It Takes a Nation of Ulysses to Hold Us Back

Old Man of the Mountains Series VI Race 10

Texas

Race 4834.1016

On Saturday the venerable ones met again in Texas to contest another ten furlongs (dirtwise, that is) in this long-running contest.  The gate was full to the brim of the aged and infirm, and a few that are still spry for their age.  Horses had to be at least seven years old to enter, and one entrant wasn’t an old man at all: 7yo Saint Liam mare SAND PEBBLES(KY).  Unfortunately, this normally speedy lass contested the pace and apparently didn’t care for the added distance, winding up eleventh. 

It was NATION OF ULYSSES(LA) who ran off with this edition.  AMERICAN OUTLAW(JPN) got first jump on pacesetter OTTO CAUSES(IRE) after that one had built a five-length lead, but NATION OF ULYSSES(LA) was already on the move.  He had been well reserved early and took command to win by more than three.  The 7yo, a product of the productive but retired Louisiana stallion War Eagle, had missed the board in Races 3 and 4 of this year’s series, but after a scorching triple-digit summer he seemed to better understand his own prowess.  Congratulations to Astins Place Stables on the win – and kudos to anyone who names their horses after Dischord Records bands (although I was never really a fan of this one…).

This was the first time I had entered a horse in the Old Man series: AUTUMN REMINDER(GB), at 12yo the oldest horse in the race, and the one with the fewest starts!  I picked him up as a claim earlier this year as a Dubai Millenium horse who might be worth using as a he-mare.  He has never really liked routes, so I guess that did him in, but I have no regrets as he doesn’t have many more months to race since I have to breed him before he turns 13.