Sunday, March 15, 2009

Filed Under: "You Can't Win Them All"

It was bound to happen. In this game you can't win every race. In fact, like baseball, if you can bat .300 you're doing pretty well. With her sweeping from behind style she was bound to get in some trouble and not be able to get out in time and sure enough, it happened tonight. I Am Woman is now a beaten favorite. She finished a solid third in the opener at Balmoral Park tonight. I feel a bit badly at all the money she burned going down as a 1-2 favorite, but I did write that her odds would be too low for me to bet her the other day, so there was some warning. I don't care HOW much I own of a horse, 1-2 is not for me.

She got away well enough and trailed nemesis Fox Valley Hooray through fractions of :28.2 and :57 flat sitting right in the garden spot. Lil Lexi Lu tipped to the outside after the half, but could not get to Foxy and that left Brandon Simpson in a tough spot: behind the horse he needed to catch, but stuck inside by a stalled horse on his outside. He did all that he could do - wait. When a hole finally opened up on the cones, I Am Woman moved, but it there was too much ground to overcome in too little time. Jokers Lil Alibi, who had the momentum from rolling up clear on the outside even managed to nip us for second. She still hit the board and picked up a check.

The money earned from this trip still was not enough to get her out of this class and she's still eligible for the "Less than $5,000 Lifetime" condition of this race. We'll see if she gets a week off before tackling this class again.

It was frustrating to not win, but there are times when the trip dictates how you finish. This was one of those times. She still finished a half length out of first in a race that was run in 1:56.1. Like friend and reader Mike said to me in a consoling e-mail "She's growing up in front of your eyes".

You're right, Mike. She sure is.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice filly. Is she for sale? Seems as if she just needs some experiance.

Theodore L. Grevelis said...

Each race so far she's been in for a tag ($12,000).

davel said...

are you kidding me. the horse had plenty of room to get out and plenty of time.. absolutely no excuse...the horse that finished second actually got out to late or she would have won

Theodore L. Grevelis said...

davel - Found out this morning she scoped a bit sick after the last race. That's why she's in Wednesday night and skipped this past Sunday. Perhaps being a bit under the weather was an excuse? She appeared fine before the race, but then again, they can't talk and tell us if they don't feel 100%. They're not robots and you can't win 'em all.