Unbelievable Sub Plots in Old Man Race!
The Old Man of the Mountains Series II – Race 9
A mile and three quarters on Fast Dirt
$50,000
All horses, 8 years old and up, Non-Winners of TWO within the last year
If you don’t know about this great series, it started last year with Sunnybank hating to see the end of MEAT LOAF LOOP’s career come about too quickly so he set up a ten race series where “MEATY” would host the races with his conditions and any fellow old codgers could join in the fun and gather points during the series for scoring first through third in the races. The twist to this series is that if you win, you have to wait for the Host to win too or you won’t qualify for subsequent races until he does. It proved to be great fun last year and went down to the wire with the final race deciding the winner of the series. This year our host will be trainer LilBitFarms and his grand old horse, T. LOCK who has had a nice long career and is ready for one last hurrah.
Thanks for joining us at the Pastures of Green here in Vermont, for a wonderful and truly fun series. This week we are running an eight year old NW of TWO within the past YEAR. Our host horse won last time out and really set things up for an exciting final two races. There are no less than five horses with a chance to win the overall championship in this race. But even more than that, we have an unbelievably slow team that if fighting for the back end of the race. Believe it or not there are FOUR, count ‘em four horses at 99/1 in this race. How many times have you seen that? There could be nearly a mile between the first and last finishers. As usual in this series it should be a blast so let’s take a look:.
Here are the leader boards for the top and bottom of the barrel:
- The Leader Standings in the series:
- NIJINSKY LOVE GOLF (Titliest) 10 Points
- BEER RUN (Greenirish) 10 Points
- T. LOCK (LilBitFarm) 9 Points
- HELPER BOP(TBTA) 9 Points
- THE COWS MOO (Eml1) 8 Points
- PRESTO(GB) (ErnieMan) 7 Points
- IRON GOLEM (Novajoe) 6 Points
- SILVERISH ECHO (Larbare) 6 Points
- MOULIN ROUGE (Hakim) 6 Points
- SOUTH SIDE BENTLEY (Westsider) 3 Points
- TIRED POSTER (PTribett5) 3 Points
- PHAT OATMEAL (PTribett4) 1 Point
- LORD ROTTEN (DCRanger) 1 Point
- PINEWOOD (KittyKats) 1 Point
- Sun Dial Standings in the series:
- BELL COGNAC (Cabin) 25 Points
- LYNCHBURG LEMONADE (Ravin) 15 Points
- DOOR SALLY (ABCD) 15 Points
- THEIR FIGHT (DarkFaerie) 7 Points
- HOLY PULPIT (SimStar) 6 Pts
- A. CONTENDER (WindHmHill) 3 Points
- T. LOCK (LilBitFarm) 3 Points
- LORD ROTTEN (DCRanger) 1 Point
- AARON PINE (JFisher5) 1 Point
- SECOND STRIKE (NoraNadia) 1 Point
- CATS MY BOY (Prufrockja) 1 Point
- LOUD DIGGER (WV) 1 Point
- BANANA THE STICKS (PTribbett5) 1 Point
No disrespect meant to these truly respected veterans but I’ve tried to write this preview with a bent toward having some fun with this series. I hope that you enjoy it and accept it with that in mind. We’ve got a nicely matched field of old codgers so let’s take a look before one of them expires!:
Here is one of the beneficiaries of “Lockies” win. He won way back in race #4 and is only three points out of the lead. He may have to do the old Presto Magico pull a rabbit out of a hat to win this race but at least he is on the inside and won’t have to run as far as the rest of these geezers. Trainer ErnieMan would love to see this old magician do his magic in this race and jump to the leader of the pack.1 – PRESTO(GB) ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED AVG SPEED EARNINGS 11/1 ErnieMan 8 YRS 58 14 96.67 4 Back $276,836
This old Southern Gent has a tenuous grasp on second place in the Sundial Award portion of the OMOTM series. Even though it seems he is just sitting on the porch sipping that Old No. 7 stuff, he can’t quite get close enough to the rear to increase his point total enough. You would certainly think that sub 30 SPFs would get the job done but these are champion sloth like horses in this series! Trainer Ravin has been rumored to be adding buckshot to his feed to try and weigh him down a bit!2 – LYNCHBURG LEMONADE ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WIN EARNINGS 99/1 Ravin 9 YRS 63 5 102.53 24 Back $73,868
One of the biggest questions in the OMOTM series is whether or not this old anchor has gathered enough last place points to make off with the Sundial Award. It sure looked like it but there are some real studs on the caboose end of these races. You would think that running with a walker and a cane would be enough to guarantee the back but that hasn’t been the case lately. We will see what trainer Cabin is able to come up with to slow this old vet down for a couple more races.3 – BELL COGNAC ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WIN EARNINGS 99/1 Cabin 8 YRS 65 9 111.14 22 Back $177,722
The word is that this bartender has been nothing but angry since he was seemingly pushed across the line by The Cow’s Moo way back in race three and was knocked out of the series. Trainer GreenIrish screamed until he was green in the face to the race stewards but they didn’t have a precedence for a horse trying to help another one!! It will be interesting to see if that anger can translate into another six pack run for this old frat boy!4 – BEER RUN ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WIN EARNINGS 7/2 GreenIrish 8 YRS 46 11 102.35 2 Back $248,465
Every time this old geezer runs in the series, he forgets to show up a couple of times in a row for the next races. But he is back again and it’s a good thing that there is only one more race to complete as he would probably forget the next two anyway! That kind of happens at this age! Trainer LGBost6 needs to get this guy a calendar or at least a Farmer’s Almanac so he can remember to show up more often.5 – SAL’S GIFT ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WIN EARNINGS 9/1 LGBost6 8 YRS 71 7 111.15 13 Back $218,048
There are lot’s of rumors flying around about why this elderly lady missed the last race after perfect attendance in the first seven in the series. She had just “pushed” her biggest competitors across the line and out of the series when she came up on a mild carton the last time out. Is there any truth to the rumor that she was off with a two year old colt? Did she just forget to set her alarm? We may never know but she’s back and trainer EML1 knows how to keep her near the front and gather points.6 – THE COW’S MOO ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WIN EARNINGS 8/1 EML1 8 YRS 39 4 90.57 17 Back $170,508
It would be almost be too much to expect our illustrious host to be able to win again in this series. Surely those old bones need to take another dozen races or so to recuperate! Trainer LilBitFarm is said to have ordered an extra case of Geritol this week to try and get his old warrior back to the circle. He is only one off of the lead in his own series. Could he possibly pull it out…Stay tuned!7 – T. LOCK ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WIN EARNINGS 8/1 LilBitFarm 8 YRS 75 19 106.48 1 Back $ 359,811
It’s nice to see this old duffer back in the series after winning the winning the seventh session and getting knocked out of the contest until our host won again last time out. He was just getting his golf game back in order when trainer Titleist informed him that it was time to head back to the track and compete for the title in the OMOTM series. The links will wait another couple of races, this guy has a chance to put his name on the Old Man Cup not the Tin Cup!8 – NIJINSKY LOVESGOLF ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WIN EARNINGS 6/1 Titleist 8 YRS 64 7 106.78 1 Back $ 308,925
Now wait just a doggone minute here. Surely you jest when you tell me that this old davenport actually won a Stakes race four back with a triple digit SPF. How is that possible? Trainer Tenderfoot must have found the fountain of youth for this old guy. Can he do it again? Only time will tell but when you are this close to retirement, time is definitely on your side! He could really hurt a lot of dreams with a win here.9 – CLEM FURNITURE ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WIN EARNINGS 2/1 TenderFoot 8 YRS 68 23 102.68 4 Back $339,393
This old vet seems to just pop in every once in a while to run in the series. It is not know whether he forgets to show up in the others with his feeble memory or if he just decides he has somewhere more important to be. It’s kind of hard to tell with this bunch. Heck, sometimes they forget things that are lots more important than showing up for races…you know like eating and sleeping and such. Maybe FaerieBad can clear it up for us but you know how hard it is to find a Faerie!10 – BEEF TOOTH ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WIN EARNINGS 42/1 FaerieBad 8 YRS 43 2 97.99 11 Back $48,445
All week I was worried that this super slow Sally was going to miss the race. She just snuck in at the last minute in the final spot. There are folks all across the country following her exploits. You don’t see many horses that can actually run in single digit SPFs three times in a row but this girl is a master of the last place finish. Can she catch the leader for the SunDial Award. I wonder if she and trainer ABCD could get double points by starting in this race and going slow enough to finish last in the next race?!?11 – DOOR SALLY ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WIN EARNINGS 99/1 ABCD 8 YRS 31 1 87.13 28 Back $28,512 12 – RUBY ATTIC ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WIN EARNINGS 12/1 FaerieBad 11 YRS 74 7 106.66 5 Back $ 72,473
A coupled entry by trainer FaerieBad. Perhaps they could add their SPFs together and actually compete in this race!! A first time OMOTM starter, this old guy’s racing history looks like something you would like to get on the slot machine in a casino, 74 races …7-7-7. He will need some of that casino luck here to win the race, especially parked outside this far. That extra few yards can really affect these old folks!13 – CHARISMATIC DANCE(GB) ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WIN EARNINGS 99/1 Pagasus 10 YRS 96 8 98.89 42 Back $93,795
Getting closer to that magic 100 race figure, this wily vet is just marking time to the big Retirement day. Trainer Pagasus has entered him for nearly four years now. You kind of get attached to a guy that can tell you what it was like back when he raced against the dinosaurs!
Okay, please tell me what the Kryn Stables are doing with all of these Senior Citizens in their barns. Is this some scam to collect all of the Social Security benefits to buy young horses with or something? I bet there is some lively talk in those barns about the good old days! This guy is actually a pretty lightly raced nine year old. He is averaging about four and a half races a year. Not bad work if you can get it!14 – SERPENTINE INVADER ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WIN EARNINGS 23/1 DarkFaerie 9 YRS 41 5 99.93 10 Back $31,509 Morning Line = 9-4-8-6-7
Paz Picks = 9-4-8-6-7
In this series it is almost as important to pick the last place as the first. I am choosing DOOR SALLY to finish last again. How could you possibly pick against this Single Digit Queen?! Next I have to go with LYNCHBURG LEMONADE to keep this Sun Dial thing interesting. Bell Cognac looks to be back on her losing ways and should finish in the caboose trio. I’m afraid that last race may have taken too much out of T. LOCK to get back into the top three. I’m going to take to get back on course for the top three and for second I’ve got BEER RUN to make a run of his own. I think that newcomer CLEM FURNITURE is way too young feeling for this field and should win easily.
Good luck to all runners!
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