Sumwon Update
 

Steve just said on ATR that the plan is to take 75 days off and then run her at Fairgrounds in November.

hmmmm....we'll see..chuck said yesterday he didn't plan to leave for FG til dec, but i sure won't complain if they show early--since i'm off from t'gving thru the end of november!! long as she doesn't run the fri after turkey day, i'm supposed to go watch lsu beat the dogmess out of arkansas.

but for her, i'd be willing to change plans!

I didn't get to hear that piece of the show. Any reasons given or just a freshening? I'll try to get the archive of the piece or get in the car a bit early tomorrow am to catch it but any more info would be most appreciated.

all that Steve said was that and added unless she tells us differently. Not sure how to interpret that. He probably said it within 5 minutes before I posted it, so it is probably in the 6:00 to 6:30 slot of the program. Not sure of the reasoning, I am sure Steve will shed some more light on it.

Just a freshening, she's been in training for a while.

yes, she has. time for a break. they all need one from time to time.

As Chuck said, better to take one now by choice than later by necessity. Those mile and forty yards at Fairgrounds should be perfect for her.

yeah, someone said that if 9f doesn't fit her, than saratoga wouldn't be the right place for her...

whatever needs to be done to keep her happy and healthy. that is more important than anything.

She won't be her best at 9 furlongs but I am pretty confident if we ran that race on Saturday with the track conditions the way they were that she would have won.

From what Chuck said a week before her race Sunday, she was going to run once and maybe twice regardless of outcome, before getting a rest. But I understood the aim was running as a 4-yr old (after the 1rst of the year) as the FG's cards restricted races for 4 yr old mares that often come up light. It sounds like he is following through with that plan.

If we rest now we can probably get started in December.

i think you're right about that.

Those Churchill races were grueling, and don't forget she has already improved tenfold, alot going on for her in the last 4 months. She gets 75 days to chill and then she is ready to go in the durty.

Personally, from a sheet perspective, my guess is that she finally 'bounced', for lack of a better term, to about a 10.5 or 11, time to chill

Chuck will add more, but here's the situation. The thought had been to turnout for 90 days and launch a 4yo campaign at FG... BUT, there is an interesting substitute race (Starter ALW at 7f) at Saratoga that fits her very well the day after Travers that has Chuck intrigued. Give Chuck a few days and I think we'll know more.

Don't you think a race like that has the potential to be 12 deep and all sorts of craziness. People would ship in left and right for a race like that at a Toga type purse

Do you guys know about the new Erie track with HUGE purses? There is at least one race in the book now that fits, a NW1 Alw going a mile. This info brought to you courtesy of DrugS. The purse is over 70k I believe.

The conditions make it interesting as it's for F&M's that broke their maiden for $50k or less and have not won another. I'm not thinking anything. Just reporting that Chuck saw the race and wants to keep the option open.

Chuck is aware of Presque Isle and its' condition book.

Very interesting. We will stay tuned...

7f sounds like a good distance after 1 1/8. If it happens, I'm sure we will make the trip.

Thanks for the information Steve.

Only one horse (the winner of the 3rd) did anything on the rail in the stretch on Sunday. Both the routes had six furlong splits around 1:13 and the horses stopped at the exact same point on the rail in the stretch. The day before there was the Three in the Bag race where he ran six in 1:10 and then held on to win on the rail over a bunch of superior horses. My guess would be there were some complaints about the Three in the Bag race on Saturday and so they tried to slow down the rail and wound up overcompensating.

The track has been fair as far as speed/closing but the middle of the track has been where you want to be. I haven't seen jocks RAIL skimming at all. they are one-two paths out.

Yeah, it is worth noting that both horses that finished up in 40+ after 1:13 fractions were ridden by Calvin who probably had them closer to the rail than most other jockeys do. The few other horses not on the lead I saw skim the rail seemed to stop around the same spot as well. I'll have to go back and see where Loose Leaf was when I get a chance.

You couldn't ask for a more perfect condition than this.

Paul

I agree that the rail was pretty good on both Friday and Saturday. I think both yesterday and today it wasn't the best place to be though.

several of us had this conversation saturday during the 10th race. NO horse went gate-to-wire until the 8th and 9th races. any horse on the lead all "bogged" down in the same place, right about the 1/8th pole and the closers ran by, word i used was quicksand.. our thought for sunday was, if we have to be on the lead, try and go gate-to-wire, after seeing it finally done. both times it was done, the lead horse had about 1 1/2 length lead and the gaps never changed by the wire.
Sumwon fought off the 8 to just before the 1/16th pole, suddenly the 8 explodes by her followed by the 6-7. she was tiring but never quit but didn't have the fight like at CD.
had it been the 7th race sunday it may have been different.

For anyone curious this is what the Fair Grounds stakes schedule looked like last year. You can see what a perfect schedule setup there is if we could get in and win a December allowance.

http://www.fairgroundsracecourse.com...takes_sked.pdf

Jan. 20 (Sat.) $ 75,000 guar. Truly Bound Handicap 4YO/up fillies & mares 1 1/16 miles

Feb. 17 (Sat.) $ 75,000 guar. Chou Croute Breeders’ Cup Handicap 4YO/up fillies & mares 1 1/16 miles

March 17 (Sat.) $ 75,000 guar. Fortin Handicap 4YO/up fillies & mares 1 mile

all of this is rocking good news - Carnival comes early in 2008, February 5th is Fat Tuesday, if Sumwon found herself in a nice little stakes races sometime in late January would make for a great weekend in New Orleans...

of course have to get through 2007 first, just thinkin ahead! :)

Pffft. Forget those measly stakes at FG. Is Sumwon going to be 4 in April? If so, might as well run her in the Apple Blossom at Oaklawn.

Maybe after she sweeps the Fair Grounds stakes.

She would fit this like a glove.

All horses celebrate their "birthday" on January 1st each year regardless which month they were foal. She will be considered a 4yr old on Jan 1st.

She got a 76 Beyer.

I ordered her TG sheet, I"ll post it as soon as I get it. May take them one more day after a weekend.

I think the 1 1/8 distance was a good try for our girl, considering how she always has tried to come back on any horse that passed her. Seeing if she could do it given a little more distance made sense to me, she's ended up repassing those winners at Arlington and CD just past the wire. Good try for our girl.

I also noticed Chuck tried a copper-mouth bit on her this race (tried a tongue-tie last race) Also noticed that Calvin, being taller than Willie, ends up a bit more forward over the horse. Neither means anything special - just things I noticed :)

I think, if Chuck thinks she's good for it, the race later in Saratoga sounds just up her alley. And hopefully I could be there!

Thanks to everyone for all the pictures - they are awesome. Most horse owners are lucky to get a win pic - we not only have constant comment and open dialogue from Chuck and Steve, we also have all these terrific candids and "on site reports" from every race she's been in, plus the barn pictures. Wonderful! Sumwon has an awfully thick scrapebook :)

One other thing I noticed about that race - the 8 was hung wide out the start of the first turn, but was then used, passing outside on the second half of the first turn to get up to Sumwon and lay right off her on the outside.

They thought Sum was the threat in the race, and that jock was instructed to stick with her no matter what. A complement to our girl.

Starter allowances can certainly come up salty in general but you'd have to hope this one wouldn't be AS salty because of the condition excluding alw winners. Could still run up against a tough hard knocking claimer that for some reason hasn't won an allowance race. I would think this one would be more like the $50k claimer at CD we ran in than anything else.

I also like that perhaps this is a way to save the N1X condition and still run for a nice purse before the layoff. Conditions are an owner's best friend and anytime you can take full advantage of them while maximizing your purse earnings along the way, you usually end up much better off financially.

Given the purses Sumwon has run for, I haven't been disappointed at all in her running second a few times before she breaks the N1X condition. Unless you have a horse that can run through conditions quickly on their way to stakes company, milking big purse conditions is ok with me.

One other thing - I'm interested to know why 90 days for the layup?

I'm used to 60 days lay just for a freshening, then 60 days to train back to a race. I've done 6 months+ for injury repairs, or even 30 days for just a quick break and back to a race with one work.

So what's the Simon secret reason for 90 days? And I promise, I won't tell anyone!!!! :)