUN x MR. GREELEY x LEAR FAN) – My bipolar relationship with HARD SPUN continues in the form of this colt. He’s a hit speed figs of 55 and 54 in two starts with the most recent leading to an 11th place 9 length loss. I’ll give him the old flip to turf to see if that helps out.
AWKS ON FIRE (PYRO x CALEB’S POSSE x HARD SPUN) – I think I swung a little too high for her in her first race with me and she’d go on to finish 6th by 9 lengths. On top of that she had been off for about 2 months and I ran her less than a week after I acquired her so I’m thinking she wasn’t as fit as the razor would indicate. She came from a good trainer so I’m sure she’s a quality horse, which means I’ll chalk this up to her new trainer being the dud.
PURPLER (MICROMANAGE x UNBRIDLED’S SONG x SEATTLE SLEW) – Another trainer dud on my part. I bought a race and forgot to flip it to local so she drew in a pretty decent crowd. She’d end up finishing 5th by 5 lengths which wasn’t all that bad. I won’t make that mistake again as he gets to run against local NW2x’s in his next.
WAKANDA SOHO (SEBRING x UNBRIDLED’S SONG x A.P. INDY) – I saw some good improvement out of her on the switch to dirt, but she still finished 6th place which is why she ends up in the duds section. I gained some good knowledge out of the most recent race and will give her an opportunity at routing in her next.
PERFECT PALACE (PALACE MALICE x GIANT’S CAUSEWAY x ELA-MANA-MOU) – Through 5 races he’s been extremely tough to crack. He put up what I believe to be his best performance this week a 4th place finish going 8 furlongs. But 4th place isn’t paying the bills so he’s a dud this week. I think he legit wants 9 or 10 furlongs so he’s probably going on the shelf until he can come back as a 3 year old.
FOR ALL KINGS (DANZA x VINDICATION x UNBRIDLED) – His most recent saw him finish 8th by 7 lengths going a mile. However, he reminds me of another horse in my barn THE MARVELOUS ONE who got better with more and more distance. I’m thinking I’m going to shut him down for the year and bring him back at 3 year’s old to run in some longer distanced races.
Next Week’s Watch List:
STRIKE PAY DIRT (BERNARDINI x SMART STRIKE x WILD AGAIN) – Broke the maiden going 6 furlongs at first asking scoring a 79 speed fig. He’ll get an opportunity to stretch his legs here going 7 furlongs against NW2L Allowance runners.
NEW MEXICAN MORN (SLEEPLESS MORN x ARCH x AWESOME AGAIN) – After claiming him for 3K he’s been a fun 4 year old to watch. He most recently won an 8 furlong NW5L against allowance 54K’s in which he posted a 101 speed fig. Giving this stakes placed Colt a shot at stakes company this week as he’ll run in the Tuff Enuff Stakes.
ESPIRI (IRONICUS x CHARM SPIRIT (IRE) x EXCELLENT ART) – He’s 2-2 in his career and after showing a nice closing kick is getting a stretch out to 7.5 furlongs in the Lirio Turf Juvenile.
PROTON POWER (MACLEAN’S MUSIC x TIZNOW x TAPIT) – She ran a good 2nd against winners in her last and gets the opportunity to stretch out to 7 furlongs at the same NW2L 48K’s.
DANCING KAT (KITTEN’S JOY x DANEHILL DANCER x MACHIAVELLIAN) – Broke the maiden at first asking going 7 furlongs on the turf and we are running her back at 8 on the turf to see if she enjoys the distance.