Broodmare will be shipped to new home

Otsego Farms owner Jim Webber announced that thirteen year old broodmare Baby Greyhound has been traded to another stable in a transaction involving a yearling filly.

"We picked her up with the intention of keeping her for a few years, but the emergence of House of M, who will probably be retiring at the end of 2015, makes Baby Greyhound expendable," Webber explained.  "We had an inquiry from an established stable about her availability and an agreement was reached."

When asked for more information on the transaction, Webber was noncommital.  "We'll announce the details when the new season is underway.  The yearling we acquired is not a top prospect, but we'll work her out and see what we've got."

Baby Greyhound produced just one foal for Otsego Farms, newly-born colt Jackhammer; who's sire was Union Jack.

2015 Foals Arrive

UGOTTHELOOK - filly by Take A Gander out of Shattered Record 

The 2015 foal crop arrived late last night, but with the temperamental nature of the site recently, information is sketchy at this point.

Ten foals were delivered - 6 fillies and 4 colts.  That is a change of pace for our stable which has produced a preponderance of colts in the past couple of years.  In fact, prior to 2015, 14 of our last 18 foals have been male.

Here they are in alphabetical order:

Big Bang colt  Dirt Miler.

Big 'N Rich x Nova

Blue Fairy filly  Dirt Distance.

Nightwing x False Demon

Galaxi filly  Turf Classic.

Jenny's My Gal x Affirm Gal

Jackhammer colt  Dirt Distance

Union Jack x Baby Greyhound

Numerator filly  Multi-surface Sprinter

Reichenbach Falls x Second Strike

PracticallyPerfect filly  Turf Distance

Union Jack x In Spirit

Steel Lion colt  Multi-surface Distance.

War Machine x Ace Of Grace

The Golden One colt  Dirt Distance.

War Machine x Arctic Fox

Tricky Woo filly  Dirt Sprinter.

Yeager x Domino

Ugotthelook filly  Turf Distance.

Take A Gander x Shattered Record

Beat those drums for Refractor

Desi Arnaz plays "Babalu" on the Conga Drum

Thinking about broodmares got me thinking about stallions as well. 

For the past several seasons, I've had 2-3 stallions.  Nightwing, War Machine, and later, Union Jack.  All three earned their spots as studs by having exemplary careers.  Even with Otsego Farms relatively small size, reserving space for three stallions has not put a crimp in my plans.

Enter Refractor.  It looks like this fellow may carve out a stallion-worthy career.  Once the Columbian-bred colt matured midway into his 3yo season, the was a four-legged wrecking-ball laying waste to the long distance racing circuit.  He finished the year on a 5-3-2-0 roll, with a World Record, a Breeders Cup Endurance title, and PSN's of 121, 122, and 120 in his final three races.

He will be firmly in his prime during the 2015 season and projects to have at least 2 seasons on top of his game, meaning he will most likely be a force in the 2016 season as well.

If he is able to maintain form for a while, I'll have to consider keeping him on as a stallion, and that will upset my stall plans, which are already stretched tighter than the skin on a Conga drum.  But it's a good problem to have, right?

Just thinking aloud about my broodmare situation...

I positively cannot have more than 10 broodmares in my stable.

I am currently at full capacity and I have a fine broodmare prospect in House of M who will probably be retired at the end of the 2015 season.  Since I am interested primarily in Classic and Long Distance foals, Domino is the mare who least fits my needs, so she might end up on the chopping block, even as she is preparing to give birth to a foal any day now.

However, I'm not real comfortable letting Domino go.  I sold her once before, to my good friend Steven of Golden Acres, and immediately regretted it.  He was kind enough to sell her back when he ran into a stall crunch himself.  She eventually became an Otsego Farms broodmare, and rewarded me with a beautiful chestnut filly, Brick House (sire - Machete).

As I said, I'm partial to distance horses, but I'll take a nice sprinter if I can get one, and Brick House looks like a nice sprinter.  Multi-surface capable, with good speed and acceleration - what's not to like?  If Domino were to throw another talented sprinter this year (sire - Yeager), I would have reservations about letting her go.  I might be inclined to keep her and match her with a succession of sprinting sires.

If this were to happen, and my plans were to change, I would have to choose another mare to go and that would be either False Demon or Baby Greyhound.  False Demon was acquired specificially to breed with War Machine, but their first two tries were both disappointments; colt Trebuchet (who will debut this year) and filly Anck Su Namun.  In her career as a broodmare, Baby Greyhound has had mixed-to-poor results so far.  Mixing things up, I matched False Demon with Nightwing this year, and Baby Greyhound with Union Jack, who has a history of producing quality offspring.

So, one of those three (Domino, False Demon, Baby Greyhound) will be sold during 2015 to make room for House of M.  Who it will be depends entirely on how the new foals look.  Just a few more days...

Too long of a wait for 2015?

I think we'll all agree that Photo-Finish is an excellent horse racing simulation.  Yes, it has it's imperfections.  But they are being addressed on a case-by-case basis.  The game is a lot better now than it was 5 years ago.  There is progress on many fronts; from suggestions made by the rank and file and put into being by the sweat of Laurie's brow.

One fortress of concern however that has not been breached is the overlong off-season.  Three months is a period of time that will test the patience of even the most steadfast stable owner.

What can be done?  How can we bring this beast of an off-season to bay?

There are tasks that need to be done and they take time.  Perhaps, if we can cut out all of the fat, the best we can accomplish is cutting the off-season from 12 weeks to 8 weeks.  That would be a vast improvement.  I'd like to see it at 6 weeks.  Can this be done?

Suggestion One - Concerning Year-End Awards

Currently, Laurie makes the nominations then opens the voting process.  After the nominations are published, PF stable owners cast their votes and eventually the YE Awards are announced. 

I suggest a panel of 7 experienced PF owners with rotating membership that would make the decsions by vote.  These YE Award decsions could be made within a matter of days, saving a significant amount of time by removing the foot-dragging owners from the process.  This change could possibly save 1-2 weeks.

Suggestion Two - Concerning Year End Auction

This process can take up to 3 weeks from beginning to end.  First the time allotted to review the stock, then the auction itself, then the time to negotiate on unmet reserves, and finally the distribution of stock.

I suggest it be eliminated altogether.  Use the auction process during the year to buy and sell all horses, from breeders to foals.  Why not?  I see a potential savings of 3 weeks.

Suggestion Three - Concerning Breeding

This process consumes a month of Laurie's time and there is really no way to make a significant time savings with all of the manual labor that must be done. 

However, Laurie's idea of punishing owners who make mistakes by giving them a barren mare is OK with me.  This is a very important process and each of us should be willing to take a few minutes to make sure our information is completely accurate, rather than just haphazardly sending it in and expecting Laurie to sweep up after us.  Without her having to send incorrect spreadsheets back and wait for a revision, I would think that at least a week can be saved.

So, I envision a possible savings of 5-6 weeks if these suggestions were incorporated.  It seems that we could definately cut the off-season from 12 to 8 weeks and still give Laurie a little vacation as well.

Allright?  OK.  I'm glad that's settled.

Digging deeper to unearth a gem?

I took a look at the HRF statistics for my 3YO's as of their final race last season.  Without giving the actual numbers, here they are ranked from best to worst.

BREAK SPEED

1. Kit Fisto
2. You Know My Name
3. Deep Magic
4. Moondragon
5. Captain Britain
6. Azrael
7. Art of Seduction
8. Xtra Run

EARLY SPEED

1. Xtra Run
2. Moondragon
3. Azrael
4. You Know My Name
5. Captain Britain
6. Kit Fisto
7. Deep Magic
8. Art of Seduction

TOP SPEED

1. Xtra Run
2. Moondragon
3. Azrael
4. You Know My Name
5. Kit Fisto
6. Captain Britain
7. Deep Magic
8. Art of Seduction

STAMINA

1. Art of Seduction
2. Azrael
3. You Know My Name
4. Deep Magic
5. Kit Fisto
6. Captain Britain
7. Moondragon
8. Xtra Run

Interesting that Art of Seduction (AR says sprinter) has the highest stamina rating of the bunch.  His speed is poor, which again translates into him being a distance runner.

Azrael looks like the real deal to me.  His speed is good - just under the two sprinting mares Xtra Run and Moondragon, and his stamina is strong as well.  His prognosis is good for 2015.

Xtra Run is very fast, but has no stamina and her atrocious break speed is extremely problematic.  Even though her speed may be on a par with her sprinting peers, if she is 10 lengths down after the first furlong, the race may be over before she get stretched out.

Kit Fisto's relative lack of speed is partially offset by his quick starts.  His stamina is good, and should improve as he matures, so his modus operandi should be to get out front, put it on auto-pilot, and try to hang on until the end.

I am a bit concerned about Deep Magic's below-average speed.  He finished low both on early speed and top speed, and this is not an overly speedy bunch.  His stamina is a bit better than advertised though, so perhaps by running at 10F rather than 8F (as suggested by his AR) he can do better.

You Know My Name breaks well and has decent speed.  Coupled with her above-average stamina, it may be enough for her to build on her successful 2YO campaign.

Captain Britain (in spite of his decent showing as a 2YO) and Moondragon both look decidedly mediocre.  I'll be keeping a close eye on their progress in 2015.  If no improvement is made, they will be shipped out.

I hope you're not too attached to your heads.....

Wielding hooves like a pair of katana's and shooting glances as sharp as throwing stars, 2yo colt Samurai Jack hits the racing circuit for Otsego Farms this year.  Sired by Union Jack out of Affirm Gal, this handsome chestnut colt looks to follow in the footsteps of Captain Britain and You Know My Name, who were both sired by Union Jack and both scored victories as 2yo's last season.

Originally projected as our 4th best 2015 prospect, Samurai Jack has been moving up in the rankings due to excellent work on the track in training.  "Looks like he has a slight preference for dirt, although he'll run on turf as well", commented owner Jim Webber, who continued, "This is a quality racehorse, and I'd expect nothing less from a product of Union Jack."

Samurai Jack makes up one third of a triumverate of Union Jack colts that will compete in 2015, with the others being Jack the Ripper and Crackerjack.

A peek into the office of Jim Webber, Owner of Otsego Farms

Recent conversation between Otsego Farms owner Jim Webber and his Head Trainer:

HT: Do you have a few minutes to go over some horses Boss?

JW: Sure.  Let's do it.  Have a seat.  Would you like a Perrier?

HT: Thanks.  (Settles himself on leather couch and looks over notes.)

JW: Anything else I can get you?  No?  OK, let's get started.

HT: Shatterstar?

JW: He stays.  He's still serviceable King.  I want to race him one more year and then we'll see.

HT: (Nods head and jots down a note.)   Are we gonna send Kayson to any GR1 races this year?

JW: I know he's has disappointed in the GR1's so far King, but those 107/108/109 PSR's are going to start telling  very soon.  He's too darn fast not to win.  I want to see him in as many GR1's as possible.

HT: Uh huh.  Got it.  What about Machine Gun?

JW: That reminds me.  Excuse me King.  (Speaks into intercom to Secretary)  Celeste?  Please send Foxie four dozen roses and a $500 Gift Card to the Champagne Brasserie.  Thank you.  (Turns attention back to Trainer) I feel that Machine Gun will blossom this year King, but the clock is already ticking.  No more Stakes races.  GR3 or higher, OK?

HT: Gotcha.  We agree on Methy Bus?

JW: Right.  10F or farther until further notice.  He should have a monster year.

HT:  (Checks notes again) I want to race Refractor strictly at 16F.  Are we in agreement on that?

JW: Yes.  I want to own that distance King.  Is that clear?

HT: Crystal.  What about Art of Seduction Boss?

JW: You tell me King.  Is he a sprinter or not?

HT: He's no sprinter Boss.  I figure he should be running at 10-12F.

JW: Then make it so.

HT: (Smiles) OK Jean-Luc.  (Consults notes) What about Mocha Milkshake?

JW: That horse isn't going to be mature until he's 4 next year King, but not racing him is killing me.  Shoot for a debut in July and we'll see where we're at then.  Anything else?

HT: Just some odds and ends Boss.  Nothing we haven't already talked about.

JW: How's Juggernaut looking?

HT: He's a stunner Boss. 

JW: Excellent.