saratoga claim
 

i just claimed a lightly race 5 yr old for 15k at saratoga harness. my first start with him was on 5/15 in winners of 2 but not 4, just past the 3/4 pole he made a bad break and fin last.(maybe 4th or 5th witout the break.) the driver says his back leg gave out and he knuckled under. so after vet exam on monday 5/17 he gave my trainer medicine for EPM. How worried should i be about his future. i have been reading up on it but would appreciate input from some of you thoroughbred owners and trainers.

You may have a problem with that one!! I don't think the best way to claim horses is to continually claim from a barn with a .331 average. Eventually you are going to get burned. You must have money to throw away to get caught up in a claiming war between your young lady trainer and one of the best barns at Stga. Good luck, you are going to need it!!

"one of the best barns at saratoga"??? you mean best dopers right...both husband and wife were suspended 60 days and 1k fine for seperate doping cases. Or do you mean best barn for horse abuse. The husband has over $1,500 in fines for kicking horses he drove. Last fine was $700 for his 9th offense in 36 months(12-1-09). Or do you mean he is the best at whipping his horse after the finish line he got 5 days and $500 fine last April(09).No I really think you mean they are the best at "committing an act not in the best interest of racing" $500 fine 10-23-08. Is that the same reason the husband has not driven in a race since that famous short trifecta race at Monticello in Feb. of this year? Every place they race at they find trouble.IMO they are not good people and definitely a black eye on harness racing.The horse is doing much better he was underweight and dehydrated when I got him and the future looks very bright.

Isn't the object of claiming a horse to claim something you think you can improve upon? Would you be looking to claim from a Rick Dutrow or Rudy Rodriguez in the thoroughbred world? Do you really think Lightning Prince can be improved? He was a horse they paid $4,000 for, you paid close to $20,000. You did not research that claim very well in my opinion. As stated earlier, I think you got caught up in a crazy claiming war and you are fighting an uphill battle now. If you think the previous connections have such a bad rap sheet why would you be expecting big results from your obviously less credentialed barn? I am surprised they didn't throw in all of his equipment when you claimed that one for the profit they made. As I said good luck, you are going to need it. By the way, in case you missed it, Renoir has beaten the $15's twice since leaving your connections. :zz:

Well,we made it to the winner's circle on Sunday at Saratoga and set a new lifetime mark, but the EPM is getting worse and he probably will not go any faster and not sure how long he will stay competitve.

Congrats on the win, good luck going forward.

thank you. Lightning Prince is entered at Vernon Downs on Saturday night.We made it through the 45 days of captivity at Saratoga after the claim and the bigger size track will help him.

WOW!!!! Another lifetime mark for Lightning Prince.He knocked over 3 seconds off his mark and won last night in 1:51.4. His race went faster than the open company pacers. I hope he can keep it going.

Nice going. Glad to see he's doing well for you.

Nice job, and Josh Marks wasn't even in the bike. When does he go again?

I had Josh listed to drive but he went with Scott West's horse instead of mine. But his next start is this monday again at Vernon (race 9 #5). Because of his fast time last race the racing secretary moved him up 2 classes and we now have to race in division 2 for a purse of 8k. The one good thing is only 6 horses in the race.

big driver change today race 6 at vernon today Tim Tetrick will drive #9 Lightning Prince. I finally get (IMO)the best driver in harness racing behind my horse.

Congrats on the win. When did Vernon start running Monday afternoons?

thanks. only racing today because of the "BIG" CLINT BLACK concert on friday so this was a make up date. Tim Tetrick failed breathalyzer so he was off all drives. Josh Marks drove mine and won 5 races today. Prince set a new lifetime mark 1:51.2.

I hope he didn't drive up from Jersey. If Prince is going again at Vernon let me know and I'll come watch.

tetrick came up from the driving championship held at tioga downs on sunday. i got to meet all the biggest drivers in harness racing on sunday at tioga, brian sears, john campbell georgie brennan. ron pierce,jason bartlett dave palone,yannick gingras and local represetative bruce ranger. i told tim on sunday he was going to drive prince on monday and he told me he would try his best for me. when i got to the track today and saw tim sitting by himself at a table in the lower clubhoue my heart sank. when i approached him he lowered his head and said he was sorry that he could not drive my horse today. if prince checks out ok in next few days its time to tackle the big boys down at pocono.

what a roller coaster ride owning this horse is. i just got back to syracuse after watching lightning prince destroy the field of 15k condition claimers at saratoga.this was his 5th win in his last 8 starts and first time back at saratoga since june. last week at pocono in a 20k claimer he finished last. but this week he coasted to an 8 length win with the best driver at saratoga dan cappello jr doing a great job.

back to vernon sat night 8/28. the best driver josh marks (drove prince on 8/2 and set new lifetime mark of 1:51.2 and won by a large margin) is not available. so claude huckabone III is driving(drove prince to 5 wins ...3 before the claim and 2 for me). class is the open(the best at vernon downs). vernon combined open 1 and open 2 for a purse of 9k. very tough race against open company pacers ... lightning prince race 6 #4. only 7 horses in the race and top 5 get checks so.....his times are competitive but when he wins, he gets his own way and he gets brave on the lead and wins. saturday night he will be up against the best without the best driver in the race.

I put 5.00 and a mush on your horse Sat., sorry.

Seems like he wins or is not involved.

Prince goes to Mohawk and wins. After finishing last against open class 2 at vernon I decided to send him up north for the rest of the year. He will be racing in nw2(18k purse),nw3(20k) and nw4 (22k) until he turns 6 yrs old. I did not get any support from anybody at Vernon "he's only a 5 claimer", "he won't make any money up there" "you'll be back in a month broke" etc etc etc. Well he wired the field on Monday night with Randy Waples driving in 1:53 and paid $21.40. He beat a nice Casie Coleman 3-yr old who was bet down to 1-2. I want to thank my trainers Joe and his daughter Jennifer Sansone for a great job caring for Prince and the 5 wins in ten starts while he was racing in the U.S. But now the new trainer is Canadian Rheal Bourgeois and his daughter Nicky and after spending all day last monday with them I feel very confident that Lightning Prince will be sending lightning bolts at the Mohawk horses for the rest of the year.