Post by Peter gross on Jan 25, 2010 7:57:55 GMT -5
It almost sounds silly to brag that you own 1/100th of a horse, but today's blog is about a guy - i.e. me - who owns 1% of a trotter and because of that, I had a real thrill Saturday night. In the fall of 2008, I acquired one share of a horse named Son of Paige, who is now six years old. Each share in Paige cost $300 and the syndicate is run by Harness Racing Canada, a company that helps people get into the racing game with very modest investment. The beauty of owning even a tiny piece of a harness horse is that they are a sturdier breed than the thoroughbreds and can generally run 3-4 times a month. So three or four times a month for the last 14 or 15 months, I've been able to brag, "My horse is out tonight."
My horse was out Saturday night. Son of Paige has been racing at Western Fair for a few months and it has been awhile since I saw him work, so when I was apprised that trainer Wayne Preszcator had brought the son of Angus Hall to Woodbine, it was very convenient for me.
The January issue of Down The Stretch came to my house on Friday morning (actually 4500 issues of it, as delivered by Mclaren Press). It's a great issue (easy for the editor to say) with its cover proclaiming 25 ways to save harness racing . As editor, publisher, photographer, writer and delivery boy, I had to get papers to Woodbine, so off I Saturday evening, piling up the papers in the bins and dropping off 150 or so to the racing office, drivers room and paddock restaurant. While in the paddock, I got to visit my horse. He's a nice looking colt, about average size for a trotter, but the groom, Ian, didn't seem overly optimistic about his chances in the first race, which had a purse of $19,000 for horses who had failed to earn $10,000 in their last six tries. Since Paige went on an ugly break and finished last six days ago in London, he wasn't a great bet, though the rest of the field looked equally un-special. I gave my horse a pat on the head and he threw his mane around and I didn't know what to think of that.
"Get me a cheque," I implored and left to watch the race from the grandstand.
And it sure was surprising. Son of Paige had shown no early speed in any of his last five races at Western Fair, but driver Mario Baillargeon gunned him from the six-hole and he trotted nicely to the top by the first turn. However the opening quarter of 26.4 made me cringe. Even with a crisp easterly wind barreling down the stretch, that seemed too fast. Down the backstretch, Dougie Brown took his horse out of second and slipped to the front, which couldn't have been more perfect for Son of Paige because it meant he had cover, that the other horse was breaking the wind and a slower second quarter gave Paige a nice breather. As they entered the stretch, you could see that the rest of the field was struggling and that this one would be decided between the top two. With less than a furlong to go, Baillargeon pulled Son of Paige to the middle of the track and he easily overhauled the leader to hit the wire first by a length and a quarter.
Realizing what was happening, I actually pulled out my cellphone and shot the stretch run. You can barely make out the horses, but you can hear me shouting, "Holy nuts!"
Son of Paige went off at 9-2 and paid more than $11 to win and unfortunately, I didn't bet on him.
I raced to the winners circle and was joined by the groom and a man and woman, whose names I was too self-absorbed to get and we all posed in the winners circle as track photographer Clive Cohen took our picture. Baillargeon put me in a headlock just as the camera snapped.
Of the purse of $19,000, Son of Paige won $9500. I'm entitled to 1% of that, but by the tine the trainer, vet, groom, blacksmith, syndicate manager, acupuncturist, secretary, donut delivery boy and equine masseuse take their cut, I'll end up with about $40.
I know that doesn't sound like much, but last year, Paige won 6 of 30 races for about $75,000 and I got close to $400 in cheques that showed up in little amounts throughout the year. Son of Paige is one of Harness Racing Canada's success stories - everyone who bought in to him has gotten more than their money back and he continues to race and cash cheques. Saturday's win brings him up to more than $12,000 so far, so he's on pace to win more than $100,000 in 2010.
This will give me a little to talk about at two important horse racing events this week. The Sovereign Awards are being held Friday night and Down The Stretch, Canada's most informative and entertaining horse racing newspaper has five nominations, more than any other horse, owner, trainer, jockey or newspaper. We have three in one category as Perry Lefko, Keith McCalmont and Eleanor Yeoman LeBlanc all made the final for Outstanding News Story. Lefko is also up for Outstanding Feature Story and it would be a travesty of justice if I win for Best picture, but the shot I took of Chantal Sutherland wrapped in the Canadian flag is up against three real photographs in the Outstanding Picture category.
Down The Stretch has no nominations for the O'Briens, the standardbred awards banquet, but I will be attending the event on Saturday and intend to wear the exact same suit that I wear on Friday because I basically have just one decent suit anyway. At the O'Briens, I hope to get some feedback on the latest issue of Down The Stretch, which has a lot of harness material in it. There's stuff on the United Trotting Associations' Dan patch awards - Jody Jamieson won Driver of the Year there and he's a cinch to be named the Canadian DOY. Along with our two pager on the 25 ways to save harness racing, we also have a beautiful two page spread of pictures from Boxing Day when the drivers were coming back caked in slop and mud.
We also have a lovely presentation of the four pictures up for Sovereigns and the two nominated for O'Briens. Our layout guy Gord Steventon has them hanging in the Louvre, you know right beside the Mona Lisa....and if you're wondering about that enigmatic smile of hers...it's because she had $20 across on Son of Paige!
My horse was out Saturday night. Son of Paige has been racing at Western Fair for a few months and it has been awhile since I saw him work, so when I was apprised that trainer Wayne Preszcator had brought the son of Angus Hall to Woodbine, it was very convenient for me.
The January issue of Down The Stretch came to my house on Friday morning (actually 4500 issues of it, as delivered by Mclaren Press). It's a great issue (easy for the editor to say) with its cover proclaiming 25 ways to save harness racing . As editor, publisher, photographer, writer and delivery boy, I had to get papers to Woodbine, so off I Saturday evening, piling up the papers in the bins and dropping off 150 or so to the racing office, drivers room and paddock restaurant. While in the paddock, I got to visit my horse. He's a nice looking colt, about average size for a trotter, but the groom, Ian, didn't seem overly optimistic about his chances in the first race, which had a purse of $19,000 for horses who had failed to earn $10,000 in their last six tries. Since Paige went on an ugly break and finished last six days ago in London, he wasn't a great bet, though the rest of the field looked equally un-special. I gave my horse a pat on the head and he threw his mane around and I didn't know what to think of that.
"Get me a cheque," I implored and left to watch the race from the grandstand.
And it sure was surprising. Son of Paige had shown no early speed in any of his last five races at Western Fair, but driver Mario Baillargeon gunned him from the six-hole and he trotted nicely to the top by the first turn. However the opening quarter of 26.4 made me cringe. Even with a crisp easterly wind barreling down the stretch, that seemed too fast. Down the backstretch, Dougie Brown took his horse out of second and slipped to the front, which couldn't have been more perfect for Son of Paige because it meant he had cover, that the other horse was breaking the wind and a slower second quarter gave Paige a nice breather. As they entered the stretch, you could see that the rest of the field was struggling and that this one would be decided between the top two. With less than a furlong to go, Baillargeon pulled Son of Paige to the middle of the track and he easily overhauled the leader to hit the wire first by a length and a quarter.
Realizing what was happening, I actually pulled out my cellphone and shot the stretch run. You can barely make out the horses, but you can hear me shouting, "Holy nuts!"
Son of Paige went off at 9-2 and paid more than $11 to win and unfortunately, I didn't bet on him.
I raced to the winners circle and was joined by the groom and a man and woman, whose names I was too self-absorbed to get and we all posed in the winners circle as track photographer Clive Cohen took our picture. Baillargeon put me in a headlock just as the camera snapped.
Of the purse of $19,000, Son of Paige won $9500. I'm entitled to 1% of that, but by the tine the trainer, vet, groom, blacksmith, syndicate manager, acupuncturist, secretary, donut delivery boy and equine masseuse take their cut, I'll end up with about $40.
I know that doesn't sound like much, but last year, Paige won 6 of 30 races for about $75,000 and I got close to $400 in cheques that showed up in little amounts throughout the year. Son of Paige is one of Harness Racing Canada's success stories - everyone who bought in to him has gotten more than their money back and he continues to race and cash cheques. Saturday's win brings him up to more than $12,000 so far, so he's on pace to win more than $100,000 in 2010.
This will give me a little to talk about at two important horse racing events this week. The Sovereign Awards are being held Friday night and Down The Stretch, Canada's most informative and entertaining horse racing newspaper has five nominations, more than any other horse, owner, trainer, jockey or newspaper. We have three in one category as Perry Lefko, Keith McCalmont and Eleanor Yeoman LeBlanc all made the final for Outstanding News Story. Lefko is also up for Outstanding Feature Story and it would be a travesty of justice if I win for Best picture, but the shot I took of Chantal Sutherland wrapped in the Canadian flag is up against three real photographs in the Outstanding Picture category.
Down The Stretch has no nominations for the O'Briens, the standardbred awards banquet, but I will be attending the event on Saturday and intend to wear the exact same suit that I wear on Friday because I basically have just one decent suit anyway. At the O'Briens, I hope to get some feedback on the latest issue of Down The Stretch, which has a lot of harness material in it. There's stuff on the United Trotting Associations' Dan patch awards - Jody Jamieson won Driver of the Year there and he's a cinch to be named the Canadian DOY. Along with our two pager on the 25 ways to save harness racing, we also have a beautiful two page spread of pictures from Boxing Day when the drivers were coming back caked in slop and mud.
We also have a lovely presentation of the four pictures up for Sovereigns and the two nominated for O'Briens. Our layout guy Gord Steventon has them hanging in the Louvre, you know right beside the Mona Lisa....and if you're wondering about that enigmatic smile of hers...it's because she had $20 across on Son of Paige!
