It looks like Refractor may have come to the end of the road. That 4th place finish with the 86 PSR in the G2 Sandown Cup was disappointing and somewhat embarrassing for a horse of his stature. I am reluctant to retire him mid-season, but I don't want to sully his reputation with a string of low PSR, mid-pack finishes. His core numbers are down and since he's a 6yo, they are probably not going back up. He'll get one last race to show if there is anything left in the tank. A poor showing and he'll be immediately retired.
Three-year-old filly Natalia has me quite excited. She was a $21,000 auction pickup who garnered little attention, even though she had a record of 2-0-2-0. Natalia has a nice mix of speed and stamina and put it all together for an easy win in her last race at 8.5F.
Speaking of 3yo's, I'm very bullish on several others that I have in the stable at the moment. Battlestar is a stayer who has tremendous upside and will be running in the Belmont this coming weekend. Epic Journey is another distance colt who may end up not being quite good enough for GR1 competition, but he should easily win a couple million in his career. Hollands Best has stamina to spare and has fashioned PSR's of 110 and 120 in his last two races. Last but not least, Zombieslayer looks like he may do some damage on the distance circuit as well. Keep an eye out for these fellows.
It has been very gratifying to see Alphabet bounce back with nice efforts in his last two races. He finished 2nd in the Moonee Valley Gold Cup, then scored a win in the Sagaro Stakes, with PSR's of 106 and 114 respectively. Alphabet had a disastrous last place finish in the Breeders Cup Endurance to finish last season, but allowances must be made for the fact that his previous owner decided to enter him in that race on a scant 6 days of rest after winning the Prix Royal Oak on October 26th. What were ya thinking Foxie? :)
In Spirit has been a pretty reliable broodmare. Out of the four racing foals she has produced, two are millionaires and a third will undoubtedly become one as well. What makes this even more remarkable is the fact that I think I've been sending the wrong kinds of studs to her. Somehow, I got under the impression that she was a 12F type. In looking over her numbers recently, I believe that she has the genes for milers. I'm thinking of a stud in the mold of Big Easy for next year. Just thinking, mind you. Her last foal, filly She Bangs, by stayer Sinking Fear, looks to be the real deal. Maybe she'd be better off going to the spot I purchased with FDL's Heat Seeker?
