Saturday, February 28, 2009

A Nice 2009 Debut

Wow. Well, like I had mentioned in the last post, if Brady Baby ran his race, the rest of us would be running for second. That's exactly what happened. The good news? We won second - if that makes any sense.

Like Richard Grunder says, Brady Baby made "every pole a winning one". Fizzy broke very well. Dean had him relaxed by the first turn in 8th and on the rail. Down the backside he continued to sit chilly and save ground and by the time they headed into the turn he was picking off horses one by one. By the stretch run the win was already decided. Brady Baby went on to win by 7 1/2 lengths but there was a real battle for second. Fizzy was gaining ground and Too Many Sins was tiring. Neck and neck they came down the lane and when the dust settled, Fizzy prevailed by a neck.

My take? I think Fizzy ran a great race to get up for second. I also think that Dean Butler rode him splendidly. He got Fiz to relax early, never panicked, saved all the ground and finished very nicely. Finally, Bernell Rhone had him tremendously prepped to be shooting live after four months off. One thing I still don't fully understand is why in the world the owners of Brady Baby (Gone West - Indian Snow - A.P. Indy) left so much dough on the table? There were some lower level allowance races than the race he finished 3rd in last out back at Gulfstream where the winning money would have been more than the entire purse of this race! That being said, just because it's not my way doesn't mean it's not the right way and congrads to Brady for winning the way he was supposed to.

We'll see in a day or two how Fizzy came back from the race. We won't worry about rest of this condition book (ends on March 14) and see what the next book brings us. Mentally the Fiz is in a good place and we'd like to keep him there. Providing he came back as well as first appears, we'll see him again in mid to late March and then go from there. Off four months he's eligible to improve in his second start back so the wheels continue to turn.

Thanks, Fiz, Bernell, Dean and the gang in the barn for a great 2009 debut. You did nothing but stoke the possibilities for the rest of the year!

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