Wednesday, January 23, 2008

If It's Not One Thing...

I called Ms. Trainer called the other day to see how things were going. When she said 'not very well', I got nervous. Then she told me why and I got very concerned - for her. As I have mentioned before, she exercises horses in the mornings and on this particular morning a filly flipped on her in the shed row. On the track she would have had the opportunity to bail out, but in the row there was no room and she had to slowly go over with her, breaking her wrist in three places in the process. She then had surgery and now has a plate and some screws in her wrist.

As if that wasn't enough, she called me today with more bad news: her dad is sick and not responding to treatment. She apologetically and graciously backed out as our trainer for the time being. With a painful wrist and now taking a leave to go and spend time with her ailing dad she felt that she couldn't give us the attention that we deserved. Can you ask for anything more from someone than to be straightforward and up front with you? Absolutely not and Ms. Trainer has been both and really shown a lot of character the last couple of months.

She arranged with Bernell Rhone, one of Canterbury's leading trainers who is also wintering at Tampa, to take us on. I have some concerns - not of Bernell's ability, because he is an exemplary horseman, but with the size of his stable we could easily get lost in the beginning. However, having met Bernell (he trained Somerset Sam for us last summer) before, I think he'll give us a fair shake. He also let Ms. Trainer know that when she's back in action she can take us back with no issue. So as tomorrow is dark at Tampa, I'll once again regroup and move forward and call Bernell and see what we can arrange. It's a setback, sure, but not a major one and GRS will get through it and come out on the other side.

To Ms. Trainer I say thank you and best of luck. Our thoughts and best wishes go out to you and your family. We look forward to seeing you back on the track soon.

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