Crackerjack, Darkhawk, Jack the Ripper, Samurai Jack

These are the foals sired by Union Jack and Nightwing.

Crackerjack (2013), 15.2 hand bay colt
By Union Jack out of In Spirit by Bellbuster

This horse will mature quickly and be at peak performance early (2-3).
This horse will have an average performance peak, at least two racing seasons.
This horse is ok on hard dirt.
This horse is good on soft dirt.
This horse is good in mud.
This horse prefers hard turf.
This horse prefers soft turf.
This horse has physical problems that may lead to alot of injury downtime.
This horse has average ratability.
This horse looks like it can run at classic distances

A classic distance turfer is exactly what we wanted with this pairing.


Darkhawk (2013), 17 hand bay colt
By Nightwing out of Flawless by War Chant

This horse will mature quickly and be at peak performance early (2-3).
This horse will have a very short peak time, perhaps only a single racing season.
This horse is ok on hard dirt.
This horse is good on soft dirt.
This horse dislikes mud.
This horse prefers hard turf.
This horse is good on soft turf.
This horse is very hardy and unlikely to fall victim to injuries.
This horse has a mind of its own and likes to run at its own pace.
This horse appears to be primarily a miler.

This big fella looks alot like his daddy, but doesn't have the steam to get the distance. Flawless put out a stayer last year with Union Jack and we were hoping for the same this year with Nightwing. The picture above is the superhero Darkhawk, who inspired this foals name.


Jack the Ripper (2013), 15.3 hand light bay colt
By Union Jack out of Ace Of Grace by Ace of Hearts

This horse will mature quickly and be at peak performance early (2-3).
This horse will enjoy a long peak performance time, several racing seasons.
This horse is good on hard dirt.
This horse is ok on soft dirt.
This horse is ok in mud.
This horse prefers hard turf.
This horse prefers soft turf.
This horse is very hardy and unlikely to fall victim to injuries.
This horse obeys its jockey and is flexible in its pacing.
This horse looks like it can run at classic distances.

Rip has a ton of potential and we very much like his chances of being successful. Really no downside that we can see.


Samurai Jack (2013), 16 hand dark chestnut colt
By Union Jack out of Affirm Gal by Affirmation

This horse will mature quickly and be at peak performance early (2-3).
This horse will have an average performance peak, at least two racing seasons.
This horse is good on hard dirt.
This horse prefers soft dirt.
This horse is good in mud.
This horse is ok on hard turf.
This horse is good on soft turf.
This horse is very hardy and unlikely to fall victim to injuries.
This horse has average ratability.
This horse looks like it can run at classic distances.

Another fine looking colt by Union Jack. Affirm Gal is a stable favorite so we have high hopes for this little fellow.

The last installment will preview the foals by the Triple Crown winning champion, War Machine.

Krakatoa, Juggernaut, Warp Factor Ten

This first installment will detail the foals sired by guest studs Doomsday, Jenny's My Gal, and Run Missy Run.

Krakatoa (2013), 15.2 hand brown colt
By Doomsday out of Monsoon by Storm Cat

This horse will mature quickly and be at peak performance early (2-3).
This horse will have a very short peak time, perhaps only a single racing season.
This horse is good on hard dirt.
This horse is ok on soft dirt.
This horse is ok in mud.
This horse is ok on hard turf.
This horse is good on soft turf.
This horse is very hardy and unlikely to fall victim to injuries.
This horse has average ratability.
This horse appears to be primarily a miler.

I expected a miler by this pairing, so no surprise there. Doomsday and Monsoon were both talented, somewhat underachieving racers, so I hope Krakatoa can take the next step.


Juggernaut (2013), 16 hand light gray colt
By Jenny's My Gal out of Shattered Record by Black Shatter

This horse will mature quickly and be at peak performance early (2-3).
This horse will have an average performance peak, at least two racing seasons.
This horse prefers hard dirt.
This horse is good on soft dirt.
This horse is good in mud.
This horse prefers hard turf.
This horse prefers soft turf.
This horse is very hardy and unlikely to fall victim to injuries.
This horse has a mind of its own and likes to run at its own pace.
This horse likes a lot of distance.

This fellow surpasses all expectations. Ready early, decent career length, good on all surfaces, and distance capable. Shattered Record has consistently turned out nice foals and JMG looks to have brought out her best yet. The supervillian Juggernaut who inspired the name is pictured above.


Warp Factor Ten (2013), 16 hand chestnut colt
By Run Missy Run out of Nova by Housebuster

This horse will mature quickly and be at peak performance early (2-3).
This horse will have a very short peak time, perhaps only a single racing season.
This horse is good on hard dirt.
This horse prefers soft dirt.
This horse is ok in mud.
This horse is ok on hard turf.
This horse prefers soft turf.
This horse has physical problems that may lead to alot of injury downtime.
This horse has average ratability.
This horse likes a lot of distance.

Bit of a surprise here, but not unwelcome. We were expecting a sprinter/miler, but got a stayer. This pair has a good a chance as any to produce a speedy colt. The fact that he also got endurance is very fortunate.

In the next installment, We'll release the info on the Union Jack and Nightwing foals.

2013 Foals have arrived.

Eleven foals comprise our biggest batch ever.

There were four sired by War Machine, two colts and two fillies, which was the largest group ever produced in one year for Otsego Farms by the Triple Crown Champ.

Union Jack sired three foals this year and they were all colts.

There was a total of nine colts and two fillies as detailed below:

Boudica - War Machine x Bold Alanna

Charlemagne - War Machine x Second Strike

Crackerjack - Union Jack x In Spirit

Darkhawk - Nightwing x Flawless

Jack the Ripper - Union Jack x Ace Of Grace

Juggernaut - Jenny's My Gal x Shattered Record

Krakatoa - Doomsday x Monsoon

Samurai Jack - Union Jack x Affirm Gal

Tomyris - War Machine x Immortal

Trebuchet - War Machine x False Demon

Warp Factor Ten - Run Missy Run x Nova

Information on running style and distance preferences will be passed along when the AR's are received and analyzed.


PLEASE NOTE: I've added a word verification step for those that wish to leave comments. I'm sorry for the inconvenience, but the site has been getting quite a bit of comment spam recently.

I want the horse. What's it gonna take?

Like everyone else in Photo-Finish, every once in a while I have an urge to buy a specific horse.

It's not usually a horse that just happens to show up on the sales page. It's normally a horse that I've admired for some reason. Maybe it is the name, maybe it's how the horse performed in a race, Perhaps something else.

I remember a few years ago, I commented on the fact that War Machine has ratings of EX/VG for speed and stamina in the Horse Racing Fantasy game. At the time, he was one of a very select few who possessed those stellar ratings. Shortly thereafter, it came to my attention that the filly Jungle Fever also had the EX/VG rating. Since that time, I've really wanted to own her.

I had a chance to buy her a while ago when she was languishing as an unemployed broodmare at Endless Vista. I was in negotiations with Laurie, but decided to pass when I noticed that she was a bit finicky on surfaces. Months later, I reconsidered and decided to pick her up at the annual auction, but the bids quickly escalated well beyond what I had in mind. She was sold to Yeguada Lore Toki for $1,451,000 and my chances of rectifying my mistake and finally buying her went out the window.

At the beginning of the 2011 season, I happened to watch an 11 furlong Allowance at Shenandoah Downs. I believe I was watching to check out Hamahiru, a colt by Nightwing. But, I was mesmerized by the superb performance of the 2yo Ansla Sax. He bolted to an early lead, and cruising magnificently, won easily by 5 lengths.

I corresponded intermittently over a few months with Jim Hutton about acquiring Ansla Sax, but could not pry him loose. Hutton mentioned that the AR stipulated his best distance at 10 furlongs, but I just couldn't believe it. Every race I watched followed the same pattern; a tremendous start, lead the field for approximately 6 furlongs, fade out of contention.

Regardless what the AR said, I was convinced Ansla Sax was a sprinter, and based on how he ran, the shorter the race the better. I thought I could make a winner out of him if I could get ahold of him, but Hutton would not relent. He had 2 unremarkable seasons at HHH, then was sent packing to Endless Vista.

There have been others. Some I got. Most I did not.

I've got my eyes open, so watch your email...

Time to roll the dice again...

Trying to tell a good horse from a bad horse by looking at an AR is like putting on a blindfold and trying to determine the flavor of a jelly bean by just feeling it.

I've got four 2yo's ready to hit the track and I've spent quite a bit of time over the past year just gazing at their AR's, trying to discern what to expect.

I've complimented myself on the pairings, nodded appreciatively at the surface and distance projections, chuckled at the sheer genius of the names, and imagined the accolades of my peers when these horses splash into superstardom.

Then the cold slap of reality hits me again.

Odds are that at least 2 of these four youngsters will crap out completely. One may pay his way in some moderate fashion. And, if I'm lucky, one will win a million bucks or so.

It's sad to think that my current euphoria over Crossbones, Nebula, House of M, and War Hammer may eventually ebb, and some if not all of these magnificent animals will be unceremoniously shipped off to who knows where.

Of course, there is always the possibility that one or more may hit the bigtime.

Let's get started. It's time to see what we got here!

Need some help?

This post probably won't make me any friends. And I'm probably chopping my own head off by continually bringing up this subject. But....

We've got to find a way to shorten, at least by half, the excruciatingly long off-season.

I understand that Laurie is virtually a one-man show as far as running and administering Photo-Finish. And, I applaud her efforts and determination. The amount of manual labor to keep Photo-Finish running during the racing season is staggering and I know that I couldn't do it.

Then the off-season looms with the awards, the reports, the auctions, the retirements, the breeding, the foals, and their AR's. It's a monumental amount of work and it obviously takes a single person about 3 months to do it.

However, a 3 month off-season after every 6 months of racing is simply unacceptable.

I have heard a few other people comment on the overlong off-season, but there really hasn't been any serious complaining. This makes me wonder if I'm on a one-man mission.

I'd like to see something done about it. Does anyone else feel the same way?

Keep in mind, I'm not criticising Laurie. She does a pretty remarkable job considering that she is just one person.

My suggestion is that we make that one person, three people. Or maybe five people.

I'm not suggesting that Laurie give up her position as Grand Poo-Bah of Photo-Finish. That wouldn't do. How about some help though? How about a few trusted people that can get involved and handle various parts of the heavy off-season load?

Wouldn't it be nice if the Awards and YE Reports got done in a week, then the Auction in another week, then the Breeding and Foal Generation in the third week and we were all racing again in 21 days?

Seems like it could be done if several people were working on these items concurrently, with Laurie's overall supervision, of course.

Any possibility something like this can be done?

2013 Foal names trickle out...

Otsego Farms has not yet officially released the names of their 2013 foals, but an insider in the breeding operation has leaked the following:

DOOMSDAY x MONSOON
Colt - Krakatoa
Filly - Krakatoa

NIGHTWING x FLAWLESS
Colt - Darkhawk
Filly - Nightveil

JENNY'S MY GAL x SHATTERED RECORD
Colt - Juggernaut
Filly - Dream Girl

RUN MISSY RUN x NOVA
Colt - Warp Factor Ten
Filly - Warp Factor Ten

WAR MACHINE x FALSE DEMON
Colt - Trebuchet
Filly - Trebuchet

The names of the other three War Machine foals and the three Union Jack foals have not yet been released.

She's outta this world!

Another 2yo that will make her debut for Otsego Farms in 2013 will be the petite dark brown filly, Nebula.

She was sired by Dubai Gold out of Nova by Housebuster, so she has the bloodlines to be a very successful miler. However, her training hints that she may have more success at longer distances.

Otsego owner Jim Webber suggested that they would give her a try at shorter distances, just because she has the speed, but her destiny appears to be at 10+ furlongs. He continued, "She tolerates turf, but is infinitely more comfortable on dirt, so that's where we'll concentrate."

House of M. Looks, runs like daddy.

She bears an uncanny resemblance to her sire War Machine. Many a visitor to Otsego Farms has commented on that.

House of M is a 15.2 hand chestnut filly by War Machine out of Classical Music by Black Tie Affair and she'll be coming to a track near you in 2013.

She's fully prepared and ready to run early in the season. "Loves dirt, hates grass", commented an Otsego trainer who then continued, "The boss says M will never race on turf. Not even once."

When asked about distance preference, the trainer beamed and said, "This girl likes distance. She's no sprinter, this one. I reckon 10-12 furlongs will eventually suit her well. Maybe more."

We tracked down Otsego owner Jim Webber and asked him how soon House of M might see the track. "Oh, we're in no hurry, She's ready to go, but we'll probably wait awhile until the races lengthen and the fields thin out a bit. April, perhaps May. We'll see."

Bomb's away!

I've commented a couple times about how I made a concerted effort in the past year to get some compatible mares for War Machine.

One of the mares I acquired was False Demon, who is by Fusaichi Pegasus out of Seattle Halo. When Mike from Noble Farms offered her up and I saw the AR, I knew he was right; this girl is the perfect match for the Triple Crown champ.

Her AR states that she matured quickly, and had a peak of at least 2 seasons. How about Prefer, Prefer, Prefer on dirt? Very hardy. Good acceleration. Breaks well. Best distance of 12 furlongs. Nice.

False Demon had a good racing career as well, hitting the board in 15 of 25 career races and earning over $1,000,000.

War Machine x False Demon. Whether a colt or a filly, the foals name will be Trebuchet.

Prepare for war.

Bottoms Up!

I was fairly vocal in my disappointment with the auction this year.

There was a huge number of veteran (4+) horses for sale and 99% of them were unfit to be racers. It was the most untalented, over-the-hill bunch I've seen in all my years at Photo-Finish. In fact, the vast majority of the 3yo's were below average as well.

There were just 25 2yo's for sale and since I personally have become highly suspicious of nonraced 2yo horses who have been cast-off by their breeders, I decided to pass on them entirely. My feelings are the same for yearlings, but to a lesser degree because their availability can possibly be attributed to impatience by the owner rather than a perceived lack of talent.

So, I was prepared to sit this one out.

That is....until I saw a pretty little filly that was bred by Woodbury Stables by the name of Sazerac. The unique name comes from a very old New Orleans cocktail which is a combination of Cognac and bitters.

To be honest, it was her name that struck my fancy at first. I've gone on the record many times saying that I've made buy/sell decisions based on name alone. Call it a gut feeling or some kind of intuition, but the name caught my eye for some reason.

I decided to take a look at her parentage. Her sire, Sendintheclowns, was no superstar, but he won over $1,000,000 and had above average speed. The dam Seattle Halo, did not race, but has had reasonable success as a broodmare and is the dam of recently acquired Otsego broodmare, False Demon. Plus Seattle Halo is by Seattle Slew. Nuff said. Sazerac passed muster.

I particularly liked the fact that she is an unraced 3yo. I didn't see this as a dump-off because I figured Martin of Woodbury wouldn't have held onto her for her entire 2yo season if he thought she was hopeless. Plus, she was acquired for the very reasonable price of $41,000. That modest amount won't even be missed.

So, Otsego Farms is the proud owner of Sazerac. And in her honor, I've sent one of my staff for a bottle of Remy Martin, and some bitters and orange peel to mix up a couple drinks.

Skál!

2013 Breeding Pairs

The transition from racing stable to breeding stable begins this year with our most prolific breeding season ever.

Eleven foals will be produced, which is a 57% increase over last year and a 175% increase over 2011. The plan will be to produce 10-12 foals per season and initially race them all to determine their potential. Those not passing muster in their first 4-6 races after maturity will be sold.

Going forward, I'll keep a relatively small number of veteran racers. The bulk of my stable will be for the training and evaluation of young horses.

The broodmares I'll use this year are:

1. Ace Of Grace - True ability at 16 furlongs on turf makes her a great match for Union Jack.
2. Affirm Gal - Turf ability and speed up to 12 furlongs. Union Jack again.
3. Flawless - Nice results with Union Jack last year, so we'll stay with a distance sire and give Nightwing a crack.
4. Immortal - Loves dirt and distances from 7-10 furlongs. I've been thinking War Machine all the way for this girl.
5. In Spirit - Turf and distance = Union Jack.
6. Monsoon - This mare has some inherent talent. I can sense it. We'll match her with old stable favorite Doomsday to produce a turf miler.
7. Nova - Her string of immortal sires will continue with Run Missy Run. She's had War Machine, Dubai Gold, and Revenge up to this point.
8. Second Strike - Excellent match for War Machine. She loved dirt and 8-10 furlongs and had good speed. This will be a good one.
9. Shattered Record - She's stayed with Otsego studs until this year. Now she's off for a monumental match with Jenny's My Gal. This is a special pairing in my mind.
10. False Demon - Another dirt-loving, 8-10 furlong gal that was acquired specifically for War Machine.
11. Bold Alanna - Successful racer leased from Oak Tree for 2013 for a match with War Machine.

That's the lineup for breeding season 2013.

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.

Otsego owner waiting for stable changeover...

We've always fancied ourselves as a racing stable.

For many seasons, I dabbled in breeding but did not really commit to it. I always preferred buying veteran racers or unraced youngsters rather than making the stall-consumptive decision to breed my own foals and wait for them to attain racing age.

Because I wasn't housing broodmares and foals, I had room for plenty of racers. However, over the years, I've found that it is intrinsically more satisfying to breed and race your own; even if it means racing quite a bit less.

Hence my changeover to a breeding farm. It'll be a transformation over the next season and a half, but I'll emerge as a leaner organization. I envision 7-10 racers with the rest of my space being allotted to studs, mares, and foals.

Next year will be a transition year. I'll only have four new 2yo's, and one of them (War Hammer) will be a late bloomer who'll get a pass for most of the season.

In 2014 however, we will throw ten 2yo's into the fray, including some of our most compelling foals ever. Including...

Azrael (c) - Nightwing x Affirm Gal
Deep Magic (c) - War Machine x Isca's Revenge
Quasar (c) - Revenge x Nova
Xtra Run (f) - Run Missy Run x Xtra Heat
You Know My Name (f) - Union Jack x Shattered Record

Now, if I can just get through next year. I hope Nebula (Dubai Gold x Nova) can help ease the pain of waiting...

One of us is crazy (and it's not me).

At 8pm today, the auctions for Eminem, Rich, and Katana expired. The high bids were $1000, $2000, and $1000 respectively.

"It really is perplexing", commented Otsego owner Jim Webber. "The fact that the PF community sees no value in these horses is quite surprising".

Eminem is a 5yo sprinting male who won his last race and collected a $42,000 purse. He was at auction with a slim $15,000 reserve and garnered just a single bid of $1000.

The 3yo filly Rich, who has earned over $100,000 this season, had a high bid of just $2000. "Shocking", Webber said with a shake of the head, "This horse has another year of racing in her and the makings of a decent broodmare to boot. $2000? Are you kidding? I've got pairs of shoes that cost more than that".

Katana is a lightly raced 2yo filly and the expectation was that the $15,000 reserve would be easily met. Again, another $1000 bid was all that was seen. As the auction deadline was reached, Webber exclaimed, "By the lack of interest, you'd think Katana was one of those 2yo donkey's throwing up negative PSR's. This gal only has 3 races under her belt and they've all been decent showings."

Webber stated that all three horses will remain at Otsego Farms until the end of the season, "I'll reevaluate their status at that time." As his iPhone rang with a trumpet fanfare Call to the Post ringtone, the Otsego Farms owner apologized. "Sorry. Hang on a sec please" and with a wink added, "it's probably a PF owner who wants to buy War Hammer for $1000".

Finally. A bunch of perfectly appropriate broodmares for War Machine.

War Machine has been a stud for 5 years. During that time, he has sired a total of just 7 foals for Otsego Farms.

Why so few? Well, two reasons come to mind.

First, Otsego Farms used to have a very small breeding operation. Second, up to this point our broodmares haven't been quite right for him.

Happily, both of those problems have been rectified this season.

We've made a commitment to breed 10-12 foals every year, half of which will come from War Machine. And, we've taken drastic steps to acquire nice mares, specifically chosen with the Triple Crown Champion in mind.

Immortal, Second Strike, and False Demon were all picked up primarily due to their compatibility with War Machine. These mares, along with Nova and the occasional leased mare, (Isca's Revenge last year and Bold Alanna this year) have given me new hope in tapping War Machine's potential as a stud.

We're very excited to finally have the means to start cranking out more War Machine foals.

Incidentally, Shattered Record, In Spirit, Affirm Gal, and Ace Of Grace will produce my future turf stayers, who will usually be sired by Nightwing and Union Jack.

For Heavens sake...someone stop me!

I swore I wasn't gonna do it. Buy any more horses, that is.

I've got 45 total stalls, 39 of which are currently occupied. I've got 11 foals coming in next year. As you can see, it doesn't add up very well. I gotta get rid of some horseflesh, not bring more aboard.

In fact, I made a small step in the right direction recently when I decided to send The Reflex back to Bally Doyle for future considerations. That actually opened 2 stalls for next year; hers and the foal she would have had.

I was feeling good and had even made plans as to which other horses would be sold to get me where I needed to be. Then Noble decided to have his stable blowout.

In spite of my resolve, I got to Mike early and picked up a couple nice horses. There were a few others that I coveted as well, but my sanity eventually reasserted itself, in the nick of time.

I just couldn't resist the broodmare False Demon. She is Prefer, Prefer, Prefer on dirt and has distance capability of 10-16 furlongs (best 12). That make her a picture perfect match for War Machine. So, the stall improvement I gained from The Reflex (and foal) is gone.

Then I saw the filly Xtra Run, and it was love at first site. She's Run Missy Run x Xtra Heat and that, my friends, ought to be a very fast horse. If not, the PF breeding program is in line for major revisions.

Those of you who own HRF know that Xtra Heat has the highest speed rating in the game and RMR, of course, cranked out world records like a Pez dispenser. Translation: Xtra Run should be fast. And, the fact that she has Classic distance stamina also bodes very well.

So... I'm in a stall crunch again. Some of my boys will have to hit the sales page after this weekend.

2013 Racing string decisions...

The 2012 season is winding down and the time for tough decisions is here.

OK, I admit it. I've been procrastinating. I know I need to clear at least 5 more stalls, but I've chosen to let it slide a while longer to see what happens. Some recent developments have further confused the issue.

Here is a laundry list of horses that will/may be shipped off before next season:

1. Eminem - He'll be a 6yo in 2013 and hasn't exactly been stellar this year. He won his last race though and that makes me wonder if he still hasn't got enough to stick around another season. Chances of going: 90%


2. Petenwell - He'll also be a 6yo next year. He's still competitive though and usually has a 50/50 chance of posting a PSR of 100. If he goes, it'll be back to Smokey's. Chances of going: 70%


3. Kostya - Won his last race and still has good speed. Plus he'll only be 5 next year. Chances of going: 10%


4. The Reflex - Acquired in a swap with Bally Doyle for Rogue. Pretty much done as a racer and I was thinking broodmare all the way when I got her. However, I may need to pare down by one mare, and if I do, she'll be the one who goes. Chances of going: 60%


5. Rich - She also won her last race and is still a young 3yo, so the jury is still out. However, she's not spectacular and I really need the stall so she may have to be sacrificed. Chances of going: 40%


6. Tombstone - I like him and I think he has upside, but his progress has been pretty slow. Chances of going: 15%


7. Katana - I was crucified in the forum for making a behind the scenes deal to acquire her (Otsego Unethical was the topic headline). After all that grief, she has not panned out. Chances of going: 75%


8. Titanium - Spent $750,000 at auction to buy this filly because of her sire, Dubai Gold. She has also been a disappointment. Because of the high investment, she may get a little more time to prove herself, but maybe not. Chances of going: 33%


9. Leaning Tower - A nicely bred colt that I bought for a song. I figured he'd crap out and I'd sell him at season end. He came up with a nice 2nd place recently and spun out a 94 PSR. He will probably get another year to prove himself. Chances of going: 15%
   

Five of these horses are gonna go. Maybe only four if one of them is The Reflex, because that would mean one less foal next year as well. I have just a few weeks to sort it out. If you have input, I'm listening.

Otsego studs knock out competition.

War Machine. Nightwing. Union Jack. Three successful fighters who were capable of going the distance.

War Machine usually delivered his knockout punch early. Wire-to-wire wins were his stock in trade.

Nightwing got stronger in the late rounds. When the competition was getting leg weary, The Iron Horse would land a haymaker and blow past his rubber-legged competition.

Union Jack was the quiet assassin. Never the flamboyant superstar, he would simply lull the competition into complacency, then outpoint them for the victory.

All three were stayers. All three were stars. Wonder why more stables haven't made arrangements to their send breeding mares to Otsego Farms?

Not including internal Otsego spots, War Machine has 6 bookings, Nightwing has 2, and Union Jack has just one.

"Frankly, it's preposterous", Otsego owner Jim Webber recently exclaimed, then softened a bit and continued, "It's really my own fault though because I have done absolutely no advertising, nor do I intend to."

Webber continued, "These guys were all heavyweight champs and they should be getting a full book every year, but it's really no problem. We don't charge for the spots anyway. We typically trade breeding rights in order to acquire the studs we want. That's how we got our Run Missy Run, Jenny's My Gal, and Doomsday slots this year, so it's worked out pretty well."

When asked about his own breeding plans this year, Webber shrugged and said, "That's all for today fella's. I gotta fly. I'm off to the gym for a half hour on the heavy bag." Then he motioned to a passing Otsego groom and chuckled, "Hey Mitch, you got that picture of LaFleur taped on that bag yet?"