I was starting to wonder...

Otsego Farms broke out in weeks 11-12 with a record of 12: 4-3-1-2 and earnings of $2.1M.

The 8yo super-veteran Shatterstar won his 16th career race and first G2 since he was a 3yo.  With a career record of 54: 16-15-7, he has moved into second place on the all-time Otsego Farms win list, trailing War Machine's 19 wins, and surpassing Union Jack's 15.

"Keep an eye on 3yo colt Epic Journey.  He's about to bust out.  I predict he'll win his next race", quoted Otsego owner Jim Webber on May 27th in the Photo Finish Forum.  EJ came through in a big way by winning the G2 Aami Vase this past weekend.  He was boxed in quite thoroughly until the final furlong when he found space on the inside and cruised past the competition for the win.

Methy Bus went back to 12F to find his mojo and did so in convincing fashion, winning the G2 San Luis Rey Stakes.  Leading from wire-to-wire, Methy Bus bounced back from a couple poor races with this commanding performance.  With his long-peak, it is entirely possible that he'll be back next year as a 7yo.

In a miniscule 4-horse field which included the flashy FDL colt Heat On Mars, Refractor reined supreme in winning the 12F $1,500,000 G1 Caulfield Cup.  For just the second time in his last 19 races, Refractor went less than 16F, but did so in impressive form.  Strangely, the handicappers put just 114 lbs on Refractor; the lowest weight in his career.  Heat On Mars was obviously slowed by the 126 lbs he carried, but we'll take this win and perhaps try Refractor at 12F again in his next race since the 16F field is so crowded with talent at the moment.

Alphabet, who was hampered by a 29 lb weight disadvantage finished 2nd this week.  Other second place finishers were Crackerjack, who picked up $500,000, and Boudica, who forestalled her departure with a nice performance.

Two year old's Big Bang and Tricky Woo both looked horrible, starting extremely slowly, trailing the fields and finishing well back.  I knew that Tricky was going to be a slow starter, but I was very disappointed to see Big Bang follow suit.

Let's shuffle things up a bit, shall we?

In my opinion, my breeding operation has been somewhat unsuccessful.  The studs I have used have been solid (mostly War Machine, Nightwing, and Union Jack) so I felt that a change in the broodmares might be necessary.

After analyzing all of the mares, I decided that the first ones to be replaced will be Affirm Gal and Domino.  Affirm Gal was an above-average runner who has the genes to produce nice distance foals.  However, up to this point she has not meshed well with my studs.  Domino has actually thrown some nice looking foals, but I don't feel comfortable using her with my distance studs because of her propensity to produce sprinter/milers. Her last foal, and first colt, Tesseract (by Kostya) is actually a distance horse who looks exceptional on paper.

Taking their places for 2018 will be newly acquired Revenge Troll and sprinter Xtra Gold who will probably be retired after this season.

Revenge Troll was available from Endless Vista.  Her distance and surface preferences, speed, and intangibles make her an ideal fit at Otsego Farms.  She will certainly retire after this season and will match with War Machine.

Xtra Gold has a similar style as Domino, but is more talented.  I will not use her with any of my stallions, but will try to inject myself into the sprinting business with her as a foundation mare.

Two other Otsego mares, Second Strike and Nebula, may be available for sale or trade if there is any interest.