Black Type Bugler

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Black Type Bugler

eHorseracing.com’s Official Online News Source

No Country for Old Horses!

pazjazz

The Old Man of the Mountains Series III – Race 4
A mile on the Firm Turf Course
$50,000
All horses, 8 years old and up, Non-Winners of FOUR within the last year

If you don’t know about this great series, it started two years ago 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 RiverDance and the LilBitFarms Stables and their grand old horse, USA 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 FOUR in the last year but that could change for the next race with either a win by our host or if he doesn’t he is actually able to move it back down to NW of three in a year. Both the Old Man Leader Standing and Sun Dial award points are very close at this juncture so this race could be a lively one at both ends. Of course when you are dealing with this age of horses, the word “Lively” may not be the best adjective to describe things!

Here are the standings to date in the series:

    The Leader Standings in the series:

  • WHISPER (Be1stFarms) 7 Points
  • OASIS CAT (MEP) 6 Points
  • USA (RiverDance) 6 Points
  • CELTIC LEGEND (Correction) 4 Points
  • LEGADILLO (LuvsTheKey) 4 Points
  • FURIOUS ODYSSEUS (RedRum) 3 Points

    Sun Dial Standings in the series:

  • PRESTO (Ernieman) 9 Points
  • MARIO MOMENT (Tsunami3) 6 Points
  • RUBY ATTIC (FaerieBad) 6 Points
  • SLY SHOT (Tsunami36) 3 Points
  • LARIONOV (IrishMan) 3 Points
  • SERPENTINE INVADER (DarkFaerie) 2 Points
  • BRATTICUS (TheFred) 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!:

1 – COROKEYPRIN ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WINEARNINGS
11/1IrishMan28 YRS 66 12 104.30 7 Back$ 194,845
This old codger is getting pretty frustrated because he’s run well in the series but hasn’t gained any points. That’s like getting older and not being able to get that Senior Citizens discount somewhere!. . Trainer IrishMan2 will have to massage his ego and keep the grumpy old guy happy. You don’t want to get on the wrong side of these guys when they are grumpy!

2 – WHISPER ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WINEARNINGS
4/1Be1stFarms9 YRS 80 24 113.41 Last Race$842,228
Well, well, well, look who’s back…our winner from the last race is this distinguished veteran lady who is back to teach the old guys a lesson once more. You will find that guys with this much experience don’t like to be shown much, especially by a nagging old mare. She and trainer Be1stFarms know that they will do everything they can to not let that happen again.

3 – PRESTO(GB) ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED AVG SPEEDEARNINGS
93/1ErnieMan9 YRS 63 14 96.67 9 Back$277,628
So in his last four OMOTM races this old magician has finished an average of a little more than 29 lengths behind the winner. He is winning the Sun Dial portion of the contest and they are worried that they won’t be able to time him with the Sun Dial if he doesn’t finish before dark! Trainer ErnieMan says that he will be happy to bring out a flashlight!

4 – CELTIC LEGEND ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WINEARNINGS
9/2Correction9 YRS 46 17 121.44 5 Back $736,980
There is a method to this old Leprechaun’s madness. His plan is to continue to finish in the top three, continue to mount up points and gather his pot of gold at the end as the winner of the series. Trainer Correction will be happy to go along with that and continue to supply the Geritol and linament to keep him going. Now if they can just remember to show up each race….

5 – SERPENTINE INVADER ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WINEARNINGS
99/1DarkFaerie10 YRS 46 5 99.93 3 Back$ 34,809
Somebody needs to tell this ancient runner that if he were willing to run in a straight line instead of those serpentine zig-zags he might come a little closer to the front. Of course when you are finishing twenty or so lengths back that might not really help that much anyway! Trainer DarkFaerie is the master of finding these old guys. He must hang around the Social Security office or something!

6 – USA ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WINEARNINGS
5/1RiverDance8 YRS 75 20 117.19 3 Back$ 702,269
Our host just missed scoring points again last race with a fifth place finish. Perhaps he needs to stop all of the flag waving down the stretch and make sure that he finishes the race. His trainer RiverDance promises that he will be ready to score more points in the series and may be ready to take the overall lead back again. Like the country he’s named after, old USA has seen some rough times but keep bouncing back.

7 – RUBY ATTIC ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WINEARNINGS
99/1FaerieBad12 YRS 80 7 106.66 11 Back$ 72,473

Trainer FaerieBad was a bit put out the this old guy tried to catch up to the lone mare in the last race and finished all the way up in ELEVENTH place, thus keeping him from gaining any points in the Sun Dial standings. He has promised to put “front” blinders on him to keep him from getting too close to the front so that he can secure his place at the back of the pack. Hopefully he won’t run into anything!

8 – LEGADILLO ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WINEARNINGS
5/2LuvsTheKey8 YRS 45 13 103.90 8 Back $229,015
This young looking eight year older gathered points again in the last race and is a definite contender for the OMOTM crown. He didn’t run nearly as fast as his speedy 103 SPF in the first race of the series but what do you expect from a horse this ancient? Trainer LuvsTheKey would “LUV” to see a winner here and gain some big points for the race.

9 – MARIO MOMENT ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WINEARNINGS
23/1Tsunami368 YRS 31 7 102.31 5 Back$ 100,692

This old timer has asked if they could make the races in the series closer together so that he doesn’t have to travel in between them. You see, trainer Tsunami36 knows that the only way to keep this old guy limber is to race him every two weeks. Just think how much further back he would finish if he weren’t limber! He might start to finish that next week anyway!

10 – BRATTICUS ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED AVG SPEEDEARNINGS
30/1TheFred9 YRS 44 7 102.66 9 Back$274,287
This oldster has become the unenviable horse that may qualify for the rocking chair award of which we don’t really have a category. He is just a bit too fast to finish at the back of the field and not fast enough to finish near the front. In the end he just kind of ends up sitting in the middle rocking back and forth. Hopefully trainer TheFred can at least keep him from rocking himself to sleep during the race!

11 – SLY SHOT ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WINEARNINGS
20/1Tsunami368 YRS 49 11 102.46 9 Back$135,263
This Sly old guy was feeling so frisky after his eighth place finish in our last race, that he had to go out and run another race in between that one and this. He didn’t fare quite as well in that one and now he is looking pretty tired coming into this one. Trainer Tsumani 36 will try to give him something for a bit more energy but an old eight year old only has so much to go around. He needs to stop the moonlighting and concentrate only on this prestigious series. Don’t ask me why, it just sounded good!

12 – FURIOUS ODYSSEUS ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WINEARNINGS
6/1Redrum8 YRS 58 13 101.03 11 Back$233,811
This unhappy old guy was even testier after not finishing in the points for the last race. Trainer Redrum has been having to keep him calm since that race as he has been stomping around all over the place in disgust. Hopefully he can channel that anger and gain some OMOTM points here. If he doesn’t look out around the stables!

13 – SLEEP TO DREAM ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WINEARNINGS
19/1WV9 YRS 54 10 98.66 4 Back$176,691
This old guy didn’t exactly sleep walk through our last race but on the other hand, I can’t guarantee that he actually had his eyes open either. Trainer WV has been making sure that he has been getting plenty of shut eye and hopefully he has enough left to turn his dreams into a reality. He’s parked way outside here and might actually get a little wore out just trying to get back to the rail!

14 – RECORD SETTER ODDS OWNER AGE RACES WINS TOP SPEED LAST WINEARNINGS
26/1GreenIrish8 YRS 62 12 99.23 3 Back $ 246,052
So in the end, the Zero SPF he had on the dirt in the previous race enabled him to have enough energy to run in a close fourth to just miss out on points in our last race. Watch out if trainer GreenIrish tries that strategy here as there are horses in this race that are slow enough that they may actually be able to finish BEHIND a Zero SPR runner. Wouldn’t that be something to see?

Morning Line = 8-2-4-6-12
Paz Picks = 2-4-6-8-12

In this series it is actually prestigious to finish at the way back of the pack. There are a whole bunch of candidates for that this week but I am choosing RUBY ATTIC to get back “off” track and bring up the rear. I just don’t think that there is any way that MARIO MAGIC can be that slow two races in a row. I’ve got the magic man in my bottom three as well but think that PRESTO can throw down the anchor and finish next to last. I think that our host, USA could once again be a player here. I have him third as I just don’t think he has enough left in the tank to catch a couple of these horses. . I have put CELTIC LEGEND. in the two spot and that old Leprechaun may be doing a jig to the winners circle but I think that the Grand Dame WHISPER will really rub the old boys faces in it and continue to hold the overall lead in the OLD MAN OF THE MOUNTAIN standings.

Good luck to all runners!

Email your comments to pazjazz.btb@gmail.comI love to hear from you!

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