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Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Somebody stop me...

I'm reasonably patient when it comes to my horses.  However, when I have a blue-chip prospect who has a record of 4-0-0-0 in the middle of his 3yo season, my patience begins to ebb.

In fairness to him, War Hammer's (War Machine x Shattered Record) AR states that he will mature at the average rate (age 3-4).  So, some slack must be cut in regard to his pitiful performances thus far.

But in his last race, a 8F affair on turf (which should be well within his abilities distance-wise), he went off at 31-1 and finished last, 31 lengths off the lead and 24 lengths behind the next worst horse.  That type of performance does not instill confidence, especially for a horse, as I said,  in the middle of his 3yo season.

So, why do I need to be stopped? 

Because I wanna sell this horse.  Every fiber of my being screams at me to put this horse on the sales page.  I've commented about it a couple times in this blog and the only reason I haven't sold him yet is because somebody who's opinion I respect suggested I hold out a bit longer.

I keep looking at my stall situation though and it's very apparent that several horses will have to go to make room for the new crop of 10 foals coming in next year.  So why not beat the rush and find a new home for this fella now?

You can carve this in granite.  He gets one more start.  I'll give him 60 days to rest (and mature a smidgen more) then he better show me something.

3 comments:

Chelsey T said...

I'd give him until the end of the season. You don't need the stall space now, and he might surprise you. If you put him up for sale - my guess is no one is going to bid on him (or at least much). So really you aren't losing much if you try to sell him now or at the End of Year Auction (maybe a little in maintenance and entry fees - but it might be worth it)

I've given my boy Kay's Heir until the end of the season before I pass judgement. In his last start he's gotten within 15 lengths... considering his average is around 45 lengths behind the pace - well he's slowly improving (I hope!)

Amanda O'Brien said...

Or you could sell him to me and I can keep him unraced for the end of hte season - i have plenty of spare stalls!

Jim Webber said...

I swore I was gonna stop at 30 stalls, then 35. I finally realized I really needed 40. Upon further review, I figured 45 would be best. Ultimately, I determined 50 stalls was optimum.

Jeez. I NEED 60!

OK, I'll keep War Hammer until the end of the season. That means he'll probably get 2-3 more starts.

I guess my resolve was not carved in granite. All it takes is a couple pretty girls...