Carolina Fuego Wins At Aqueduct

Most of what I write here focusses on the big picture in racing -- how Magna, Churchill or NYRA are doing, what's happening at the sales, what the economics of various niches in the racing industry are like.  But every once in a while it's fun to just celebrate being part of this great game.  Today was definitely one of those days.

My partnership operation, Castle Village Farm, had been pretty quiet over the winter. We'd retired a couple of horses, sent our better runners off for winter vacations, and had a couple of babies getting ready for their debuts.  And the there was Carolina Fuego.  We'd claimed her as a three-year-old back in June of 2007, and in 17 sytarts before today, she'd been in the money eight times, including a good second in the 2007 Delaware Certified Distaff Stakes. But she hadn't won for us, and the partners were, understandably, getting restless. In fact, back last summer, when her performance tailed off, we'd decided she needed a rest after two straight years at the race track, and gave her a couple of months of R&R at an equestrian facility on Long Island, just for a change of pace.

We brought her back to the races last month, and, despite being left flat-footed at the start, she made a nice run through the stretch to get third.  Today, we entered her back in a claimer for horses that hadn't won in six months -- in most cases, they hadn't won in a lot longer than that -- and she came through for us.

Sent off by the public at Aqueduct at an overlaid 11-1, Carolina bided her time toward the back of the eight-horse field, moved up into the turn, and pushed through to the lead in the stretch.  She then held off a late challenge and prevailed by almost a length.

Lots of high-fives in the box area, where a dozen of us were watching. Lots of smiles in the winners circle, and lots of win photos for the two dozen other partners who couldn't find a good enough excuse to get out of work and come to the track today.  And lots of appreciation for Leah Gyarmati's training and Sheldon Russell's very smart ride.

Sure, the first at Aqueduct on a winter Wednesday isn't the Kentucky Derby, or even the Empire Classic.  But, if you're in this game, there's nothing better than a win.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Economics of Owning a Race Horse in New York

I've been wanting for some time to write about the economics of racing from the owners' and trainers' point of view. And the quarterly ritual of preparing financial statements for my Castle Village Farm partnerships has finally provided both the motivation and the data to get started. So, this post will look at racing from an owner's point of view. I'll follow up later with a look at the economics of being a trainer. In both cases, I'll be focusing on the New York racing scene, that is, as an owner or a trainer stabled at Aqueduct or Belmont, and making an annual pilgrimage to Saratoga. New York has the best purses around -- they'll average over $700,000 a day at the upcoming Saratoga meet -- but it also has very high expenses. So, even with the kind of horses that most of us are satisfied to have -- solid, hard-working thoroughbreds -- not a stakes horse, but not a $4,000 Finger Lakes claimer either -- it's not easy to come out ahead -- even when you...
Read more

NEWSPAPER RESTRUCTURING IS PAINFUL, BUT NECESSARY

Financial pages are full of developments and changes at newspaper companies and these are being commented upon anxiously by those in the industry. Unpleasant conditions certainly abound, but these development are not indications that the industry is dead or dying in the near future. What they signal is that things which worked in the past are not working now, that newspaper companies are badly in need of restructuring, refocusing, and renewal, and that the boards of the companies and the company managers are taking badly needed action. The techniques for restructuring are no mystery. First, you need some cash. This can be obtained by attracting new capital through investment or loans. New York Times Co. did this recently by borrowings $250 million from Carlos Slim. Other firms are looking for friendly investors with liquidity. Another way of raising cash is by turning assets into cash. A classic move made by many types of firms is the sell their building and lease back any space that i...
Read more

Is the future of digital journalism an outside job?

Making small digital news providers sustainable has become the holy grail of journalists and the search continues for workable business models and revenue streams. Advertising may produce some revenue, but it will never generate sufficient resources to support digital journalism because so little advertising money is available for sites with small audiences. About three-quarters of all online advertising goes to the top 10 sites and Google, Facebook, Microsoft, and Yahoo account for about 60 percent of all online revenue. This leaves very little advertising expenditures to be contested among all other players--of which news providers are only a small fraction. At the same time, the prices paid for online advertising are falling because there are so many sites offering advertising, the advertising inventory is nearly infinite, and audiences continue fragmenting. This means the majority of funding for start-up digital journalism must come from elsewhere and online news sites—especially s...
Read more