Old Guys Get Tougher in Old Man of Mountain Series!

The Old Man of the Mountains Series V – Race 3
A mile and one eighth on the Fast Dirt Course
Purse: $50,000, 1st: $30,000, 2nd: $12,500, 3rd: $4,000, 4th: $2,500, 5th: $1,000
All horses, 8 years old and up

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If you don’t know about this great series, it started four 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 always proves to be great fun with grand old horses and usually the final race deciding the winner of the series. This year our host will be trainer PrivetDriv and the LilBitFarms Stables and their grand old horse, OLD TOWN who has had a nice long career and is ready for one last hurrah.

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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 open to all horses but that could change during the series depending on what happens with our host during the races. We are back to nine furlongs too and that could take it’s toll as some of these old guys and gals don’t like to go any further than they have to! I think that our administrator may have hit that Senior Citizen button this week as we were supposed to have twenty entries and they were cut off at fourteen. That’s a shame because there were more than 35 horses that tried to get into this great series this week. We still have a nice field on both ends as finishing last here is almost as prestigious as hitting the board. It is always a fun series and a great opportunity for some of our elder statesmen.

The Leader Standings in the series:
• GRAND TYCOON (Early) 6 Points
• ALBERTA SAMURAI (Bertaal) 6 Points
• KING OF MONTVILLE (NSWBJW) 3 Points
• OUR TOWN (PrivetDriv) 3 Points
• OUR REASONS AGAIN (SimRoscoe1) 1 Point
• THE CANADIAN DREAM (RharfBeam) 1 Point

Sun Dial Standings in the series:
• BUBBA’S TALE (Kryn) 9 Points
• ART HOME (JustLucky) 6 Points
• L’ESTASI DELL’ORO (FuzzyCat) 3 Points
• SWIFT FATHER (Crandyiii) 1 Point
• STORMZAPPER (RosesInMay) 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 – SHOW BIZ KID	ODDS	OWNER	AGE	RACES	WINS	TOP SPEED	LAST WIN	EARNINGS
	27/1	Noles02	8 YRS	59	9	108	9 Back	$ 253,604

Our old kid is entering his third leg of this ten race series. He’s kind of bounce around just missing out on the front end in the first race and not too far from the back in the second. In the meantime, he’s stuck in what we like to call the rocking chair, right in the middle of the pack and doesn’t get any points for either of the awards in this series. Trainer Noles02 need to either give this guy some Geritol and move him up or some lead in his grain and anchor him back! But as they say in the entertainment world, “The show must go on!”

2 – BIG BUCKLE	ODDS	OWNER	AGE	RACES	WINS	TOP SPEED	LAST WIN	EARNINGS
	8/1	KK1039	8 YRS	71	10	106	9 Back	$269,507

Making his initial foray into the OMOTM field is this old cowboy with his rodeo buckle. Trainer KK1039 and the Hoosier Stables had better hope that buckle doesn’t slow him down as it doesn’t take much to throw them off at this age. It’s been a while since this old guy has found the winners circle, but he might be able to get close in this one if he doesn’t run out of energy. He was running triple digit SPFs not too long ago. If he can remember how to do it, he could be tough.

3 – OUR TOWN	ODDS	OWNER	AGE	RACES	WINS	TOP SPEED	LAST WIN	EARNINGS
	7/1	PrivetDriv	8 YRS	62	17	111	3 Back	$278,459

After finishing second and getting on the leader board in the first race, our host fell back to sixth in the second. The competition has tightened this race up too but this old guy sure knows how to win as he has experienced it an amazing 17 times. If he can concentrate real hard he might be able to remember how it’s done. It wasn’t that long ago and I’m sure that trainer PrivetDriv and the LilBitFarm Stables are feeding him Ginko Biloba or some weird stuff to help him concentrate. This group knows ALL of the angles with these Senior Citizens!

4 – XANDER	ODDS	OWNER	AGE	RACES	WINS	TOP SPEED	AVG SPEED	EARNINGS
	7/2	OilSpill	9 YRS	53	19	117	3 Back	$534,436

Picked by many to win the last race of this series, he found that some of those eight year old young whippersnappers can be pretty tough. I’m sure that trainer OilSpill might be mentioning to him this week that you can’t just go out there and throw down your 19 wins of experience against this group and expect them to roll over. There are some pretty experienced ponies out there that know a thing or two about winning. Once again, this old guy is the pre race favorite and he needs to show these young guys who is boss.

5 – ALBERTA SAMURAI	ODDS	OWNER	AGE	RACES	WINS	TOP SPEED	LAST WIN	EARNINGS
	5/1	Bertaal	8 YRS	39	9	109	Last Out	$ 291,539

Tied for the OMOTM Series lead coming into this one, he just missed getting back on the board in the last race. I hesitate to say this about any of the horses in this race but the extra distance might do him some good. That extra furlong might be the death of a couple of these old timers but this guy seems to like the extra real estate. I think that Bertaal will make sure that his workouts this week point to that extra furlong and might get him back into the solo lead for the series.

6 – OLD PULPIT	ODDS	OWNER	AGE	RACES	WINS	TOP SPEED	LAST WIN	EARNINGS
	6/1	SunKitten	8 YRS	56	11	109	3 Back	$466,472

This grand old guy doesn’t seem to be slowing too much lately with triple digit SPFs in three of his last four races. At a time when he should be contemplating retirement he is still putting up triple digit speed figures and winning races. That may seem to be a bit unfair to this group but trainer SunKitten should like it just fine. There is a bunch of good horses in this race and this old guy could definitely be in the mix at the end. An OMOTM trophy would be a nice addition to his trophy case.

7 – BUBBA’S TALE	ODDS	OWNER	AGE	RACES	WINS	TOP SPEED	AVG SPEED	EARNINGS
	67/1	Kryn	8 YRS	63	7	106	11 Back	$144,502

A leader in the club house in the Sun Dial portion of our series, he finished next to last in the first race and bested that by slowly crossing the finish line last in the second. There are some that believe this guy could just run away with the Sun Dial this year but at this age, unforeseen things can make trainers like Kryn pull out their hair. They can easily pull a muscle or even forget that there is a race and their lead is down to nothing. That’s why it’s important that this old Bubba really drags his tail and adds to his lead in this one.

8 – L’ESTASI DELL’ORO	ODDS	OWNER	AGE	RACES	WINS	TOP SPEED	AVG SPEED	EARNINGS
	22/1	FuzzyCat	8 YRS	56	12	103	4 Back	$456,679

Our grand dame and only female in this race. We have had several ladies do very well in the series but most have been on the front end. This lovely lady is actually contending at the other end of the series with a next to last finish in the last one. She probably would have won the back end but old Bubba is pretty well entrenched there. It will take a pretty special lack of effort on the part of this old gal and trainer FuzzyCat thinks she is the girl for the job. Can she loaf around the track to victory? That’s why they run the races.

9 – FALSE PROSPECTS	ODDS	OWNER	AGE	RACES	WINS	TOP SPEED	LAST WIN	EARNINGS
	22/1	KAK62Farm	9 YRS	77	18	106	17 Back	$ 169,800

This old prospector might fit his name pretty well when you look at the fact that he’s won an amazing 18 races but only gathered $170k in gold. He’s only averaged a bit over $2000 per race and that’s barely enough to pay for food for this old guy let alone training and medical. It might be time to see if there is any actual gold in any of those 18 trophies as the rate is pretty good on gold sales right now. Of course winning the Sun Dial could help pay the bills a bit and this old guy hasn’t seen the winners circle in 17 races. Perhaps trainer KAK62Farm is pointing him in that direction.

10 – GRAND TYCOON	ODDS	OWNER	AGE	RACES	WINS	TOP SPEED	LAST WIN	EARNINGS
	6/1	Early	8 YRS	57	14	111	Last Out	$578,893

So this grand old moneybags came out in his initial foray into the OMOTM Series and threw down his best SPF ever with a 111. How unfair is that to the rest of these old geezers running around with their tongues hanging out. I don’t think that trainer Early cares one bit but he might be caring whether or not that supreme effort will tire this old tycoon out for this race. Often a big run like that can effect some of these Senior Citizens for a long time. We will be watching here to see how it works out.

11 – ANKENY STREET	ODDS	OWNER	AGE	RACES	WINS	TOP SPEED	LAST WIN	EARNINGS
	33/1	WTAS03	8 YRS	48	7	108	5 Back	$123,044

This Senior Citizen ran in the first race and was so tired he completely missed the second leg of the OMOTM series. He is rested up and ready to go now but trainer WTAS03 had better plan on this old guy running in just about half of the races in the series if it affects him so much. I’m sure this old guy is thinking something like, “back when I ran against the dinosaurs I was able to go every week”. Boy, those were the days!

12 – STORMZAPPER	ODDS	OWNER	AGE	RACES	WINS	TOP SPEED	LAST WIN	EARNINGS
	55/1	RosesInMay	9 YRS	46	7	114	21 Back	$449,082

This old Zapper came into the first race of the OMOTM Series with high hopes for the Sun Dial portion of the tournament. He went out and dragged himself around the track to a next to last place finish to get in the running for the end of the series trophy. Then he went and completely forgot that there was a race for the second leg! That happens more often than you would think with these old timers and at least he remembered this race. Trainer RosesInMay needs to set some kind of alarm for this old guy so he can stay in the series.

13 – SUPER EMPIRE	ODDS	OWNER	AGE	RACES	WINS	TOP SPEED	AVG SPEED	EARNINGS
	8/1	LGBost3	8 YRS	63	8	108	13 Back	$222,323

Just the name of this old times send chills down your spine. It makes you think about what would happen if the Super Stables and Lenny’s Empire Stables merged and started breeding horses together. Of course it might end up like this old guy and only win eight races in eight years. He still seems to have some get up and go at this age but trainer LGBost3 has watched 13 straight races go by without a win. Perhaps he can bring up memories of the old Empire and motivate this guy to be Super once again.

14 – REQUIEM’S BLADE	ODDS	OWNER	AGE	RACES	WINS	TOP SPEED	LAST WIN	EARNINGS
	12/1	Lionart	8 YRS	59	10	113	15 Back	$226,859

This old knife might be pretty sharp but he entered the OMOTM Series for this first time last race and finished right in the middle of the pack. When there are awards for both the front and back of the races that rocking chair position ain’t the place to be. It’s going to be a tough choice for trainer Lionart as this guy still has some speed but has gone 15 races without a win. Which way do you point him in this series? Maybe the old guy just “forgot” how to win and needs a jolt of Geritol or Ginko Biloba or even Viagra to get him jump started. These old guys have and will try about anything to get it going!

Morning Line = 4-5-6-10-3
Paz Picks = 4-10-5-6-3

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It looks like the front end of this race is going to really be close between several entries so let’s go to the caboose end of the race first. In this series it is almost as important to be in the last place as the first. We’ve got three of the Sun Dial points leaders in this race. L’ESTASI DELL’ORO should contend at that end again but with STORMZAPPER actually remembering that he had a race this time he may be the one to wrest the lead away but I think that it will be tough to get behind BUBBA’S TALE and he should add to his series lead. I always like to mention our host, and OLD TOWN showed in the first race of the series that he can certainly contend. We are really getting an influx of talented old timers and I have him in the top five but think that it could be tough for him to pick up any points here. I’ve got newcomer OLD PULPIT down for fourth but he could gather some points. ALBERTA SAMURAI just missed adding to his lead last time and I think he may get a point or two this time out. I’m going to take GRAND TYCOON to finish in second with a bit of a bounce after that personal best race last time out. I’m going to pick XANDER to win this race and get on the board 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!