need "imo" feedback as owner
 

... ok... throwing this out there for some feedback. one of my horses has been running at belmont in $44,000 races all winter and now the trainer & partner threw him into fingerlakes for (2) 18,200 races .... what's going on? i would like to hear some seasoned opinions before i make my calls. thanks.

call your trainer and partner and ask.

not really enough info to go off of but:

if he has been "running all winter for 44k" maybe your horse is stuck in a condition that he can't win at belmont and running at FL he will have a better chance of winning and clearing that condition by facing a softer field.

I agree, not enough info, but... If you are running for 44k on the inner in the winter, that does not equate to summer success at Belmont.

Had you said your horse was running for 44k and winning regularly, then by all means he should be given a shot at Belmont.

Is your horse jersey breed?

no .. NY. the horse is log jam.

did that .... said they couldn't get a race written for him (log jam, NY bred) at monmouth so they went to FL. so now i'm figuring the trainers daily fee vs. that size purse may not equate to a break even point.

OK, the reason I asked was, NJ State Breds have bigger purses than NY bred races. I can see where any owner of NY breds, may look into NJ breds in the future, for better purses, and lighter fields.

that's more or less our focus.... breed NJ breds - 1 a year -on a very small scale. some partnerships were formed 3 yrs. back which is how log jam got into the picture. squan warrrior is the only nj bred running this year at monmouth - did nicely in his first time start last sunday at monmouth.

The NJ racing season is so much shorter than NY that the purse differential is meaningless.

How do you figure that out? Most of the NY horses go south for the winter. I think spring through fall is a good meet, then ship to Kentucky, then to Florida. You have crap cards in NY most of the time, and AQU sucks all winter.

You still have the state bonus races daily in the winter for the NY breds. The J breds have a few months to make their money, then get the **** kicked out of them the remainder of the year

I don't feel like Log Jam has run lately. Considering he won his NW1X in late December ( the first day after the Christmas break....right? ) I would guess if they are shipping to Finger Lakes to run for so much less money that perhaps he has some issues? Obviously he's better running for the NY-Bred NW2X purse at Belmont or Saratoga, however they also don't run a huge amount of these going long, but you should ask them why they don't feel it's worth waiting for that race in NY......and also why he hasn't raced recently.

When was his last start?

Are you still with Contessa? He's usually very accessable and more than willing to work with owners for what he feels is the best course of action for particular horse.
Non winners of 2 is tough right now....When you say that you've been racing in Allowance company all winter, did you enter for the tag on 3/2/07? If not, you are looking at N3X and that is slim pickings in NY vs. State Bred Company....is that right?

The state breds own the AQ Inner meet. It's when the locals have the chance to make a living. Even at AQU in January, NYB maidens are running for around $40k. Race a Jersey bred and you have from May to November to make a living against NJ breds. The rest of the year you run at PHA or AQU or Penn but you wont get to run in statebred restricted races.

It's those "sucky" cards that allow some of the smaller operations to make it through Belmont, regroup during Saratoga and then gear up through the Belmont fall for another winter at AQU. The smaller barns wait until the big guns leave town that they plan to have horses eligible for conditions in Dec/Jan/Feb that they would have no hope in during June/July/Aug.

Yea I know all that, Gary and Anthony's time to get fed. What will they do when the welfare truck leaves town when the GOV sells the joint. NJ breds do well at the fair grounds, and also in Kentucky. Most NY breds will never make it out of their conditions, and never run in open company, so they will attemtp to make more NY bred races for the loosers. Make sense I guess.

still with contessa. log jam's entered 6 races since his december win (2 wins in 2006 and that photo-tie win on 3/2/07) ... btw... is that what you meant by tag? if so yep, we are looking at N3X and looks like we're we're written out ..... but after all of this feedback my gut instincts to accept a claiming race might be the wisest option.

btw

Hes won 3 times, last race was June 11th. Really the horse should blow that 4l condition that they write at finger lakes, then be put in for 25 to run. Nobody is going to claim a horse with no conditions whos already topped out as a mid level claimer.

Jersey, you can make pleanty of money with him knocking around for 25 and hes really a tough take for a quarter after he blows that 4L allowance condition they write at Finger

well if they're bred right nj breds hit florida too.... especially after the barn conditions at the meadowlands. if they're not worth the florida trip then they're not worth owning imo. (although now & then we switch trainers and send them to the minors).

Thanks, I forgot about the dead heat in early March.

There are no NW3X restricted to NY Breds at NYRA, and he really isn't fast enough to compete in open NW races at NYRA where he gets the restricted exemption. Therefore, his opportunities in NY are minimal and the condition at Finger Lakes is probably his best option. The truth is, with a lot of these NY breds, while it's great if they can be competitive in the conditional allowance races, once they blow their condition their value is usually not very high.

I would imagine that Contessa has a great handle on all this and is trying to find the best spot for him. You've done more than OK with him over the past six months.