Otsego Farms on brink of major sell-off?

We're a third of the way through the season and patience is starting to wear thin for a few horses who have not performed up to expectation. This weekend will be the acid test for four horses who are fighting to maintain a stall here at Otsego Farms.

4yo colt Azrael has been on the bubble for a few weeks now.  In fact, he found himself on the sales page a week ago, but gathered no interest, so he was brought back on board for one more chance.  He's actually a decent racer who has recently spun off  a couple bad showings.  If he performs well today, he'll stick around for awhile longer.

3yo colt Trebuchet, is surface picky and has shown mediocre ability so far.  He is a product of the War Machine x False Demon pairing that has been disastrous so far.  FD was acquired because of her seemingly perfect compatibility with stud War Machine.  Unfortunately, two tries produced Trebuchet and Anck Su Namen, who was so disappointing that she was shipped out after just one race.

4yo colt Mocha Milkshake has a slightly longer lease because of his late maturity.  A big, strapping black colt by Memcay, out of Gourmet Girl, MM has actually performed fairly well with a record of 6-1-0-2,  He's not progressing much though and owner Jim Webber has mentioned his name a few times as a potential sale candidate.  Trainers say that he may not mature until age 5, and that fact has stayed Webber's hand up until this point.

3yo colt Samurai Jack is a sentimental favorite at Otsego Farms.  He is out of Affirm Gal by Union Jack, a couple of favorites in our breeding system.  He is also named after Webber's fantasy football/baseball teams for the past 20 years, the Samurai Jax, but even that will not be enough to save him.  A bunch of PSR's in the 60's has put a target on his back.

Odds are that at least one of the aforementioned horses will hit the sales page today, with Mocha Milkshake being the least likely.

Week 15/16 results...

Weeks 15 and 16 of the Photo Finish 2016 season were very successful for Otsego Farms.  All nine starters finished in the money, although it must be mentioned that a couple of the horses benefited from small fields.  No matter how you slice it, a record of 9-3-3-2 is noteworthy.

Seven year old veteran Shatterstar pulled off a win, and in so doing has fashioned a career record of 46-11-13-7 so far.  Interestingly enough, his sire Nightwing had a career record of 46-11-13-5.  Eerily similar wouldn't you say?  Nightwing though, being strictly a GR1/GR2 type, has 5 times the career earnings.

Ettore Fieramosca, the 5yo sprinter who was picked up for $1000 last season picked up his 13th career win.  He has had a record of 7-4-1-2 since being acquired by Otsego Farms and shows no sign of slowing down even though he is supposed to have a short career peak.

Rising stable star Astrapios, looks ready for prime time after demolishing the field in a 16F allowance.  His time, an eye-popping 3:17.06 was a track record, the second in his last three races.  The connections at Otsego Farms are ready to throw him into the deep end of the pool, saying that he'll face off against Sunshine's Pluto and even stablemate Refractor as soon as his next race.

Methy Bus, Warp Factor Ten, and Jack the Ripper all finished second with nice performances.  Warp Factor Ten came out on the short end of a dead heat with Dark Knight's 4yo male Running Riot.

Fossett and 3yo filly Boudica both finished 3rd with Boudica's showing being attributable to a 3-horse field.

Juggernaut, finished 4th and now has a career record of 5-0-0-0.  This colt has sound bloodlines (Jenny's My Gal x Shattered Record), but is maturing slowly.  He has shown improvement though and we're not giving up on him.  We think he'll break out in his next race, which will be at a minimum of 10F to 12F.

Proposed sale rescinded. False Demon to stay on as broodmare?

Citing "second thoughts", Otsego Farms owner Jim Webber pulled broodmare False Demon from the sales page early this morning.

"She had not received a bid, making it completely legal for me to change my mind", Webber explained in a short phone conversation this morning.  "I was wavering on my resolve anyway, and when I saw that she had not drawn any interest yet, I took it as a sign that maybe she should stay."

False Demon, 12yo dirt specialist (prefer, prefer, prefer) has a celebrated bloodline with Kentucky Derby winners Fusaichi Pegasus (sire), and Seattle Slew (maternal grand sire) in her lineage.

"She's a tough, dirt-loving, distance horse, and I finally thought, why should I sell her?"

Five year old House of M will retire at the end of the 2016 season and will certainly be ushered in to the breeding program.  This creates the need to clear a spot. 

"We'll figure something out..."

"Rumors of my demise are greatly exaggerated" - Refractor

5yo Superstayer Refractor of Otsego Farms got quite testy recently with condescending reporters crowding around his stall.  The questions were coming at the big bay racer in rapid fire fashion.

"Are you washed up?"

"How do you feel about getting beat three times in a row?"

"Are you injured?"

"Is management to blame for your inability to win?"

Refractor shook his head, bared his teeth and responded, "No.  Pissed off.  No.  Maybe."

He continued, "My PSR's have been 110, 120, and 119, so it's not like I'm slowing down.  Honestly, I felt a little over rested and sluggish at the Diamond Stakes.  The Metropolitan was a debacle; I'm not fond of short races.  I hope Mr. Webber doesn't race me at less than 16 furlongs again. At the Melbourne Cup, I was the favorite and ran a 3:17.49 for God's sake.  That would have been good enough to win easily last year, but just wasn't this year.  Pluto had a career race and the filly Wherewouldwebenow had no weight on her."

"Mr. Webber is gonna feed me well and give me some rest.  I'll win my next race, I don't give a damn who they throw out against me.  I do hope that Pluto will be there though.  I have a score to settle with that pretty boy."

Just rambling...

Interesting factoid:  Since I have had my own studs, I have bred 45 foals.  Thirty of them have been by Otsego Farms studs War Machine (13), Union Jack (9), and Nightwing (8).  All of the remaining 15 have been single use studs with the exception of Jennys My Gal, who has been used twice.

I recently sent an unsolicited email to another owner offering to buy their horse for $1,000,000.  They didn't deign to reply.  I dislike that and consider it a discourtesy.  I always remember that kind of thing...

In a year where I've had quite a few disappointments, the first race win by 2yo French Twist (Deux Francais x Nova) was extremely satisfying.  His AR hinted that he might have the right stuff.  Hopefully he can realize his potential.

Three year old colt Astrapios, looked very handy indeed by finishing 3rd in the Caulfield Cup this weekend.  I didn't really expect him to win, but with Hagrid's Backhand being perhaps over her head distance-wise (she wasn't) and Molecular being on a short 14-day rest, I thought he might pull off an upset.  He looked very strong at the end, lending further credence to my opinion that he will be a 2-miler in the future.  In fact, his next race will be at 16 furlongs.

I won the Survival contest to start the season!  My choice, was a horse that I have been watching, Planet Fiftyone.  He had a patsy field and looked like a no-brainer to me.  Turned out I was right; then Iron Mike missed his pick, giving me the win.  I can use the 750k, and a spot to Sinking Fear will be very welcome.  I see him as a perfect match for my mare Ace Of Grace.

After selling Anck Su Namen and Kit Fisto last week, 4yo colt Azrael has hit the sales page this week.  He's not really a bad racer, but I'm looking for some new blood and he has not shown me quite enough to keep his spot.  I've got another 3-4 horses who are on the bubble as well.