Probably should have paused the game....

A recent scene in the office of Jim Webber, owner of Otsego Farms:

INTERCOM:  Mr. Webber?  This is Jack from Security.  We've got a gal named Rachel at the front gate who has asked to see you.

JIM:  Rachel?  Ummm, name doesn't ring a bell.  Plus I'm swamped at the moment.  Hang on a sec, will ya?  Pause in conversation as he throws a Wii Bowling strike on the 108" LCD flat-screen TV.  Tell her I'm too busy Jack.  Thanks.  Turns toward leather couch.  Your turn Ettore.

Ettore from Olmo Dorato steps up and takes the controller in hand.

INTERCOM:  Mr Webber?  Sorry to bother you again.  Rachel says she's up from the Gold Coast in Australia and was stopping by to see you and Immortal.

ETTORE:  Un'altra divisione? Lei scherza? Questo succhia!

JIM:  Trying to stifle laughter at pissed off look on Ettore's face.  Rachel who??  C'mon Jack!  We're in the middle of something here.  Jump in the golfcart and take her down to the stable to see Immortal if that's what she wants, would you please?

INTERCOM:  Yes sir.

JIM:  Finally bursts out laughing.  Hahaha!  I'm kicking your ass Ettore!  Calcio il suo asino!

ETTORE:  Giusto per ciò, nessune razze dallo Capro per lei!

An hour later...

INTERCOM:  Mr. Webber?  I just wanted to let you know that Foxie has left the premesis.

JIM:  Foxie!?  Glances at Ettore with shocked look on face.  What do you mean Foxie?

INTERCOM:  Rachel said you might recognize her better by that name.

JIM:  Crestfallen.  Uh oh....

ETTORE:  Shaking head.  Non buono, il mio amico. Non buono.

JIM:  Jeez.  I've always wanted to see what she looked like....

ETTORE:  Controlliamo la telecamera di sicurezza!

JIM:  Bingo!  Both scamper off to the security room, giggling.

Killer eyes March 2013 return

Five year old stayer A View to a Kill, will make his 2013 debut in Week 10 at either the 13f Metropolitan Handicap or the 12f Pan American Handicap.

He's coming off an injury that was sustained in the Trinidad Gold Cup at Santa Rosa, necessitating a 2-month layoff.

Killer will make a couple more starts for Otsego Farms, then will be shipped to Bally Doyle to conclude his career.

Cell phone to his ear, Otsego owner Jim Webber said, "We hate to see him go, but this was all part of the original deal".  He then jumped into his 2010 Taurus SHO and continued, "Gotta fly fella's, I'm running late for the Red Wings game.  Then into the phone he said, "I'm on my way Ryan.  See ya there."

Otsego owner livid. Jockey fired.

In a profanity-laced interview, Otsego Farms owner Jim Webber blasted jockey Enrique Garcia saying, "there's no goddam way he'll ever ride for us again", after a very disappointing run by the 3yo filly Starfire this past weekend.

Starfire went off at 5-1 as one of nine entries in the 7 furlong Furious Stakes and finished 3rd.  A seemingly acceptable finish to most observers.

What infuriated Webber was the apparent lack of effort displayed by the filly.  "I'm pissed.  I'm not gonna lie", he fumed after the race.  "Garcia knows that Starfire likes to loaf down the stretch.  He was told in no uncertain terms to use the whip, and he didn't do it."

Starfire, as her sire Nightwing did before her, started slowly and trailed the field for the first 3 furlongs, falling behind by as far as 13 lengths.

With 2 furlongs to go, cruising comfortably and working hard, she had moved up to 5th and was gaining ground.  At that point her effort level dropped and she breezed in to the wire, finishing 3rd only because Wahoo Orange and Purple Heart both faded badly.

Webber continued, "I told Enrique to go to the stick at the finish.  I don't know what he was thinking.  He's through at Otsego Farms".

"This filly has a ton of talent.  She's just a little lazy.  I'll get a jockey in here who can follow directions", promised Webber.

Fun Video #1

Chances of us getting together? Not good.

I've wanted her for quite a while although I had forgotten that fact.

I noticed her several years ago and even commented on her sweet AR.  I've made attempts to buy her in the past, both via auction and privately, but not lately.

Today I saw that she is for sale.  She's available via auction, but it looks like the reserve is $400,000 and even though she's probably worth it, I'm gonna miss out.  Again.

If I still had $20,000,000 in the bank, I'd snatch her up quicker than you can say "War Machine".  But now that I'm down to less than half of my former bankroll, I am forced to be more frugal.  I'm not even flying my private jet over to London for Amanda's birthday this year.

Long story short...I like Sea Of Streets...always have.  As Lloyd Christmas said in Dumb and Dumber, "I like you Sea Of Streets.  I like you ahh-lawt". 

But not that much.

It's deja vu, all over again.

This is a transcript of a recent telephone conversation between Otsego Farms owner Jim Webber and another stable owner (SO) who shall remain unidentified.

BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

JW: Hello. This is Jim Webber speaking.

SO: Hi Jim, this is **** *****. Have you got a few minutes to talk?

JW: Sure ****. I've gotta get down to the training barn by 4:15 to check on Quasar, but I can spare a few minutes. What's on your mind?

SO: There has been a formal complaint lodged against you for negative comments you made in the Insider regarding the quality of horses on the auction page.  I got wind of it and thought I'd give you a heads-up.

JW: What the f*** are you talking about?    Wow, seems like this conversation has happened before.  Does this seem familiar to you?

SO: Nope. Anyway, you criticized another owner about their auction decisions.

JW: Yeah. So what? Is that illegal?  Jeez!  Are you sure we haven't had this exact conversation before?

SO: Not in my recollection.

JW:   OK, so what is the problem?

SO: Evidently, some owners feel that you should keep your opinions to yourself because you night be screwing up their potential deals. They feel that by verbalizing your opinions, you are forcing others to rethink their decisions. Furthermore, they feel that the criticism may exacerbate the feelings of inferiority that some new stables experience.

JW: Dammit!  Are you f#*king kidding me!  We've had this discussion before.  I know it!

SO: Ummm...are you allright?

JW: I guess so.  How about this as a compromise? I'll keep doing exactly what I want, and you can tell them to eat sh*t.

SO: I knew you were gonna say that.

JW: So did I.

END OF TRANSCRIPT

Chuck Norris wouldn't stand for this...

Ahhh...the good old days! 

I remember well the days when Otsego Farms always had a flagship racer.  One that I could throw into the big races and feel confident that a win was a possibility.

Nightwing was the first and ran in every big race imaginable.  Unfortunately, his career ran concurrent with Thunder Arctic and Memcay, which limited the chaos he might have wreaked.

War Machine came along and served up a couple years worth of domination, which I enjoyed immensly.

Next, the mercurial Nova flashed her hindquarters to many a filly for a couple years, only dipping below 96 PSR once in 30 career races.  By the way, I have never gotten over the snub Nova received when she was not even nominated for Sprinter of the Year in 2008.  She finished the year at 10-5-5-0 and her lowest PSR was 99.  Her record that year included two GR1 victories and a 2nd place in the Breeders Cup Sprint, which was a virtual dead heat with Victory Dance.

Next up was Union Jack, who was a consistent winner and world record holder. 

Since then, things have been pretty uneventful.

I've had some other recognizable racers over the years like Predator, Big Easy, Petenwell, and Confederation.  But, they either never quite hit the big-time, or I acquired them after they had already done so.

I'm standing firmly on the precipice of mediocrity right now.  My best racer, A View to a Kill, is a talented horse, but he can't seem to win the big race.  Plus, he'll be back at Bally Doyle in a matter of months which will leave me without any A-List horses at all.

It's definitely a humbling experience to get your ass kicked on a weekly basis by virtually everybody.

All that glitters is not gold...

A couple of years ago while looking at the horses available for purchase at auction, I fell in love with a filly named Titanium.  I liked the name a lot and loved the breeding.  Dubai Gold x Dulcinea seemed like a sweet match to me and I fully expected a horse with the capability to run 9-10 furlongs on either surface.

The bidding started to get up, but I was determined to have her.  I won the auction, spending a formidable $750,000 in the process.  That amount may seem modest compared to some of the enormous bids we've seen over the years, (Lazy Loper $6M and Princess Royale $2M come to mind) but it was the most I've ever spent on a single horse.  She currently sports a career record of 6-0-1-0 with $18,000 in earnings.  I'm thinking that the investment may not pay off.

This is why I'm pretty much done buying horses at auction.  They are simply too speculative.

I'll produce my own for a fraction of the cost.  If they don't pan out, I can cut bait and I haven't blown a huge wad of cash.

Titanium is a young filly who yet may fulfill her destiny as a successful racer.  She just may not be doing it at Otsego Farms.  Bottom line: She gets one more start.  If she doesn't hit the board, she's out.  As I said in a previous post, I'm ready to make tough decisions.  This will probably be the first of many in 2013.

Horse Sales - Auction or Buy Now?

There are two kinds of purchase options on the good 'ole sales page and it seems to me like we are getting a lot more of one than we should.

When I sell a horse, I have need of a stall or I feel that the horse doesn't fit into my plans anymore for whatever reason. Most of the time, almost always in fact, I sell the horse as a BUY NOW.

In some cases, because I don't want to quibble over a few thousand dollars, I'll sell the horse quickly and painlessly as a BUY NOW for a modest amount. Stowaway is an example. I sold this nice horse to Plugger Racing for $7500. Obviously, an excellent buy for Mr. Kayll as the sprinter has pulled in approximately $400,000 in winnings since then.

In the other cases, I sell the horse as a BUY NOW at a blowout price because I feel the horse is not worth owning. Even though I may feel that way about a particular horse, there appears to be an ass for every saddle. People do buy donkey's every day.

Which more or less brings me to the point of this article.

Why are so many owners using the AUCTION function for horses that should obviously (in my mind) be sold as BUY NOW?

Umstellan up for auction? Seriously? The only thing more incredible than that is the fact that there is currently a $35,000 bid. In fairness, he's probably immature and shouldn't even have raced as a 2yo, but he comes in last place every time he races so his upside is probably limited. I'm sure Rainbow doesn't need the cash so this horse should be a BUY NOW for $5000.

Secret Son up for auction? Quick! Where's my checkbook? A career record of 15-0-0-0 without a hope and HHH actually expects owners to bid on this horse? I'd try BUY NOW for $1 and hope someone is feeling generous.

There are horses that may deserve to be bid on. Anubis is a good example. He's fast and has a potentially long career. In GR3 or less races, he can be a consistent money winner. If the owner is willing to fiddle around with the AUCTION for a few more bucks, more power to him.

Up from the ashes....

I find myself in a very odd position this racing season.

I like all of my horses very much. There is not a single horse left that I feel is completely expendable. In prior seasons, I've always had a Hex, or an Altamente Reactivo that I could jettison off to make room... or to just make myself feel better about a bad stretch at the track.

In 2013 however, my stable is tighter than a new boot. With all of the breeders and foals, spots for racers are at a premium. I have already thrown all of the ballast overboard.

And yet, I'm expecting a below-average racing season.

Let's face the truth. My best racer, A View to a Kill, is nearing the end of his career and coming off a bad injury.

Sabretooth and Shatterstar are both serviceable runners, but neither is a GR1 option. Perhaps not GR2 either.

Huntress, Starfire, Titanium, and Ultron may never pan out. All have been average or worse thus far in their careers.

Arctic Fox was picked up strictly as a broodmare. Tombstone is about to be planted on Boot Hill, and Domino just hasn't shown the talent I expected, given her breeding.

That leaves four untested 2yo's who won't see the track until later this season (Crossbones, House of M, Nebula) if at all (War Hammer).

As I said. It's odd. I'm expecting the worst and yet, I don't really want to get rid of any of these horses. I'm gonna run with them and see what happens.

Why? Because I've got faith in my yearlings and foals that are coming up and I am willing to wait.

With foals on the way that are sired by the likes of War Machine, Nightwing, Union Jack, Jenny's My Gal, Run Missy Run, Revenge, Memcay, and Moet, I'm very confident that Otsego Farms will come up from the ashes to produce the roses of success.

Monsoon on the move?

With the acquisition of Arctic Fox, I have almost reached a point of satisfaction as far as my band of broodmares is concerned.

I looked her racing record over very carefully and liked what I saw enough to buy her without even seeing the AR. The fact that she was well-bred by Stonewall Stables was an added incentive.

When I examined her superlative AR, I knew that I had indeed hit the jackpot. When she finishes racing after the 2013 season, I'm sure she will be a very successful broodmare; joining False Demon, Shattered Record, Affirm Gal, In Spirit, Second Strike, Ace of Grace, and Immortal, in a group that is supremely capable of producing quality stayers.

Nova is my lone sprinter/miler and she'll stay on permanently because she was one of the fastest fillies this game has ever seen.

That leaves Monsoon. She is the reason that I said I was "almost" satisfied with my band of broodmares.

Her race record was pretty ordinary, but she did flash some speed. Her first offspring, Otsego's Sabretooth, is showing some talent. So why am I restless about her?

Well... she's probably not well-suited to produce stayers and she really wasn't fast enough for me to keep her as a source of sprinters. Translation: She's gonna be sold.

We are interested primarily in producing long-distance horses here at Otsego Stud. Monsoon is a nice horse who is capable of good foals, but she doesn't follow our business plan, and she's not quite good enough for an exception to be made.

Look for her on the sales page in a few days at an affordable price. Of course, private inquiries are always welcome.

My kingdom for another worthy horse...

It's been a while since I've had a horse worthy of the Kentucky Derby.

I've had the honor of winning the Derby once. Back in 2006, War Machine nipped Smart Money to win and then continued his march into immortality by winning the Preakness and Belmont, becoming the first and only horse to win the PF American Triple Crown.

War Machine's victory was one of four Derby entrants enjoyed by Otsego Farms. The others are detailed as follows.

In 2004, Nightwing finished 5th in an extremely tough field of 15, which included all-time greats Thunder Arctic, Dansilver, Dubai Gold, Congenial, Chatterbox, Blushing Approval, Vampirical, and Troll Tower.

Doomsday ran in the 2007 Derby and finished a disappointing 10th. His record coming into the race was 4-1-2-0 and included a 2nd in the Arkansas Derby at 9 furlongs. Alas, the distance was just too much and even though our trainer insisted that Doomsday had Classic-type stamina, he was never able to compete at that distance during his career.

Union Jack finished a respectable 7th in a 19-horse field in 2008. Jack had 6 wins under his belt coming into the Derby and even though our trainers knew he preferred turf, we felt he deserved a chance based on his record.

The last four seasons have past with no Kentucky Derby entries for Otsego Farms. The 2013 season will make it five in a row since none of my current 3yo's are worthy for a run at the roses.

We hope we can break the streak in 2014. Both Crossbones (Nightwing x In Spirit) and War Hammer (War Machine x Shattered Record) are surface and distance appropriate, and both of their sires are Kentucky Derby veterans. We'll see how they perform this year. Hopefully one of them will show the right stuff and get us back to Churchill Downs.

Less equals more.

As I was looking over my entry options for the first week of the season, it occurred to me that I really have very few racers. Of course I knew this, but it didn't strike home until I saw that short little dropdown list on the entry screen.

It seemed like fourteen racers would be sufficient to keep me occupied, but now I'm starting to wonder.

With such a trim stable I'll be able to give more thought to each horses schedule and development. That's good.

However, it will mean very few races every week. That's bad.

Case in point. Week One is upon us and I, like everyone else, is chomping at the bit to get started racing. After analyzing the horses, my roster yields just three or four potential starters. All of the others would have less than 30 days rest. My options sure are limited.

Domino, Sabretooth, and Tombstone are all right at the 30-day mark, and I would consider starting any of them now. However, I'd prefer that they had another week of rest, and since most of this week's fields are fairly heavy, they'll probably all sit until next week.

That leaves Sazerac. The 3yo filly will make her debut this week and will be my only racer. After a long off-season, starting off 2013 with just a single entry is a bit disappointing. But this is going to be the norm this season and I'm ready for it.

With my ten veteran horses scheduled to run approximately every 40 days and four 2yo's that'll average less than 6 starts each, I'll be lucky to top 100 total entries for the whole season.

You know what? I'm OK with that.

In the past, I was slowly expanding my racing string and I found that managing them all was becoming a chore. I had too many horses to enter so I didn't spend any real time choosing the best race. I just entered them in the first appropriate race and moved on. I came to the conclusion that less was more.

I'll try to keep my racing string in the 10-15 horse range and fill the other 30-40 stalls with stallions, broodmares, and foals.

Since I'll have 10-12 foals born every year, it'll mean that I'll have to churn through horses relatively fast. They'll have to show me something early or they will be gone.

We'll see how that goes...

Otsego welcomes Arctic Fox

The 6yo mare Arctic Fox (Thunder Arctic x Fox) was acquired by Otsego Farms today in a two-sided transaction that also saw broodmare Flawless being sent to History's Own Stable.

Otsego owner Jim Webber stated, "We felt that Arctic Fox would be an upgrade to our breeding operation. She was still available after the annual auction, so we contacted the connections at Endless Vista to inquire about her."

To make room, Otsego sold the fine broodmare Flawless (War Chant x Azeri) to History's Own. Webber continued, "Flawless turned out a couple of fine colts for us (Captain Britain, Darkhawk), but we felt that Arctic Fox was better suited for our studs."

Arctic Fox will race during the 2013 season, then retire and go to the breeding shed. She will be matched with either Union Jack or Nightwing initially, with Union Jack having the inside track.