Tim's Updates: 1
Update 21: Just a quick update. After Real Lace won at Laurel Park, Whip Smart won her race at Penn National by about 3 lengths. Tim and Mike just happened to get to see it at the local restaurant. There was a delay when there was a loose horse behind the gate. Alex (Who was at Penn being the groom/hotwalker for Whip) called Tim to say they were on the track. Thanks to the loose horse Tim & Mike had the few minutes they needed to get to the restaurant. This morning both Real Lace and Whip Smart looked very happy and relaxed. Real Lace was persistant about the treats that the visitors were giving her. Whip Smart was being groomed by Meghan and she was falling asleep. She must have thought she had a late night!
I think Grandma surprised Michelle on the track this morning. She is a racehorse although sometimes you might forget it when you look at her. Michelle was taken aback when Grandma took a good hold of her. Both survived without incident! Robbie was riding Real Lace's little sister around the round pens and her tail was right over her back. She was really feeling the air up her backside. Of course Robbie had a huge grin on his face so I knew everything would be alright. We had a wonderful visit with several FOBs today. Lyn was here and also Karen and her niece Julia. Lyn brought a goodie bag for Luke which he will enjoy for days and Karen and Julia went down the isle feeding carrots and treats to everyone. It is so nice to have people come to visit and enjoy the horses we are lucky enough to have. What a great morning! Like my sister always says, "something good is going to happen today, look for it!"
Have a great day!
Update 20: Tim just called to say Real Lace had won. He didn't give any details but was very happy as well that she was not claimed. I'm so happy for her! She tries very hard. Now, we just have to wait for Whip to run. It would just be too awesome if she would win. Keep your fingers crossed!!!
Later
Update 19: Just a little humid this morning. Things in the barn were a little stressed this morning. Once the horses get off to the races things should calm down. Mike took off from his regular job (taxes for Dupont) to go to the races with Tim. Tack boxes were being packed and fans were being loaded. Hopefully they have remembered everything. Tim packed the racing boxes himself so I'm sure it's all there. Michelle came in to get on 3 or 4 today. She rode a winner yesterday at Laurel Park for Bruce Jackson (another trainer here at Fair Hill). Apparently there was a group of people cheering her on at the local pub Wesley's. Tim bought a new bit (a happy mouth) for Who's Happy. She tried it out today and seemed to like it. Both She and Tim looked relaxed when they got back to the barn. Robbie galloped Quick Quest and reports that he is feeling just fine. I have heard no update on Grandma but as I was leaving the barn I saw Michelle's arms flung around her neck. It seems that she has already made another friend. Anyway, both runners are late in the day, if I happen to be near a computer I will try to update you. We do have a couple of FOB's visiting the barn tomorrow so we are looking forward to it. Hopefully they will have a great morning. Meaghan will also be here to walk Whip Smart and to Ride Luke. Could be a great weekend! I Hope So!
Later
Update 18: Down on the farm! Well we are off tonight to Double Trouble Too. This is the little farm where we keep a few lay up horses and also a couple of young horses that need time off. Tim wants to ride Little Mikey tonight. Mikey (Our Heartthrob) is owned by my running partner Mike who comes on the weekends to help Tim. Mike used to own Mikey's mother (Runnin Numbers). She raced and earned over $100,000. When one of her babies went to the sale, Mike ended up buying her. She is a little firecracker! When she shipped in to us she was very sick and ended up at New Bolton Center. She would nicker at Barbaro in the intensive care unit. She has good taste! Anyway, Tim is breaking her (or she is breaking him), and she is going great! Nothing seems to bother her!
She loves her boyfriend Timmy M'boy and lives out with him most of the time. It can be so exciting to see a horse start from scratch and eventually get to the races. I hope she can run like her mother.
Later
Update 17: The horses had a fairly quiet morning today. Meghan came in to take Luke to the track with Two of Wands. Luke jogged with her one mile and then waited at the gap while she jogged another mile on her own. Everything went great! Grandma went undertack after being at the all you could eat buffet for 2 months. Michelle her rider said that she should get paid twice as much to ride her! It's good to see her back. Whip Smart and Real Lace will both be running on Friday. Whip Smart is in the first race at Penn National and Real Lace is in the third race at Laurel. Should be quite a feat for the trainer to try to make it to both races. Our Diva (Real Lace's little sister) also went under tack for the first time here at Fair Hill. She is a good sized two year old that has all the right parts. We also had the Massage Therapist (Rosemary Crowley) here to work on Gator Nation and Who's Happy. The trainer reports that the horses are looked after better than he is. We would actually have to get him to slow down long enough to have a massage. That would be a trick in itself!
More Later
Update 16: How much better does it get? To train in such a beautiful place and to have such nice weather is such a blessing. We are so lucky. We were at the barn last night until 9:30 with a great blacksmith. Sonny Brodhas came to look at Two of Wands to make sure her feet looked good. He has some really great suggestions. Having a great blacksmith is just one more piece of the puzzle. Tim and I picked his brain like vulchers! He answered all of our questions and tried to explain things in terms we could understand. He also said that he only wished he was as good as some people think he is. To us he was pretty incredible. Here is a person who has taken a lifetime to study his art and he does his very best to shoe a horse without interfering with the horses natural motion. What a humble person. It will be an interesting thing to see if this helps her. She can be a bit tight behind and now hopefully we can keep her more comfortable. Fortunately for him (and unfortunately for me) he does not live in the area. He drove down from Saratoga just to look at a few of Tim's horses. I could have asked him questions all night although I'm sure my brain could not have retained all of the information.
I stopped by the barn this morning to visit the horses. Michelle had just returned from the track on Gator Nation. He put in a huge leap on the way home and then just put his head down and walked the rest of the way like a gentleman. Tim was getting off of Whip Smart. What a nice ride. She is a gem. We are so excited because Grandma is shipping back up to us today after a short lay up at Equivine. She is the big grey filly by Smoke Glacken. What a character she is. I know Meghan will be excited to see her, uncle Tim hasn't told her yet that she's coming in. Also shipping in with Grandma is Real Lace's little sister. I have not seen her yet but carrot man George says that she is absolutely gorgeous. Mass Romantic was tacked up waiting to go out . What an exciting morning at Double Trouble. I will update you some more when Tim calls me!
Later
Update 15: Beautiful cool morning today with little humidity. Tim reports that he saw a heron landing in the pond as he rode by. Quick Quest has come out of his race fine. We had him scoped after the race and he has a little infection which can be cleared up easily. This time of year with the heat and humidity infections can come up quickly. There are greater numbers of eye infections as well this time of year. Of course we are disappointed with the way some of our horses are running lately but this is the roller coaster ride of being a trainer. Red Aspen winning was such a high spot and then to have her come out of the race with an eye injury was devastating. Trainers are readily humbled! Tim had a great time looking at babies at the Saratoga Sale but we were outbid on both of the babies we were most interested in. At least Saratoga is a great place to be. What a beautiful place to watch really nice horses train and race. Saturday I stopped by Fair Hill to watch some of the horses train. Who's Happy toted Robbie Walsh around the track. She was quite a handful. Tim reports today that he galloped her a strong mile and a half with a german martingale. Anyway, its fun to watch the ladies give these guys such a hard time. Michelle took out Nautical Agent and Fortuna to the track and reported that both were moving well.
More Later
Update 14: What a gorgeous and crisp morning at Fair Hill. All of the horses were fresh but Two of Wands was especially fresh. She was throwing her head up and rearing around the barn with Tim. He did manage to stay on her and they eventually headed to the track. All went well. Meghan came in to braid a few manes for Uncle Tim and she also clocked Mass Romantic in another 3/8ths work. Mass Romantic did great! Real Lace also breezed (5/8ths) with Tim. She relaxed while galloping around and when it was time to break off it was all business. She did a handy piece of work. I took a few minutes to groom her off and she was quite happy with herself. Well, Tim was fairly relaxed this morning. Once he got Quick Quest off to the races he finished the morning with no stress. Hopefully he won't hit much traffic on the drive up. Mike(my running partner of many years who helps us on the weekends) went up in the van with Quick. I'm sure carrot man George will be there as well. George is 80+ years old and visits us every week to bring carrots and feed the horses mints. All of the horses know who he is but especially Red Aspen. She goes crazy when she sees him coming in the barn.
All of the horse know that they will get extra special attention when he comes. He very rarely misses a race. Anyway, we hope to see Quick Quest run a really great race today. He feels great and looks good and I believe he is for the most part happy. Now we just need some luck.
Another blog later!
Update 13: Just spoke with Tim, he is stuck on the New Jersey Turnpike in loads of traffic. Tim's owners have narrowed their pick to 4 or 5 out of the 30 they had origionally picked out to buy in the Saratoga New York Bred Sale. If the bidding goes well hopefully they will get a baby or two. Anyway, things in the barn were quiet this morning. Tomorrow will be a bit busier. Quick Quest is running at Philadelphia Park. We will see if the additon of blinkers helps him concentrate more on his job. Have you ever really tried hard to do something right and the harder you tried the worse it got? Well, this is what I feel like happens to Quick. He tries overly hard and gets caught up in all the excitement. He's like a little firecracker. Too bad a horse can't do yoga! I came into the barn this morning when Nautical Agent was returning from the track. She was very calm and seemed happy. Who's Happy was her usual quiet self. She is such a calm horse in the barn but when she goes to the track it is all action! She is moving great and eating well. I am sorry to read that Better Talk Now is out of the Sword Dancer. Better Talk Now out of Sword Dancer . What a neat old horse. It is always great to watch him run.
Update 12: Sorry for the late update today. Tim left last night for Saratoga. He will be looking at about 30 horses that his owners have picked out. Hopefully they will find something that will work. We looked through the sales book to mark the Stallion Averages and the Stud Fees. Just a few of them had sold in prior sales. All of this information is looked at before you even physically inspect the babies.
I stopped at the barn this morning to check on things. Andrea and Michelle had everything under control. The horses all seemed to be happy and everyone was calm. Fortuna had no problem finishing her dinner I fed her last night. When she goes off her feed we will know there is a problem. Robbie Walsh had arrived early for his first set, unfortunately Quick Quest was napping. We left him to rest for awhile and decided to tack up Real Lace. She is such a fiery red head. Anyway, everyone survived. If you haven't checked out the Ad on Alex's Website that will run soon in the thoroughbred times, check it out! (Messages section). This is a great ad!!!
Later
Update 11: No luck at the races today. Fortuna seemed to run great for a half mile but then gave in. She has come out of it fine and is headed back to Fair Hill. Back to the drawing boards with her.
Update 10: Just had a call from Tim. He and Mike are on their way to Delaware Park for the 3rd race. The officials have decided to let the races go. Anyway, of course he said ( and we all know) it was extremely hot today. Kitty and Two of Wands worked an easy 3/8ths of the Tapeta track this morning. They both went well. Two of Wands is of course very forward from being in the two year old in training sale. Robbie Walsh rode Real Lace this morning and thinks that she is moving great. Michelle is our new rider (since we lost Alex). She is a member of the Amateur Riders Club of America and won a race at Colonial Downs last Friday. She has been at Fair Hill for several years working for Mike McCarthy and we are happy to have her galloping for us. Anyway, she took Gator accross the fields and both rider and horse seemed happy upon their return to the barn. Mass Romantic (my sister Andrea's favorite) galloped nicely today with Tim. She is a sweet filly by the very popular stallion Not For Love. He has definately stamped her with his good looks and we hope to have a lot of luck racing her. Hopefully all will go well at the races today.
Will Update you after the races
Update 9: OK the weather this morning was not good. The horses were truely relishing their soapy baths! Gator Nation was back jogging around the fields today. He is in good form and was terrorizing his groom as she mucked his stall. It's great to see him so cheeky when he is really a very shy kind of guy. Real Lace went to the Tapeta track with Tim to gallop one and a half miles. She is a great ride and can get quite excited coming home. This morning she was pretty quiet, I think the heat helped with that. Kitty (Tale Tails) galloped today with a shodow roll and blinkers to get her more focused on training. There are several types of blinkers: full cup, french cup, and cheater blinkers. She has at the moment only got cheater blinkers on. Luke had a lazy day in the porta pad. He enjoys his work but every once in a while we have to give him a day off. Delaware Park may cancel the races tomarrow due to the heat. We won't know until 4pm. Fortuna may not get to run.
Another Update Later
Update 8: Not such a bad morning weather wise. We had some rain in the night and the main track was a bit sloppy. The Tapeta track was fine. Meghan took Luke to the track this morning with another Two Year Old (Kitty) . All the girls love Luke and she went nicely. Whip Smart also went back to the track this morning and the excercise rider reports that she is moving great after her 2nd place finish last week. Tim decided it was best to take Quick Quest back to the gate with his blinkers on. In order to get approved to start with his blinkers he will have to break from the gate with his blinkers on for a gate card. He should have no problem doing this.
Fortuna is in this Wednesday at Delaware Park in race 3. Hopefully we can get to the winnner's circle.
Another Update Later
Update 7: It was a cooler morning this morning and the horses appreciated the slight break in the weather. Meghan came in to ride Luke this morning. He escorted one of the Two Year Olds (Two of Wands) to the race track. She was fine but it is always a good idea to make sure they are use to a pony before they get to the races. Luke is very colorful as most of you know by his picture and if they are ok with Luke then almost no other color pony will scare them. This sounds like a funny thing but to some racehorses a paint horse can be scary. Nautical Agent trained today. She was very happy to go to the track and seemed to enjoy herself. Fortuna also trained today. She had an easy gallop and hopefully will get into a race on Wednesday at Delaware Park. She is a beautiful gray filly and loves to eat. We have to feed her first most days to keep her happy.
Update 6: Just heard from Tim. Very hot and humid morning for the horses and they were enjoying their soapy baths. Mass Romanic worked her first 3/8ths with us this morning and she went nicely. Robby Walsh took Nautical Agent to the track this morning and she did her usual high stepping all the way home. Tim is trying something new with Quick Quest. This morning he had blinkers on for the first time. This hopefully will help him focus and concentrate a little bit more. This little horse can run he just needs to figure things out. Some horses get it all together very quickly and some need time. He does continue to improve and hopefully we can get him to win a race soon. Quick is a great horse to be around and has tons of personality.
Cheers!
Update 5: Scenes from Saratoga. Just a quick update on my dinner with Barclay Tagg and Robin Smullen last night. Yesterday they won a race with a first time starter "Rebounded".
The owners had dinner with us and could not have been happier with their horse. They were so excited that he handled himself like a professional. Robounded even picked grass and had a roll after the race. Robin reports in that Funny Cide is doing well as a pony but still has to be let down just a little more. He got quite excited on the turf course yesterday. She is so happy that Funny got to stay with them as a pony. No Biz Like Show Biz was resting in his stall when I visited. What a gorgeous animal.
Will update Double Trouble as soon as the boss calls.
Later
Update 4: Just got an update from Tim. Who's Happy went to the track for the first time after finishing 2nd in her stakes race last weekend. She is very happy and seems to be fine after a tough race. Robbie Walsh rode Two of Wands (Two Punch filly) who went around the fields. She was in good form after breezing 3/8ths of a mile a few days ago. She's moving great and has quite the attitude. Whip has come out of her race last night just fine and her little friend Meghan was in the barn this morning to hot walk her. The two of them enjoy each others company. Just going to Alex's new website now to check it out.
Scenes from Saratoga,
Sitting here at Saratoga enjoying the weather and the nice horses. Most of the horses are now on the grounds for the Fasig Tipton Selected Sale. There are some beautiful babies.
Blue Horse Charities: bluehorsecharities.org will be here to set up a booth to hopefully get some more support for the horses that are rescued. Check out thier website to find out more about this organization.
Another update later
Update 3: Tim reported in late last night saying that little Whip was 2nd by a nose. She ran a great race. The pace was very slow the first half mile (52 seconds) and it was a sprint for the last half a mile. Hopefully she will come out of it ok and we will give you an update in a few hours.
Update 2: Tim and I would like to thank Alex for all of his hard work in the past years. Not only with this website but also in the barn riding our horses. We have enjoyed reading his posts as quite often we are so busy that we don't know what is going on. Alex has done a wonderful job keeping everyone up to date and informed on important issues. We hope that we can continue to get blogs on our website from Alex. We will miss him in the barn!
Now to the barn news. Yet another hot and steamy morning today. The horses were enjoying nice baths after their morning workouts. Nautical Agent has come back from Colonial Downs and seems to be fine. We have been taking her accross the fields which she enjoys very much. Tim and I have both watched her jog for soundness and we can pick out nothing that might be bothering her. This says a lot because I am very picky about how the horses are moving. Non Pariel also went accross the fields and was quite happy today. Kitty went to the track today, no doubt missing Alex as her usual rider. Tim managed to keep her happy and she is doing great. Red Aspen's eye continues to improve but the issue is still not resolved. We are still treating the eye several times a day and hopefully it will continue to move forward.
Tim is on his way to Penn National with Whip Smart for the first race. She is such a sweet filly and we hope that she is in the winner's circle tonight. We also at Double Trouble have had to say goodbye to Amanda who spends her summer vacations from University in Scotland to work for Tim. She is invaluable and hopefully she will return next year.
Thanks Again Alex
Later
Update 1: After more than fourteen months covering Barbaro, horseracing issues, horse welfare issues as well as goings on at Tim's barn, it is time to return Tim's site to Tim. I have created a new site: alexbrownracing.com that will continue to cover all the issues we have been covering here, as well as my journey across America. I am also planning to write a book about these experiences. Tim will continue to update us on his horses here, I will reference those updates on alexbrownracing.com
I want to thank Tim for being a wonderful host, together I think we have all made a difference. I hope we can continue to do so.
First of all, thank you, Tim, for the coverage on your website from Day #1 of Barbaro's injury and subsequent progress.
Secondly, thank YOU, Alex, for continually updating all of us on Barbaro's progress and creating the Discuss board for all to participate in. It has been much hard work for you these past 14 months.......thank you from the bottom of my heart!
Will be looking forward to visiting alexbrownracing.com, will also continue to peek in here at Tim's site. I keep track of his horses running at Philadelphia Park and enjoy taking out a Saturday to go see them run! :)
Ruth Ann - NJ
Posted by: Ruth Ann - NJ at August 2, 2007 3:12 PM