The Fiz

After speaking with our trainer yesterday, it appears the Fiz has survived the weekend in his new surroundings very well. Bernell is very happy with his bone structure and musculature. It was obvious after examination that he has been well cared for. He has been vetted regularly and his teeth were recently taken care of as well.

You never know what you're going to get when you claim a horse. I've seen instances where a horse will get back to the barn and the next morning he is lame or where a horse comes back to the barn and needs to put on 100 pounds just to be healthy again. Not only is that frustrating, it is also damning indictment of some of the folks in our industry. I'm the first to tell my wife that these athletes are not pets, but we have an obligation to them to treat them right and give them the love, care and respect they have earned.

Fortunately we're in a good spot. Fizzy Pop was claimed from trainer Dale Bennett and he is one heckuva horseman. In turn, Bennett had claimed him from Carl Cooper - another fine horseman. Fizzy has had the good fortune to have been claimed into barns where he is well cared for and that will continue under Bernell and his staff.

Fiz was tired the morning after the race, but that is certainly to be expected. He was walked for a few days and headed out to the training track yesterday for his first gallop since the race. He's eating well and everything appears to be on track for a return to the races in 3 weeks or so. We discussed placement, but I'll elaborate more on the reasoning going into the placement AFTER the race. I'm not vain enough to believe that folks at Tampa are scouring my Blog to see where they can get Fiz next, but just in case...(gee, maybe that DOES make me vain enough!). I will say that given his last race he'll 1 - go longer in his next and 2 - move up the ladder some. He is rounding into solid form and will be competitive at a higher level.

As an aside observation, from $8,000 to $16,000 at Tampa there appears to be little difference in class. Horses bounce around these levels regularly, showing at $10,000 then winning at $16,000. Finnishing a dull 8th at $12,500, but lighting up the tote board at $8,000. At these levels, it really appears to be an 'on any given day' type of class grouping.

After this next start, if we hold on to him, I don't know if Fiz'll run again in Florida before he comes north. We'll have to see when the next start materializes and how he comes out of that race. I would expect Bernell to move his string to Canterbury in mid to late April, so an early April start may be all he gets before joining his owners in Minnesota. I'd like him to be somewhat fresh so he can attack the fields up here with gusto!