What A Weekend

The highs and the lows of racing all hit this weekend. Granted the low could have been lower, but the high is always a high no matter the stakes involved.

My return to California was sidetracked this week with the word that Valid Port will be retiring. He tore his sesamoid ligament and the odds of him recovering fully and coming back to race were only 10%. In realistic terms, a $10,000 claimer is not ever going to be able to make up the money that would be spent on surgery, rehab, lay-up and training, so he'll be retired. Karin Wagner of Neigh Savers is already on the job finding Porter a retirement home. She has my pledge of support and, I hope, of the other owners, in order to get him rehabbed and into a new home.

From the low to the high...

I Am Woman, a three year old pacer (Blissful Hall - Wild Proposition) owned in partnership with VIP Stables notched her first career victory in a Non-Winners of 1 Lifetime event at Balmoral Park last night. She started out of the disadvantageous 7 post and quickly shuffled back. She tipped two over at the half and went three wide on the turn for home. I was waiting for her to hang because of the slow pace (1:02 for the half!), but Brandon Simpson drove her with abandon and carried her right down the stretch to a 1.75 length win. I'm concerned about the slowness of the final time (2:00.4) as it was the slowest win on the card, but given the creeping of the pace, coming home in a final quarter of :27.4 and winning easy eases my discomfort a bit.

Her win was just the tonic I needed to sooth the sadness of Porter's retirement. I hope she gets in next Sunday evening as I have to pass through Chicago for work on Monday - I'd just leave a wee bit early and catch the race Sunday night ahead of my meetings on Monday in lower Michigan. We'll see how that works out, but until then, I'm going to savor the win and enjoy looking at the "100%" in the win and in-the-money percentages on the web site - yeah, i know it can't last forever, but I'll enjoy it every day I can!