Won...and Done

Talk about an emotional swing!  I was in a meeting in Mount Pleasant, MI when E Sveikata’s race was run.  I got into the car about 15 minutes after the finish of the race to a rash of text messages from a friend in Vegas sending me the good news: Kat won!  Our girl was a maiden now more.  She professionally dispatched a group of $32,000 maiden claimers running wide the entire trip, roused when asked and keep the competition at bay for a 3-length victory – like a 6/5 shot should.

At this point my personal phone was dead and I only had about 10% left on my work phone but I jumped on Facebook to post the news:

“A maiden no more!!! E Sveikata breaks her maiden at Camder this afternoon!!!!”  (You read that right – Camder.  It’s an iPhone…I have fat fingers…). 

Not much later, as the congratulations started coming in, a friend in southern Cal added, “Congrats Ted Grevelis! She got claimed!”

Huh…

The elation quickly dissipated as the reality settled in.  I couldn’t contact our majority partner because the one phone was dead and the one in my hand just died.  My concern was immediately for him, Gabe Puniska and his wife, Jenepher.  Gabe was there when Kat was pulled from her mother’s womb.  She was a homebred and supervised every bit of her development. He’s been in this game a while and has lived through the ups and downs, but I had no idea how he was going to react with her claim.

I had several hours to stew as we heading toward the hotel in Battle Creek.  When the dust settled, Gabe was okay.  He was understandably conflicted but in the span of a week offspring of his broodmare sold horses in excess of $55,000 (a half-brother of Kat was sold at Fasig Tipton earlier in the week for $25,000) – not bad for a mid-level claimer/allowance mare that toiled at Canterbury Park.

The feelings of the group, while a bit mixed, were generally the same: she was great, and we made some money, let’s move on.  So that’s what we will do in some way, shape or form.  All the partners may not stay and some new may join us, but we will move one, secure in knowing that we were part of a two-year old’s development, paying out with no possibility for a return in months and then picking up a 4^th, 2^nd, a win and being claimed for more than we paid for her.  We came out of her ahead, and that’s never a bad thing.

Tabby's Back

She’s in.  It probably won’t be pretty, but she’s in.  She’s fresh and feels good, so she has that going for her too, but she’s no sprinter and this was what we got: $7500 Optional Claiming, 6 furlongs over the main track.  Since Tabs started for less than $5,000 over the past couple of years, the race conditions like a starter allowance so no tag on her in here.

She drew post position one which, in general, shouldn’t be too bad, but her lack of early speed could take a toll on her in this group.  There is also a trio of Iowa invaders, winning sprinters all, which look to be real threats.  Amazingly, Tabby Lane is the morning line favorite at 9/2 which makes me wonder if the PPs are just sent through an algorithm and the morning line is spit out.  Just looking at our PPs you can see that Tabby is a better router than sprinter AND has already lost to one in here.  If I was doing the pre-race analysis for Saturday, I wouldn’t have her in my top 3.  Seriously.

Let’s take a look at the field:

1.      TABBY LANE (RHONE/CANCHARI)

2.      Gail’s Jewel (Robertson/Riggs) – Late moved secured a relatively easy last race win at the $5,000 level.  Cutting back a half furlong shouldn’t make a huge difference, but it can for a late closing type.

3.      Miss Nasty (Donlin/Butler) – In my opinion, the horse that SHOULD be the morning line choice.  Reeled off two consecutive wins at Prairie Meadows: at state bred $7500 and a dominating 8 length victory in an open $15,000 (though I believe that the $15K was for state breds in the race with the open horses listed between $6500 and $7500).  Speed figures put her in here.

4.      Indy Senorita (Miller/Velazquez) –Shipping in from central Illinois where she has been competitive at the $10,000 level, albeit with inferior speed figs.  Front running type will be looking to set the pace.

5.      Lucky High (Silva/Franco) – she’ll likely be close to the early pace and had a big win over the strip two back at $5,000.  She took her act on the road and got trounced at Penn National.  She’s back home and reunited with Geovanni Franco.

6.      Valari (Bends/DeLorme) – She finished a length behind a wrapped up Tabby when the two last met behind Terice.  Since then she has a single win in a $5,000 race.  Another that will want the front.  And if Tabs is going to stand a chance, she’ll need the pace to get pushed hard.

7.      Lazeka (Tracy/Rivera) – Another Prairie Meadows shipper who ripped through her $7500 conditions before finishing third against similar here last out.  She’ll want to come off the pace, giving Tabby some company.

8.      Fast Flight Tonite (Tibbets/Shino) – The victor in the race that ended Lazeka’s streak at Prairie Meadows, she should be right on that early pace.  I say go after them hard, Shino, but that’s just me…

9.      Terice (Kirby/Goodwin) – Done her best running on the lead early and that is exactly how she defeated Tabby several starts back earlier in the meet.  Since then she has won at $15,000 ($10,000 for non-MN breds) and finished 4^th in a stake and optional claiming while trying the turf.  She’ll be dangerous in here.

10.   Speakers Action (Hanson/Keith) – Won at odds on last out in a $5,000 claiming race, the 10 post does her no favors at all.  She has plenty of early speed but there is plenty of speed inside of her.  It’ll be a tall order to win from out there and her speed figs are a cut below.

Is there any possible way for Tabby to win this race?  Of course there is…it’s a horse race.  But it won’t be easy, the race will really have to shape up her way and young Mr. Canchari is going to have to keep her from getting pinned down late and getting her room to run.  The early pace will need to be fast and engage all the possible front runners.  Even then, as I mentioned, she’s going to need to have some room to run late and that one post could be problematical in that regard.

Races aren’t won on paper and certainly stranger things have happened, but she’s going to need help.  That said, I will be there, pink shirt on, ready to cheer her home with all the faith and confidence in the world.

Belmont, The Press, Tabby Lane and A Big Meeting

BELMONT and THE PRESS

Suffice to say that the weekend really didn’t go as anyone had planned.  It kicked off with I’ll Have Another scratching from the Belmont Stakes and that led to an odd chain of events that affected me personally.

I ended up, through a series of events and phone calls, on the local newsradio station here in the Twin Cities, WCCO, giving them a local “expert” opinion on the I’ll Have Another scratch.  That was followed by an appearance on Race Horse Radio with Paul Allen on KFAN later that evening.  We talked mainly about the Mystic Lake/Canterbury Agreement but I also threw in my ultimately misguided two cents on the new look of the Belmont Stakes. Not enough Ted exposure for you?  Well in that case if you caught KARE 11 at 10 on Sunday night, yours truly was on camera for a few moments discussing the future of MN racing.  All totaled, welcome to my 15 minutes.  Thank you Mr. Warhol!

My maiden attempt on WCCO was okay.  I was a bit too fast early, but settled into a decent rhythm.  The KFAN bit was better.  I actually felt a bit more comfortable in front of the camera to be honest, but I have to say, I truly loved the experiences and want to thank Chad Hartman from WCCO (and Kay King for referring them to me), Paul Allen from KFAN and also Jeff Maday for lining me up with Craig Norkus from KARE 11.  You can see the KARE 11 piece, featuring our trainer, Bernell Rhone, here.

As I mentioned, my take on the Belmont for KFAN was indeed misguided.  I really thought that Dullahan was the second best horse in that race behind I’ll Have Another and I was, obviously, mistaken.  Thankfully I wasn’t alone in that regard and, while misery loves company, the Belmont wasn’t a washout.  It was, in fact, a verycompelling race and day where, for the third Classic in a row, Mike Smith was aboard a front runner that couldn’t hold on until the wire.  I know some have criticized Smith for allowing Union Rags through on the rail, but tired horses drift and I can do nothing but commend Smith – for all three of his rides.

TABBY LANE

On Sunday, Tabby Lane stepped up in class and simply didn’t respond.  She may have been a bit too far off of slow fractions for the seven furlong race (:24; :48) but jockey Dean Butler, though a bit penned in through the turn, asked her when she had some room and she simply didn’t respond.  She was seventh, beaten only 3, but no one likes to finish seventh.  The truth could very well be that she was outclassed in that group. 

We’ll regroup and see what’s next with the new condition book.  If she’s feeling good, there is a $10,000 claiming event going a mile and sixteenth over the turf later in the month, but it’s too early to tell at this point.  What is clear is that her wheelhouse is right around that distance, surface and class level.  A six year old mare is going to be what she’s going to be at this point, so we’ll keep her around there and see what it brings us.

MYSTIC LAKE/CANTERBURY PARK

Tomorrow is the special meeting of the Minnesota Racing Commission to approve (or not) the agreement between Mystic Lake and Canterbury Park.  It appears that the folks at Running Aces Harness Park are going to try and get the deal squashed.  I’m not sure why, to be honest.  I’ve already stated my reasons why this is a good deal for Minnesota Thoroughbred racing in a previous post, so I won’t restate here, but some of the commentary I heard on the local PBS show Almanac from a Running Aces spokesperson, probably illustrates why they can’t get out of their own way. 

I feel for the harness horsemen, I really do.  They threw in with the casino lot to get a permanent racing facility built that probably would not have happened otherwise.  If they only knew how quickly ownership was ready to sell them down the river for racino, they would (or at least should) be appalled.  Well, “sell down the river” may be too strong a term, but they certainly wanted the majority of any racino funds to go to track ownership and NOT horsemen – diametrically opposed to Canterbury’s stance (which eventually won out in the never voted on racino bill).  Ultimately they are free to cut their own deal with the Band that would affect them most, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe but if I were the horsemen, I wouldn’t hold my breath.  None of the Canterbury funds are going to track management so I can’t imagine that the Mille Lacs Band would be inclined to do so with Running Aces.  Besides, apparently the feeling there is that a deal like that may be illegal because if you make a deal like that with an Indian Nation you become a subsidiary of that Nation (according to the Running Aces spokesman).  That kind of sour grapes, selfish thinking and twisted logic is what is going to doom the harness horsemen in the state.  They deserve better.

It could prove to be an interesting meeting Wednesday at 1:30 PM at the Shakopee Fire Station. It could be standing room only so get there early and strap in…then again, there might not be any fireworks at all.

Working With Andy Beyer

I was reading a story in the Daily Racing Form by Andy Beyer about a gentleman in Nevada diagnosed with pancreatic cancer trying to beat the odds and live long enough to make it until the National Handicapping Championship in Las Vegas. Reading the story reminded me of an episode I had with Beyer in college back in the mid-1980’s.

I was a senior at Colby College in Waterville, Maine.  My best friend, Paul Mooney, and I would make trips to play the races throughout New England when we had the opportunity.  Back in the 80’s there was a dearth of handicapping information out there so you grabbed what you could find and latched onto it.  For harness racing at Lewiston and Scarborough it was Ainslie’s Complete Guide to Harness Racing while for Thoroughbreds it was Beyer’s Picking Winners.

I had just come off of spending a year in Washington, DC spending my “year abroad” at George Washington University and Beyer’s column in the Washington Post was must reading.  While he covered racing from a national perspective he also covered the Laurel/Pimlico scene in great detail.  There were columns on track biases, equine stars and trainers, owners and jockeys.  I couldn’t get enough Andy Beyer and I wrote one of only two pieces of fan mail I ever wrote in my life (the other was to Mel Blanc when I was in high school – quite the combo, huh?).

In my letter to Beyer I told him how much I enjoyed his work in the paper as well as paperback.  I thought that the possibility of following horses every day was my idea of heaven and asked him: how do I get to be you when I grow up?

Beyer’s answer came back hammered out on a manual typewriter and hand signed: “You don’t want this gig.”  Or something to that effect.  I don’t have the response anymore, lost over time in my moves around the country and the world, but I will always remember the advice he gave me:  get a real job and follow the horses in my spare time.  He said that betting horses and writing about them wasn’t easy and that it didn’t pay particularly well, unless you got lucky.

I followed that advice.  I graduated from college, attended graduate school at Maryland (and Pimlico & Laurel) and had a series of “real jobs” until getting laid off this past December.  Thanks to the recommendation of a friend, I picked up a freelance job for the summer covering Canterbury Park for the same Daily Racing Form that Beyer calls home.  His advice is still spot on.  The gig is a lot of fun but I won’t get rich doing it.  However while I’m looking for a “real job” I am living the dream and – technically speaking only – working with my hero while I’m doing it.

I have never met Andy Beyer and the odds are pretty good that I never will.  I tried hard to follow his advice though the years yet when all was said and done, at least for now anyway, I ended up under the same masthead. 

I promise, Andy, I AM looking for a “real job”…unless I get lucky!

The Next Month

As I sit and write from the Motor City Hotel and Casino before starting the day, I realized that the next two weeks are jam packed with horse and non-horse activities. Some will keep me from my keyboard and others will have me rushing towards it.

Obviously I am touring Detroit today for IGT. This will necessitate another postponement of my Blog Talk Radio Show this evening, which I'm bummed about because I missed last week's show with a nasty stomach ailment. Next week I'll also be touring for IGT (back in Detroit for a bit of it in fact) so next week's show is out as well. Sadly, that was the show prior to the Breeder's Cup, so I need to find some way to carve out an hour in the early hours of Friday morning to make the show available for download. I could easily get a show for Saturday morning, but that would mean I would miss "Ladies" Day - which could be the more compelling of the two days! So just as listenership has reached an all-time high (if you can consider a month and a half being all-time), I'm hamstrung for three consecutive weeks!

As mentioned previously, the Fizzy Pop group is buttoned up. Checks will go out on Friday. It's a sad, but exciting day as one door closes, but a new door will be opening as we start to earnestly look for our next charge.

On the home front, Forrest, my 9 year old, is making the trip to Minnesota for his track break on Sunday. He'll be with me the next two weeks and then we both head to Las Vegas in mid-November. He's going to spend the last half of his track break with his mom and I will be attending the Global Gaming Expo. My hope is that I will have some time before show hours to talk a walk and check out some racing related booths. My schedule is already filling up quickly for that week, but I'm hoping I can slip away for a bit before the floodgates open one of the days.

So November promises to be a very full month. How often I get to here is open to debate, but I'm going to try, especially as horse events warrant! Stay tuned and please stay in touch - especially if you're looking for a piece of the action!

Capital Anyone?

Everybody has a horse to sell these days. I don't mean that in a disparaging or negative way at all. I have been literally inundated with e-mails and phone calls from folks asking me if I want to get a group together to buy into his horse or that horse. Some very nicely bred horses and some less regal. Literally from Coast to Coast, though not from north to south - though I'm waiting on a call from someone in Texas just to round out the Nation!

The problem is capital. Or, more specifically, the lack thereof. These are uncertain times and today's release of jobs data (nearly 4% higher new unemployment claims then most estimates) did absolutely nothing to quell any one's fears. Having a couple of grand to throw into a horse is not the first thing that people think to do with any excess capital they may have.

One of the very things that makes our sport unique - you can own a piece of your very own franchise - is slipping from the grasp of the ordinary Jane or Joe. $2000, while not chump change, was affordable for many folks a while back especially if it could get you a piece of a decent racehorse, maybe give you a few wins, some backstretch visits, some "inside" scoop and live out your dream of owning a racehorse. Now...not so much. These days, even $200 has become a stretch for many and all of us are feeling it.

So what options does that leave the Managing Partner of a racing partnership? Amazingly, there still are some options:

1 - Think Smaller: Go after a cheap horse with fewer partners and knock around trying to pay the nut. Obvious shortcoming? Cheap claimers are cheap for a reason.

2 - Think Smaller Part Deux: Take a smaller share of a larger horse. Pull together a few folks and grab 10 - 20% of a $50,000 high level claimer/allowance horse. Upside - you'll can get a nice run for your money. Downside - with such a small percentage, you're at the mercy of the larger owner.

3 - Think Smaller Part Trois: Micro-fractional ownership. Get more partners in at a couple of hundred dollars each. You may be able to pull enough to buy your own horse or a larger share with a minority owner. Upside - you're calling the shots. Downside - higher administrative and accounting costs.

4 - My Partners Meet Your Partners: GRS doesn't have enough partners and partnership 'x' doesn't have enough partners. One solution is to pack up, get together and make a go of it. Upside - both partnerships can get a horse...probably a relatively nice one. Downside - decision making is a bit complicated as are fees.

With the exception of number one - this holds absolutely zero allure for me - the other three are all in play these days. One thing does remain certain, I would like to be ready to go come Tampa Bay opening to start scoping out a horse or horses to bring back to Canterbury. That was a successful model for Fizzy Pop's group and we're looking to replicate that success in 2010. From now until then, we're looking at all kinds of opportunities. I'm ready to kick into growth mode and that means more groups than the one.

As I'm writing, more and more ideas are coming into my head. There are so many more things to talk about, I think that we'll tackle this topic on Wednesday night's radio show. I hope you'll tune in, call in and let me know your opinion on this topic. I'm moving to 9 PM Central Time on Blog Talk Radio starting October 7. I'll have a few more ideas then - I hope that you'll share yours as well.

Tonight's Show; I Am Woman

Just a short blurb update this morning as I get ready to climb aboard a no o'clock in the morning flight back to Minneapolis/St. Paul.

Tonight I'll be looking to get your views on whether or not there is too much racing right in now in N. America. Does the industry need to cut off a limb in order to make the patient healthy again? Or are there just too many barriers to making this happen? Please think about it and weigh in with your thoughts as we go On the Air With Owning Racehorses again this evening at 10 PM Central Time on Blog Talk Radio.

I AM WOMAN

She simply cannot pace a solid mile these days. She followed up a relatively tough trip 4th with just a terrible seventh Monday night at Monticello. She'll be given the once over by the vet again and see if there is any reason she keeps stopping on her miles. She appears sound with no heat and no visible signs of injury. Even blood work in the past has been clean. We'll just have to wait and see what the vet says and then see how VIP follows up.

The Silks

According to horseandhound.com, on October 4, 1762 at Newmarket, the English Jockey Club adopted the following resolution:

“For the greater convenience of distinguishing the horses in running, and also for the prevention of disputes arising from not knowing the colors of each rider, the under-mentioned gentleman have come to the resolution and agreement of having the colors annexed to their names, worn by their respective riders:"

Following this resolution was a list of the who's who of English racing and their respective colors to be memorialized for all time. This tradition spread to the new world and is in practice today. Some are very traditional like the Phipps black and red. Some are colorful and distinctive like the red, white and blue AP of Allen Paulson. Many are made up of solids, checks, stripes, stars. Virtually all are bright and colorful and reflect the distinctive personality of their stables. The one thing they all have in common: there was some method to the madness. Somewhere behind each set of silks is a story. I've heard stories as simple as I liked the pattern and the colors. Some reflect logos and other designs important to the creator. Here is one guy's thought process on the colors you see above (back view - front in these same, but with buttons).

I wanted to be traditional in the sense that I didn't want to be too overly designed. I didn't want some goofy crazy logo and was hoping to retain some class while still being distinctive. The job of logo design fell to my cousin, Christopher Kokinos, Partner and COO of The Halo Project (www.thehaloproject.com), a marketing/public relations/brand positioning company based in NYC. Actually, they are much, much more than that. I would encourage any of you looking for any kind of marketing assistance to visit the website and see what this remarkable team brings to the table.

I told Christopher what I wanted - a 'g' with a halo. Sounds simple enough, but I didn't really have a clear vision, so I asked him for a couple of versions and he sent me a 14 page .pdf document with some great variations on the 'g'. There were different fonts and styles as well as the incorporation of a horse head with the 'g' in several different styles. The creativity was very impressive. All of the folks that have seen all the variations were very impressed. Obviously I settled on the above design, but if any of you want to see all the options, please let me know. All designs are, of course, the property of The Halo Project and cannot be used, but you can see the creativity and thought that was put into the project.

The royal blue, white and gray combined to form the colors of my two alma maters - Peabody Veterans Memorial High School (Peabody, MA) and Colby College (Waterville, ME). The 'g', of course, is for Grevelis. The halo choice was two-fold, though both are related to my wife, Theri: she is a big fan of angels - one room of our house is actually called our 'Angel Room' and she collects angels of all kinds; and, most importantly, she is my angel. Pink is her favorite color and a shout-out to her.

What was left was to combine them as traditionally as possible while still maintaining some distinctiveness. I decided on white sleeves with a royal blue body. Rather than enclose the logo in a circle or something else, I decided to have it sewn on the body sans adornment. I really liked the results. I'm even more excited to see them on our jock, flying down the stretch at Canterbury Park and, hopefully, in the winner's circle.