Did I just have another poor season?

And I thought that 2011 was forgettable....

The 2012 season was every bit as easy to forget. It was marred by unfulfilled expectations by my 2yo crop and by the mediocrity of my veteran racers.

In spite of generally high PSR's, A View to a Kill, Petenwell, and Kostya all had trouble finding the winners circle.

The 2yo fillies Starfire and Huntress both had some small success, but certainly nothing to get overly excited about.

2yos Titanium and Ultron, both carrying the weight of colossal expectation, were nothing short of busts. Ultron will get more time to straighten out but Titanium may very well be sold at the year-end auction.

Tombstone, the 3yo colt by Vampirical, has been very slow to mature. He has shown some improvement recently though. His last race of the year will determine if he has a future at Otsego Farms.

The other 3yo colts, Shatterstar and Sabretooth, have both performed pretty well, if not spectacularly.

Overall, a poor season for our stable. Next year could be a challenge as well due to the limited number of racers we'll be housing. The following horses (listed with their age for next racing season) are guaranteed spots:

A View to a Kill - 5M
Sabretooth - 4M
Shatterstar - 4M
Huntress - 3F
Starfire - 3F
Ultron - 3M
Crossbones - 2C (Nightwing x In Spirit)
House of M - 2F (War Machine x Classical Music)
Nebula - 2F (Dubai Gold x Nova)
War Hammer - 2C (War Machine x Shattered Record)

Everyone else is on the chopping block. If I see some nice performances this weekend, it is very possible that either Kostya, Tombstone, and/or Titanium will be back for another racing season. Domino will stay on either as a racer for another year or as a broodmare.

Bring on 2013.

Miscellaneous mayhem...

STABLE ROSTER
As the 2012 season approaches it's conclusion, Otsego Farms has begun the culling process that was necessary to make room for the influx of foals.

In the past week, four horses have been sold. They were 5yo male Eminem, 3yo filly Rich, 2yo filly Katana, and the foal Sovereign Hill.

During that same period, an opportunity to reacquire the 3yo Domino presented itself and a deal was struck with Steven of Golden Acres which will bring the War Machine sired and Otsego Farms bred filly back to Michigan. "We're still trying to decide whether to race her another year or send her to the breeding shed" confided Otsego Farms owner Jim Webber.

Four additional sales must be made prior to breeding season. Three of them will be very difficult. The fourth, Petenwell, will go back to Smokey's Stable.

PF FORUM
I think I'll go mad if I open the forum page up once more and see the same topics listed again. I bet I check it 5 times a day and for the past couple of days, the same tired old topics have hung on and on. I'm afraid to look again. Will someone please come up with a fresh PF-related topic?

SALES PAGE
As mentioned in the Forum, many of the racers for sale on the sales page (especially the buy-now horses) are a waste of money. Honestly, I wonder what people are thinking when they buy some of them. Even the least brilliant of us can look at a horses race history and determine if it is worthy of a stall.

I follow some simple rules:

1. If a horse is 2yo and lightly raced (less than 4 races) I will usually take a chance if the horse catches my fancy for any reason and if the breeding is acceptable and it hasn't shown a propensity for last place finishes.
2. If the horse is older than 2 and has shown flashes of speed (PSR's above 85), I will consider it as long as it hasn't consistently finished in the bottom third of it's races.

I will not ever buy a horse that has a long history of poor PSR's, several last place finishes, or has never hit the board in 6 or more races. I don't care if the price is $1, the horse is not worth owning.

Here are some recent purchases and how I see them...

Doire 4f $100 - A broodmare prospect I presume. Last place in six out of eight lifetime races. I'll pass even at just a C-Note.

Feud 2c $5500 - Just three races. Nice breeding. Acceptable PSR's. I'm in.

Hauntingly 3c $2000 - Has had his chances in 12 career races. Never hit the board and will be a 4yo next season. No thanks.

Light Touch 3f $5000 - Seventeen races with nary a win and a high-water mark PSR of 58. Ummm...nope.

Recital 4m $25,000 - Good speed, decent earnings, nice breeding. Why not?

Wrath 2c $1 - I'd rather have gum surgery than waste a stall on this horse.

HORSE NAMES
I'm putting together a list of superhero related names for my large crop this year. It's a little tougher coming up with so many. I may try to sprinkle in a few that don't fit my normal modus operandi, like I did last year with Deep Magic and You Know My Name.