The Challenge- Week 4
This week three horses went to the post and when racing was complete, one will no longer be with the stable. Additionally, the sire share that was acquired at the end of 2018 has been used, and a slight error on my part in the process.
Starting the week off was DUNCAN BIRD. She’s a filly who was bred by exchanging sire cards for a random sire share and bred to a retired mare. After fading back on the dirt in her last start, she returned to the turf and squared off in a tiny four horse field and was the even money favorite in a tiny 4.5 furlong race, moving up in claiming to a tag price of $17,500. She left the gate in the second spot, very close to the leader and it took little effort for her to move up and make herself the leader in the latter part of the race, winning by a full stride. The win brought home 37 BP’s and two sire cards which disclosed an E-card along with a G, very nice to see that E!
HOPES FOR THE BEST is a filly that was bred last year using entirely G-cards with hopes of a quick score in BP’s in his first start. Well, that dream did not transpire and this week she made her fourth start in a $10,000 claiming on the turf and added distance to 7.5f. She finished last in the 5 horse field, nearly 20 lengths behind. 2 BP’s and a G-card were the rewards from this very poor race. She’s been handed off to the auctioneer and I doubt we’ll see any buyers. Hopes for the Best did score a maiden win in her second start on the turf, one of the reasons I put her back to the turf but with a 49speed this week, hopes for improvement have vanished. 39 BP’s in total came while she was at the stable.
The Challenge Two is a colt that was bred last year by utilizing a sire share that was obtained with sire cards and breeding to a retired mare. The colt was asked to go 8.5 furlongs, a route distance for the first time. I wanted to see how he handled a longer distance as he’s had some lukewarm efforts of making up a tad of ground late. He kept within a stride or two of the leaders throughout much of the race and actually gained the lead in the stretch before being overtaken shortly after inheriting the lead. He finished second with an 82 speed. The speed numbers have improved and a gradual rate over the last two starts and this was in a MSW, a big step up from the $2,000 claimer he ran last time out. 27 BP’s came with the second and the 8-horse field granted us 2 sire cards which flipped to a G and an F.
Looks like 66 BP’s for the week with sire cards of 3-G, 1-F and 1-E. This brings the totals to: 1-E, 4-F and 4-G. A decent start for the year as the goal is to accumulate the cards upward to see how high we can get them in order to exchange for a nice sire share. The stable also has 338 BP’s to play around with.
At the end of 2018, I exchanged over 300 BP’s and walked off with a share in Lope De Vega. My plan has been to find a decent mare to breed with by claiming using BP’s or via the auction route. The Thechallenge2 stable has a handful of retired mares but none with the higher end quality I was looking for. So I said to myself, “what the hell, why not use one of the mares that is owned in one of your other stables.” My original goal was to stay within the boundries of Thechallenge2 possessions, but in the game itself, you can use any mare any of your stables retires. So I did.
The Lope De Vega share was bred to retired mare Miss Albany, who was a grass runner and 10-time winner in her 32 career starts with over $400k in earnings. The bloodline that was created includes Lope De Vega x Galileo x Kris S. A two-year old colt was bred and has been named BRED TO CHALLENGE. He has been placed in the stable and I’m hoping to race him this week on the turf. He’ll fill the vacancy left by Hopes for the Best who is being auctioned. The error I made was that I intended to use the BP’s on hand to fund the breeding but pushed the wrong button and my credits were utilized. Won’t be the last time I make this error and I”m sure others have done this too.
I’ve also sent Duncan Bird and The Challenge Two to the farm. I have several horses that are rested in the farm that I would like to activate and these two are still young and developing. Taking their places are ALWAYS CONFLICTED, a gelding that looked to need a rest and likes to hang close to the lead. I’ve tinkered with his front running ability with settings of 65 to hold him back and conserve as well as 100 to just set him loose. I’ve changed it back to let the jockey make the choice now to see what develops.
FROST ADVISORY is the other horse moving out of the farm. She’s a youngster that was bred with exchanging for a sire card and breeding to a retired mare. Last season she performed well in 2 starts with a 1-1-0 records. We’ll give her a start and see if she can add on to that records.
This week I’m looking at three starters that includes the new baby Bred To Challenge, whom I eagerly await to see how he does.