Hasn't 11 Year Old Spooky Mulder Done Enough Mr Lake....
 

Maybe I am making too much of this but it just saddens my Monday to see that a Mid Atlantic fan favorite like Spooky Mulder being sent out for a $7500 tag in the first at Delaware today. Once you win 37 times don't you get a nice vacation in a warm, sun drenched place with the other gelded legends in this part of the country.

Maybe the connections are trying to squeeze him over the million mark but this seems cruel as he apparently is well on the down side of his best performances finally at 11 years of age as he was beaten soundly his last two races at higher prices.

A near millionaire with a career line of....

Spooky Mulder Life: 84-37-14-4 for $949,468

Loved this guy but now in the best spirit of DT speak....

He's Done Enough.....

I remember back in the day when he ran a 116 Beyer at AQU in a 30K claiming race 2nd time off of the Scott Lake claim.

What's your opinion here Drugs...have they gotten about all they should be asking for from him?

I wanted to see his lifetime PP's but I guess Formulator doesn't do that anymore for some reason. They just had his last 15 races or so

Everyone who has been involved with Spooky Mulder adores him. It's not Lake's decision what to do with him. Ben Mondello has owned him for the most part and is his responsibility. He has always maintained that he would give Spooky a home when he shows that he's ready to retire. He's a horse that always seems to indicate that he wants to keep running.

He just missed by a neck in an open 30K race with a good fig in the 80's less than two months ago.

Obviously it's disconcerting to see an 11-year-old plunge that sharply in class .. but maybe it's just Lake rolling the dice and hoping no one claims him so he can have him elidigble for starter races.

I think if he runs poorly without an excuse - it's 100% they should retire him. I'd wait for a bad race at that level before calling for his retirement though.

Do his last two look like a horse that wants to keep running. Doesn't the claiming price here basically say....."take this horse please" If you wanted this one for the stable Steve I have $500 bucks that would be happy to be part of finding this one a home....we'd need 14 others but it's a thought if you have others game. Please don't take this the wrong way I am not trying to make this your cause I just think his best days are long past and if he really was competitive at even close to his previous level I'd feel differently but even if he wins at a level like this does he really need to go out at a fraction of his game competing with horses he would have dusted over the last decade or so.....hate to see a champ be embarassed that's all.

Drugs, 2 back I'll give ya' but he rarely was out gamed during his hayday like he was in that race as he had the lead most of the way especially on a sloppy track which he was always money on in past days but then the drop or double drop to 20K and he really looked bad the last half of that race. I didn't think about the starter allowance angle which is valid but watch that last race and tell me if he looks like a horse who is enjoying the game at the moment, let alone be trotted out again 4 weeks later at a third of the last price.

His race 2 back he was beaten a neck for $30k. Were people calling to retire him after the performance at LRL in January '08 when he 69 Beyered? That wasn't much different than the last effort. He went on to win three more after that last year.

I don't know what people expect owners/trainers to do with a horse like him. As Doug said, they may be trying to get him eligible for starters and may have a plan that if he runs badly and goes unclaimed they'll retire him.

From everything Pat Reynolds and Scott Lake have said, he's a particularly fun horse to have around the farm or barn. Very animated. No one associated with him would put him in a situation where he's 'embarassed'. He's a horse. He doesn't know how much money he's running for.

I'd love for Dee Tee and all of us as a group to get to own him. He's been one of my favorite horses for 6-7 years. I just doubt he's ready to be retired, and when looking into it last year, was told Mondello wanted to keep him long term.

Definitely one of my favorites as well, and while I watch every Lake move with a leery eye, I'm willing to give him a couple more shots before I say "no mas". As Drugs said, it's possible they're trying to slide him by to get him eligible for the $7.5k starter series.

Perhaps he has the claiming crown at CBY next month in mind.

But you don't have to drop him all the way to $7500 for that

Looks like he scratched

Must have heard us.....

$16k for the Rapid Transit, $7.5k for the Express.

Speaking of, Richwood Silver a possible?

No...There is a monster that was in for a 12,500 maiden tag in Louisana that is coming for what would have been her race, horse runs 90 turf beyers...There was an article about her about 2 weeks ago in the DRF.

http://www.drf.com/news/article/104913.html