Hosehead Racing LLC - Catching Fireflies
 

So I hire a new International Ops Manager and he sees my Santa Anita calendar on the wall and tells me that his former boss won the Kentucky Derby in 2010 (Animal Kingdom), and Breeders Cup and Dubai and Bev D (Euro Charlene)...I ask if I could buy the guy dinner to hear his stories.

As fate would have it, he was looking for another partner on a lightly raced Ralph Nicks-trained 4yo IL-bred turf sprinter that just beat stakes horses down at Gulfstream. Her name is Catching Fireflies, and she has 3 wins in 5 starts and she is fast.

Here are a couple vids of her last two races:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnoPbzejcJA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OagIJ-agOE

I love how she rated and battled and showed another dimension in that last race. Our jockey Edgar Prado said she refused to lose and that she has a lot of heart.

We nominated her for the $75k Turf Spring Stakes on FoY Day and I am flying down with my partner get licensed and meet her and Ralph. We are waiting to see how she looks this week before making a final decision.

Looking forward to seeing Hosehead Racing LLC on a racing program sometime soon. It is an homage to my hockey team and the bottle cap of our team beer: Rolling Rock

I may be asking some very basic questions about horse ownership on this thread and hope that you will be patient with me if they seem elementary. But I always find the best way to learn is to dive in - hopefully with someone who knows how to swim!

If anyone is down at Gulfstream FoY weekend, I'd love to buy you a beer and hear how you became such excellent handicappers and bettors (not always the same thing!). Mark and I are going to try and get a table in the paddock restaurant area on Saturday. I will also be there on Sunday, but my partner won't.

Cheers,

Otis

Her sire is Value Plus (Unbridled's Song) and dam is Saluki (Hennessey)

What I love about that is that both her grand-sires went head to head in the 1995 BC Juvy. And it was a classic!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fm-GP4DZCuI

O

Thanks for posting that. 2 gutsie grandsires, and Durkin calling in his prime. good luck with the horse.

Question- why Hosehead ?

Thanks, Benny!

I am the captain of the Chicago Hoseheads hockey team. We won the Hockey North America national championship last year in Toronto. The name has brought good luck and fun times to my life and hoping it carries on to the track.

Cheers

Otis

Have fun and good luck Otis. I have a Saluki (terrific dogs), so I'll be rooting for her.

Nice, Otis! Living the dream!

[quote=Benny;1015444]Unbridled Song giving Hennessey the stink eye coming down the stretch with Durkin makeing the call.....classic...G'Luck Otis, will be watching

Thanks, folks! I really appreciate all the good wishes. I am very excited to learn more about the ownership aspect of the sport.

I am sure there will highs and lows. I find it easy to shake off the lows (I'm from Buffalo -it's a necessity). It's the high points that stay with you for a lifetime.:tro:

Cheers,

Otis

Good luck Otis, and have a lot of fun at Gulfstream!

Very nice. Good luck this weekend!

(Love her name... adorable. :) )

Good luck with her and while you're down there if you have a taste for Italian food, Mama Mia's in Hollywood on the circle is excellent and as good if not better than Rosebud (and I'm talking of the one on Taylor St.)

http://www.miagrill.com/wp/

Otis..

That's great.. Very exciting. Will see you down here Saturday!

Let's not get carried away Sparky.

Mama Mia VERY good though. Bracciole when available is terrific.

:cool:

Thanks again for all the well wishes, folks! Much appreciated.

CFF worked yesterday 4f in 48:55 (6/20). Ralph said she worked good: "Look, she's a fast horse and she's going to work fast, which is exactly what she did"

Besides watching to see how she looks after the work, we still have to draw in! There are 26 nominated horses for the Turf Sprint. The priority is lifetime earnings. She has 3 wins in 5 races, but that's not enough to surpass some of the accumulated bankroll of experienced stakes mares (even though she beat them on the same track and distance last time out). Currently she ranks #22 on the list.

We'll see what happens. You never know! The good news is that she looks ready to run. We'll find a spot for her soon.

Dell: I appreciate the Restaurant recos! Grazie!

Steve: would be a thrill to meet you. I owe you at least a nice bottle of wine after tagging on to one of your P4 tickets a while back.

Cheers,

Otis

Just to clarify, I'm heading down to GP on FoY weekend. (Feb 21-22). She potentially runs on FoY day.

This weekend, I'm in St. Louis watching my son play volleyball!

Cheers,

O

Looking towards the future and being an IL bred, I'd take a long look at the Prairie State Festival at Arlington run during the middle of June. If I remember right the Purple Violet is a mile on the poly restricted to 3 year old IL bred fillies (oops just noticed she's a 4 year old) and the Isaac Murphy is 6f on poly but includes mares.

Easy $70K plus to the winner.:tro:

Nice horse and story! congratulations and good luck
in your stakes debut

You have a fine trainer there. He has done a remarkable job with that TVI horse - Speechify.

Good luck and enjoy the ride !!!

CFF drew in to the Ladies Turf Sprint. Pretty happy with the post draw (#2).

We'll be right next to the probable heavy favorite#3 Good Deed, a 6yo mare shipping in from the Fairgrounds (9 for 16 lifetime and $363k who runs Brisnet 100+ figs on the reg).

This will be quite an acid test for Flies. Her last out speed figs are 5th or 6th best depending on Brisnet or DRF, but she is still improving under Ralph Nicks' steady hand. I am hoping her first stakes race is a positive experience that she can build on.

I am nervous and excited for our filly, but know that she will go all out. That's the only way she knows how to run.

Go Flies!

Otis

Ralph seems to place his horses well. I don't know him, but from handicapping over the years, he seems to place them intelligently. Good luck to you and hope you do well. Racing horses has an element of trial and error and often the best of trainers don't know how good a horse is until they run them in company. Then they adjust.

Best of all luck, will be rooting for you !!!!!

70k?

I think those races are only for 50k now unless you are an IL Sire and Foal then you get to run for the full 100k.

And Block has a ton of good Fort Prado fillies for those races, I think Richie even has two or three of them right now down at FG.

Good luck with this filly though, not a huge fan of Nicks but none the less your at the dance!

I must be mistaken and thought they were restricted to IL breds and were for $125K? But know you are much more up on them than I am. I heard somewhere AP was going to run only Thursday to Sunday this summer?

Read the fine print. It's sketchy, per usual CDI.

I three days a week May and June and Sept and then 4 days a week for July and August. Probably wrong cause don't really pay attention anymore considering it will be demolished a month after the old man dies

Once I get licensed in IL, I will join the ITHA and get more wired in to the issues.

It would be an absolute travesty to shut down Arlington. I hope it doesn't come to that. (I live 10 minutes down the road). But the state of Illinois has a lot of problems and this is just one of many.

My partner will outline his philosophy on Illinois racing this weekend when we spend the day at Gulfstream. As an IL-bred, the turf races with added homebred money are definitely on our radar screen. Especially with all owners living in Chicago. But there may be other attractive options/tracks to consider. No decisions have been made about her future schedule and we are focused on this next race. The result will certainly tell us a lot more about Flies.

Should be an interesting discussion.

Thanks again to all the well-wishes! It's heartening to know that folks will be rooting for her. The race drew some heavy hitters, so it's definitely an underdog story. But her recent performances and affinity for the GP turf track encouraged us to give it a shot. :)

Go Flies!

O

Nice to get behind a fellow DT'r. I'll be watching and rooting.

Spyder from SC

Thanks, Spyder!

CFF installed at 5-1 on the M/L, 3rd choice behind Good Deed (3-1) and Jewel of a Cat (4-1).

I guess the oddsmaker gives her a decent shot at some black type, which is encouraging. She does have the 2nd high final pace figure on Brisnet Predicteform and Liam Durbin has her fair odds at 5/2 and his 2nd choice.

As I said before, nervous and excited. I hope she gets a clean break and we'll see what happens!

Go Flies!

Otis

The only thing we really learned about Flies today is that she can take a hip check!:)

She got bumped repeatedly at the start and pinched back which put her in a tough spot for a 5f race, where momentum is everything.

She did battle back and put herself in position for a stretch run, but tiring horses in front of her angled her 8-10 wide and she could not uncork a straight run.

Ralph was very positive after the race, saying she will win one of these things one day.

And then a few races later, a Value Plus (CFF's sire) won the G3 Canadian Turf. Congrats to Long on Value! Always good to see more black type for Value Plus.:)

What an amazing experience to be in the paddock before the race. Still pinching myself.

Looking forward to watching Khozan tomorrow.

Otis

Next time! :)

Wait till you get your picture taken!

Congrats on her hitting the board today! :)

Thanks MMSC!

The year did not go as planned for CFF, but very grateful to get some black type for her pedigree sheet. We hope this springboards her into becoming a productive race mare next year. She should get her highest speed fig yet. Those splits were scorching fast.

Update on the horses that I've purchased shares in 2015:

2yos (about to turn 3)

Strong Gale (f. Discreetly Mine - KY) - won her first start in a MSW at PID in August. 4th against colts at WO in next race. Resting for winter. Nick Caruso trains.

Mistevious (f. Stephen Got Even - ON) - Nick getting her ready to debut at Turfway Park in the next 6 weeks. Woodbine in spring.

Spanish Romance (f. Rip van Winkle - IRE) - Won her first two races in France. Ran in the G3 Albany at Royal Ascot and finished 6th out of 18, briefly had the lead with a furlong left. Trained by Eoghan O'Neill in Normandy. Will resume racing in the spring.

Dream Mover (c. Dream Ahead - GB) - Won his second race at Nottingham. Ran in a G3, but has been sidelined since August. should be back soon. Trained by Marco Botti in England.

Speak With Me (c. Lope de Vega - FR) In South Carolina. Yet to race. Probably a few months away. No American trainer yet. John Hammond had her in France last year.

MadameDubois (f. Count Dubois - SAF) Most recent acquisition won the G3 Starling Stakes in South Africa, and placed in two others.


Unnamed Yearlings (will be 2yo in 2016)

f. Americain - Johannesburg mare KY - purchased at KEESEPT15 sale. Very excited about this one, as there were not many at the sale. Should have some serious staying power. Sire won the Melbourne Cup at 2 miles.

f. Bellamy Road - Fusaichi Pegasus mare KY half sister to High Dollar Woman who won the G2 Indiana Oaks this year.

f. Badge of Silver - Indian Charlie mare ON This one was bred by Governor Brereton C. Jones who is pretty good at breeding fillies. Athletic.

f. Holy Roman Emperor - Galileo mare FR Selected at the Arqana sale by Criquette Head, who will also train. Great lady. A legend.

c. Elusive City - Anabaa Bleu mare FR Selected at the Arqana sale by Christophe Ferland. Looks like a sprinter. Built downhill.

f. Sun Goddess (f. A Little Warm) Sire won the Jim Dandy. Dam (Sarasota by Luhuk) produced Salutos Amigos and Sarah's Secret. She is a southern hemi 2yo (b. Oct 2013), based in Uruguay and trained by Pico Perdomo.

We are also pinhooking a beast of a Bodemeister yearling out of a Bernadini mare that was purchased at the Saratoga sale in August. NY-bred. We will try to sell him in the spring at the 2yo sales. If we don't get reserve, we will race for the NY-bred purse money. A couple shares available if anyone is interested (send me a PM).

Looking forward to an exciting 2016!

Cheers,

Otis

Thanks for the updates and good luck to you and to all the kids in 2016!

Thanks, MMSC!

Final record for HHR horses in 2015:

18-6-1-2. $114,726

Looking forward to 2016. My sophomore year as an owner. Haha!

Happy New Year to all. Keep cashing tickets!

O

Thats a damn good showing. Looks like you showed a tidy profit for the year. Good luck in 2016.

Thanks, jms!

To be clear, other than CFF, I own between 5-20% of the other horses as part of syndications through TValor, Polivka Equine, and Arqana. The record is directly related to their ability to spot horses and have them ready to race. I feel fortunate to have made these connections and am happy to put anyone interested in touch with these parties. Or just answer questions about what I've learned along the way as a first year owner. Just send me a PM. It's been quite a journey! Much more to learn...

While I did not lose a ton in the first year, the expenses of holding so many yearlings eclipsed the net income from purses earned. But it was good to see some early production from the younger assets. CFF was supposed to be the "earner" while the babies developed. But the 2yos wound up being the stars.

Cheers,

O

FYI. Nick Caruso is debuting our Stephen Got Even filly in a MSW $28k at Penn National (R4 7:22pm) on Friday night. Her name is Mistevious.

She was bred by Adena in Ontario out of an unraced El Prado mare, who has produced two sturdy in-the-money types:

Thunder Ball (Golden Missile) 55-8-9-10 $292k
Grand Mast (Mizzen Mast) 38-6-8-9 $140k

This is a 6f race with a dozen entrants. She may need more distance than 6f per her breeding. But it looks like her sibs were pretty adept at sprinting on the dirt, so who knows? She drew the 5-post, which is okay with me. ML odds are 12-1.

Looking forward to finally getting her in the gate. Hoping it's a positive experience for her!

Cheers,

Otis

Good luck with her!

Thanks, Danzig!

Some interesting FTS in this race from sires like Tale of the Cat, Majesticperfection, E Dubai, and Include. A deeper field than one might expect at Penn National on a Friday night in January.

Cheers,

O

Dream Mover made his 3yo debut today at Kempton (UK). Coming back after a serious throat operation to repair a wind issue. Very pleased to see him finish 2nd and driving. A little slow to respond when the question was asked, but he almost got there.

Video here:

http://www.thejockeyclub.co.uk/video...69993/15294744

Only snorted once and was not breathing too hard after. Kudos to the vet, and to Marco Botti on an excellent training job.

Otis