Superstar rookie writer gold4ever<\/I> has been on my mind these past few weeks.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The reason is I blame him for my three week hiatus between articles.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>You understand, it is difficult writing articles when you are in a Mexican jail at the border waiting to get the proper papers for my release.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>And I was trying to cross back into the Fortunately, my habit of gambling with the jockeys paid off as I recognized jock P. Wright outside my cell window two days ago.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>After securing his attention, I explained my current situation and basically begged for his help.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Amazingly, he agreed to assist and after an hour or so of talking I didn\u2019t understand the jailer was in front of my cell with Wright opening the door.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Walking away from my home the past two weeks (thanks again gold4ever<\/I>), Mr. Wright stated that I should not make eye contact with anyone, walk directly into the VW Microbus in front of me, and everything will be explained to me after we cross the border.<\/FONT><\/P> Upon entering the microbus, I immediately realized that I was not alone.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>As P. Wright was entering the driver\u2019s side door, I noticed fellow jockeys R. Heller, R. Wray, and J. Biagi were all riding along.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>All was quiet until we cleared the boarder, and then the conversation commenced. <\/FONT><\/P> \u201cThanks for the help Wright,\u201d I began.<\/FONT><\/P> \u201cNo problem,\u201d he replied, \u201cI don\u2019t wish my enemies in that jail.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Not that I consider a writer that lost two grand to me in cards an enemy.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>You are lucky I got you out of there when I did.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>You were scheduled to be euthanized next week.\u201d<\/FONT><\/P> \u201cSo how did you spring me?\u201d<\/FONT><\/P> Wright responded, \u201cI explained to the authorities that you were needed in \u201cGood story, and good thinking,\u201d said I.<\/FONT><\/P> \u201cOh, it is not a story,\u201d countered Wright.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>\u201cYou are needed\u201d<\/FONT><\/P> \u201cWhere?\u201d<\/FONT><\/P> Jockey R. Heller took over, \u201cWe are all heading to \u201cOf course,\u201d I interrupted, \u201cI need to provide coverage.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Give the runners some perspective and depth prior to the running.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Let\u2019s see, the DUSTY JUMPER you say?\u00a0 <\/SPAN>That is the thirteen furlong stakes run on the turf for three year olds and older correct?\u201d<\/FONT><\/P> \u201cIt is\u201d<\/FONT><\/P> \u201cIf I am not mistaken,\u201d I continued, \u201cthe weather up there for the race should be fantastic and the turf should be firm.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>So, what\u2019s the field, who\u2019s riding?\u201d<\/FONT><\/P> \u201cYou\u2019re riding with the field,\u201d stated J. Biagi.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>\u201cWe four jocks are atop the four runners in the race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I\u2019m atop of COZZENE AFFAIRE (KY).\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He is a four year old dark gray colt that is trained by crandyiv<\/I>.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The colt is still looking for his first finish in the money for a stakes rated race, and considering he is running against only three more runners, it will more in likely happen Saturday.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>COZZENE AFFAIRE enjoys lurking at the back half of the mid pack before running down the leaders.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He displayed this running style in his last win in August over nine furlongs in an allowance race.\u201d<\/FONT><\/P> \u201cSmall field,\u201d I noted.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>\u201cWhat about you?\u201d I asked while looking at jockey R. Heller.<\/FONT><\/P> \u201cWell,\u201d Heller began, \u201cI\u2019ve an interesting horse assigned to me, CREED CHARM.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>You see, I\u2019ve never met the trainer for this old boy, and I mean old boy.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>CREED is owned by someone named computer<\/I> and all communications I\u2019ve had with this guy has been via e-mail on this Blackberry.\u201d<\/FONT><\/P> He held up a phone device with an open e-mail on it from \u2018computer<\/I>\u2019 that read, \u201cdon\u2019t let CREED CHARM die on the track.\u201d\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I noted that this was not very encouraging for my jockey friend R. Heller.<\/FONT><\/P> \u201cAnyhow,\u201d continued Heller, \u201cthis horse is ten years old and hasn\u2019t run a race since January of 2006.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I suspect that this computer <\/I>guy is on the lam but is low on cash right now.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>He probably found a short stakes field where he knew he could cash a check if his runner finishes; thus, the instruction to not let my horse die.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>At least that is my theory.\u201d<\/FONT><\/P> \u201cBunch of degenerates in this industry,\u201d I noted.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The entire microbus nodded in agreement.<\/FONT><\/P> \u201cI\u2019m riding the race favorite,\u201d interjected my liberator P. Wright as he turned the wheel onto the on ramp of the highway.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>\u201cBIG BAD N NOW (KY) is certainly the class of this race with over a half million in winnings in his career.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The brown four year old is winner of the JOHN BOZO Special and the OAK SKIER Handicap just to name some recent stakes level wins.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>In fact, since trainer fusion<\/I> switched this runner back to turf in March, BIG BAD has landed in the money in five of his last seven starts with the two outside the board being in graded stakes.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I look for my ride to sit at the back of the pack until the half way point and then just catch everybody after that.\u201d<\/FONT><\/P> \u201cDon\u2019t get too confident there Wright,\u201d interrupted the final jockey R. Wray.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>\u201cMy ride POINT COLONY (KY) isn\u2019t going to just let your steed waltz to the finish line without a fight.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>While it\u2019s true that this xanderman<\/I> trained four year old has yet to win a stakes race, he has now finished in the top three in his last five starts.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Additionally, his last win, and allowance, in August was just a furlong shorter than the upcoming race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>The chestnut colt won that race lurking near the back and charging to the front starting at the half point of the race.\u201d<\/FONT><\/P> \u201cGentlemen,\u201d I said \u201cthis conversation has been fantastic.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>I think I have all of the information I need to write a rip roaring preview that will generate the interest you are looking for.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Consider my debt to you repaid.\u201d<\/FONT><\/P> \u201cOh no,\u201d started Wright, \u201cwe don\u2019t care if you write an article about this or not.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>We need you at the race because we realized that our runners all enjoy sitting at the back of the pack and closing the race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>In other words, no horse seems to want to lead out of the gate.\u201d<\/FONT><\/P> \u201cYes, so.\u201d<\/FONT><\/P> \u201cSo,\u201d continued Wright, \u201cwe have decided that for payment of your freedom is to be the rabbit in our race.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>We want you to start right near the first turn and be dressed in a shirt with carrots and apples sewed to it.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>We figure with the two furlong head start and a little inspiration from being chased by four stampeding horses, you should be able to maintain this lead at least to the five furlong mark.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>That should get our runners where they need to be.\u00a0 <\/SPAN>Once you complete this task, assuming you live, you\u2019ll be free of your debt to us.\u201d<\/FONT><\/P> So for you folks that will be at When the Field Wants to Close, Who Will Lead?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":312,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-previews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6752","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\/312"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6752"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6752\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6752"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6752"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/btb.ehorseracing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6752"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}