{"id":18140,"date":"2014-01-26T23:46:12","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T04:46:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blacktypebugler.com\/?p=18140"},"modified":"2014-01-26T23:43:55","modified_gmt":"2014-01-27T04:43:55","slug":"claiming-tales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/?p=18140","title":{"rendered":"Claiming tales"},"content":{"rendered":"

After enjoying all the great Black Type Bugler<\/strong> articles submitted by my fellow players, I thought I\u2019d give it a try and give back to this great community.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to write about my experiences as a thoroughbred owner. Though I was only involved in the claiming aspect of the \u201csport of kings\u201d, it provided some of the most thrilling, disappointing and entertaining times I\u2019ve ever had.<\/p>\n

If my initial try is viewed favorably, I\u2019ll continue until I\u2019m out of material or asked to \u201cstop, please stop\u201d.<\/p>\n

Some friends of mine (horseplayers, naturally) were already partners in October Moon Stable in 1995, racing on the New York circuit (Aqueduct, Belmont, Saratoga).\u00a0 They had just privately sold their best performer to date for $75,000 – Placid Fund<\/strong>, who had won 3 straight allowance races (NW1, NW2, NW3). All the partners received their initial investments back, and new partners were being sought for $5,000 stakes.\u00a0 My friend Joe C convinced me to join, and I was now a thoroughbred owner !<\/p>\n

Of the best horses October Moon had while I was there, Private Plan<\/strong> was a mean old son of a gun who would take a bite out of you if you got too close.\u00a0 As a matter of fact, Private Plan was stabled in a special stall away from normal stable traffic, and was in the process of tearing it down, slowly but surely.\u00a0 He did bring that attitude to the track, winning back to back $50,000 claiming races at a mile, both with purses of $31,000.\u00a0 They were his best performances for us and we lost him in a subsequent $35,000 claimer.<\/p>\n

Gerda<\/strong> was a honey of a filly, as gentle as Private Plan was mean.\u00a0 She loved being petted and being fed carrots.\u00a0 She was primarily a grass runner of moderate success.\u00a0 However, her best day was on a sloppy track at Saratoga, where she splashed home in front by 8 lengths at 18-1. She was the only winner I ever had at the Spa, and retains a special place in my heart. She won twice more for us, at Aqueduct in November of \u201896, and at Belmont in June of \u201897, thereby completing a triple of sorts by winning at each of the major New York tracks.<\/p>\n

As usual, there\u2019s always a downside in this game. We had a maiden named Wild Society<\/strong>, who ran poorly first out, and was injured.\u00a0 After recuperating, she was entered in a basement maiden claimer at Belmont.\u00a0 The local track commentator Jan ??? asked us about our filly in the paddock; we told her she was back in condition and ready to roll.\u00a0 Jan gave a quick rundown of the perceived contenders each race, and we got a mention in her spot.\u00a0 Well, Wild Society was not back in condition, racing well back in the pack and finishing either last or next to last.\u00a0 She never raced again.<\/p>\n

October Moon struggled after Gerda\u2019s win in November \u201896. We had one cheap claiming winner (Tangelo Park<\/strong>) in February \u201897. In April, Late Guest<\/strong> won for us at Aqueduct.\u00a0 He was an old veteran, and one of the partners felt he was due for the win that day.\u00a0 He backed it up with a straight $3,000 win bet – though he had to sweat it out as Late Guest closed late to just get up at the wire.<\/p>\n

I and my friends got out of October Moon in \u201897; it was time to concentrate on our other stable, Old Yorkville Farm.\u00a0 The rest of my stories will center there.\u00a0 For now, happy racing and may all your entries be winning ones.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After enjoying all the great Black Type Bugler articles submitted by my fellow players, I thought I\u2019d give it a<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1219,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1219"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18141,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18140\/revisions\/18141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}