Drive Him Yourself Racing

How much fun would this be?  Of course you have to be properly trained and certified, but I would LOVE this!

THURSDAY, APRIL 14, 2011


PRESS RELEASE

SIXTH ANNUAL EAST VS WEST AMATEUR DRIVING CHALLENGE STARTS FRIDAY – FREE PROGRAMS AVAILABLE

Contact: David Siegel (dsiegel@trackmaster.com)

With March Madness in the rear view mirror, the eyes of the world will be on Sacramento, California for the two-day, East versus West, Amateur Driving Challenge. This weekend was specifically chosen so these races would not take away from the attendance at AT&T Park, as the World Champion Giants are out of town. The Giants did send along their thanks for thinking of them when scheduling the event.

Still, the event will have the attention of the eight participants, and the horsemen and wagering fans in California and in the simulcast world.

Team East will be represented by first-timers Laura Macnamara, Simeon Hunsdon, and Jamie Marra who will be joining teammate Steve Oldford who competed in the East’s only win in five tries in 2008. The Eastern contingent will try to avenge recent defeats and get back on the winning track.

Team West will be a repeat of last year’s squad. Leading the team is 2010 Faut’s Champion Rick Bertrand. Rounding out the squad of amateur reinsmen are Robert Stepien, David Siegel and Chris Hernandez.

Four races will be contested on each of Friday and Saturday nights. Free programs and TrackMaster Greg selections for the Challenge races and all other races on the Cal-Expo cards on both nights can be accessed at trackmaster.com/calx

Alan Kirschenbaum, California Harness Horseman’s Association President remarked, “"Amateur racing is what makes harness racing unique among sports. It provides the opportunity for everyone to experience the adrenaline rush of competition, the way so many kids experienced it while growing up and playing sports. It is a crucial component of growing the sport's popularity in these challenging days.”

He went on to say, "Amateur driving competitions are popular all over the harness racing world, and we believe the California amateurs are as good as anyone, and this will be an exciting chance to prove it. We're so far away from the other harness racing venues that we rarely get to participate in the major competitions like the Billings Series and the one-day all-amateur card at Monticello, so the East-West is a very big deal to us."

Gregg Pistochini, the Cal-Expo on-air handicapper had this to say: “As much as we try to vary the races, nothing shakes things up here the way the East-West Challenge does. The races provide some of the best wagering opportunities we have here and in the past have been some of our larger pools.”

Cal-Expo’s successful pick-fours will include some of the Challenge races resulting in what are hoped to be higher the usual payoffs given the twists of the new drivers appearing at the oval.

For information about the California Amateur Driving Club, the Challenge or Amateur Driving in general, please visit www.thecadc.com.

Winter's Dog Days

Winter has dog days, too.  In fact, I find that their -2 degree mornings and 15" snowfalls make them much worse than the 90 degree, high humidity and no breeze days that are associated with their summertime cousin.  Additionally, when we get to March and the first condition book of the new Canterbury Park season has arrived spring becomes so tantalizingly close it actually deepens the depression a bit.

March is also tax season and that's always a joy.  The K-1s are out - a little later than I would have liked, but they're out.  The stable had an okay 2010 but Tabby's long decline didn't help when it came to purse money earned. Unfortunately there was a 'stiff' in one group - as their always seems to be when a group goes wrong - in that a partner decided that they just weren't going to pay their last bill.  I can understand the frustration but am never thrilled picking up the tab -especially since I own a piece of all the horses myself and already pay my share.  Vets, trainers, farriers, et al all need to get paid, though, so I dig into my own pocket to make up the difference.  Thankfully 99%+ of the partners understand that while we try very hard to make money, there is a lot of risk in the business and if a horse can't make it on the track there is still an obligation that goes along with it. I could get vindictive or send them to collections but I just take them off the mailing list, and - at least in the case of the one person from this past year - make sure that I don't patronize the business they run.

Speaking of dog days, a possible blizzard is on it's way to the area...again.  It's forcing me to leave a day earlier than planned for my trek to Florida and the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association pedigree and conformation clinic being held in Ocala.  As I've mentioned here and on the radio show before, I'm not a conformation expert and my pedigree IQ is lacking so I'm really looking forward to this 2-day even to help shore up my knowledge in these areas.  I'll be writing about that experience, so stay tuned for that.  I'll also be visiting Tabby before I come back and doing a little write up on Tampa Bay Downs.  It looks like Tabs will be on the track again at the end of the week and, of course, I'll be in the seminar during the race - which I hope means she's more likely to get in front!

Also coming soon is an opportunity to get involved with some yearlings in California.  I'll be looking to package a colt and filly in a group that would own either 25% or 50% of each horse depending upon the amount of folks we can get involved.  Of course a yearling is a longer term investment, but ultimately one that can yield greater rewards.  More details will be forthcoming after next weekend, but if you're even remotely interested, please drop me a line so I know the interest level.

I'm hoping that my journey to Florida will be interesting, informative and rejuvenating. After all, if the condition book is here could Spring really be that far away?

Now What?

An interesting situation is what I have going on right now. Our group's horse, Fizzy Pop, was claimed Friday night. I still own 12.5% of pacer I Am Woman, but I don't manage her so that leaves me - a guy with a blog and a radio show dedicated to his emerging racing empire - without a horse to manage! In an ideal world we would have had Miss Belle Express to race us through the fall as well, but that was not meant to be. I also made an offer on a California horse to no avail as we were very far apart on the price.

Due to personal reasons, some of the Fizzy Pop partners need to take the money and run while the others and myself plan to soldier on with some new partners mixed in. But where do we go? Hopefully this weekend I will get a line on another California horse, so there is a start. I also definitely want to be ready with another claiming group for Tampa this winter and try to replicate the success we had with Fizzy. Still hanging out there is the possibility of teaming with a few other owners and try and hit a home run with a private purchase of a higher class horse, but that's a bit higher end and those kind of partners are hard to find in this economy.

So now what? Well, we keep pushing on. If we can get a nice percentage of a good horse racing in California, that would be nice. I would go ahead and offer some type of low cost entry point for that one for small shares and get the left coast in action. I'll also keep working for partners here in Minnesota and down in Florida that would like to see their horse run between Tampa Bay and Canterbury. $20,000 will get that group off the ground with a nice mid-range horse and money left over to pay the bills for a while. I'll also keep on talking on Blog Talk Radio (you can listen to the latest episode on claiming on the top left) because that is such a fun release I can't imagine giving that up. And, of course, I'll chronicle it all here!

Speaking of the radio show, thanks to your support, the show has become eligible to move into prime time. The question is what time? I was thinking 8:30 Central Time. That makes it only 9:30 on the East Coast and 6:30 on the West so most everyone should be home from work by then and it not be too late in the East. I'd be happy to entertain thoughts from the audience on this one. Again, thank you all for getting the show over that threshold so quickly. I really appreciate it.

A Change in Tactics

Things with GRS1 (Fizzy Pop) have been solid. The group has kept it's head pretty much above water, has three winner's circle photos and a horse that has a shot to win each and every time out. The only way things could be better is if he was a stakes caliber horse. All in all, for a claiming group, it's been a good one.

The same model has not quite worked out as well for subsequent groups. The model being a small number of partners and a higher dollar amount partnership. The claiming model itself: buy low and move the horse up; has worked exceedingly well. Right now our next claiming group is about 50% there - and it's taken a while to get there! It looks as though things may be picking up a bit now and that would be great, but I'm also getting a bit pro-active and shaking things up with a newly styled offering - potentially.

I have always said that I do not want to get into micro-fractional ownership. It's a bear to manage three or four dozen partners at a time and I was not sure that was something I wanted to handle. The economic realities of the age we're in right now, however, has made that option a little less onerous as it was in the past. Thus far, response has been good, though I'm not diving in with 100% ownership with 100 1% owners either.

The basics, without giving it all away since I have not finalized the purchase yet, is that we have the possibility of buying part of a very nicely bred 2-year old filly that will be racing in California. Through a series of circumstances I have the possibility of picking up a bit of her and will be offering shares at 1% or $300 a share. My plan is to only own as high as 30% and I hope that some folks will come in for a couple of points rather than just one, though one is absolutely welcome.

I think this has the possibility of being a little bit of a tester for all of us. Some folks that may not want to jump in too deeply will be able to take a low cost entry point into racing and see how they enjoy it. On the other hand, I'll be able to test the waters a bit on a larger volume, smaller dollar partnership and see how it is to manage without being totally besieged. In addition, we can watch a filly that has already shown a lot of potential stretch out over her three year old season and enjoy California racing.

I am happy to share more specific information with anyone privately. You can stay tuned to this space as I will, of course, announce the newest addition to the stable and specifics when it's finalized.

So now we have three in the works, which I think, suit three separate temperaments.

1.) New Claiming Group - $1,000 for a 5% share when the group hits $20,000 it is full and we claim with Bernell Rhone in Oklahoma or Tampa Bay;

2.) Two Year Old Group - $2,000 a unit and we will team with a couple of other owners and purchase a nice two year old in training to campaign with Richie Scherer in New Orleans and Chicago;

3.) Northern California - $300 for a 1% share in a two year old filly that has shown some promise in which we (GRS) will be a minority owner.

The claiming group will be ready for action when loaded. The two year old group will be focused on developing a strong runner for hopefully an upper level three year old season. The NoCal group will be a low entry point, small position group in a nice horse to get a feel for ownership.

That's more than enough for now and we'll see how each does. Though the summer may be winding down, it looks like things are just starting to heat up here.