Update and a few thoughts

Sumwonlovesyou came out of her race in good shape. She was a bit sluggish for a few days but appears to be fine now. Regardless of how hard she runs, she always seems to find the bottom of the feed tub which is a very positive sign. I know that Steve and many of the partners who have spent time around her noticed that she spends a lot of time laying down. She is a smart horse who rests quite a bit more than an average horse which is great considering how hard she runs.

I was pretty confident that she had potential when we bought her at the sale but she has developed quicker than I thought she would. The fact that she has come a long way in a short period of time is great but we also have to understand that the realities of our partnership and horse ownership in general. The truth is that horses are assets and when developing, their value increases. Certainly Sumwon's value has risen dramatically over the last 2 months and we have to be cognizant to that fact. The partnership has pretty much no money outside a portion of her earnings and if she were to be injured or incapacitated we would be starting again from the ground up. I am in no way saying that we should sell her for anything less than 125% of her value but I want people to be prepared if she continues to improve to the point where we can put the partnership in the black for years to come.

That being said, I think that our stakes aspirations are not without fraught. The Iowa Oaks will be a tough race against the best fillies in the Midwest with a couple of east coast shippers. The Without Feathers at Monmouth should be considerably easier but it is a much smaller stake in dollar value and prestige. We will need to be at our best to run well in these types of races and remember that we still have our 1st level allowance condition left. Though there is no good race in Churchill's current condition book, a race toward the end of the month may well develop. We also have Arlington on the radar as the polytrack there looks more conducive to speedy types than Keeneland. A winning purse at Churchill or Arlington will put us in a lot better shape financially.

From the feedback received by Steve and myself it seems as though the great majority of partners are satisfied with the partnership so far. I want to tell you that Steve and I both are thrilled that this has worked out so well and hope for it to just get better. Personally, Steve had a lot on the line by putting his name on this and I am so happy for him that it has been a success. He lives and dies with this horse and works very hard to please everyone. There is not a better person in the business.

I have made many new friends with this venture and hope to make many more in the future.

We are in !!!

Saturday in the 7th race at Churchill Downs. We drew post #4 in a 7 horse field. We are the low weight at 110 getting up to 10 pounds from the rest of the field. I believe that Willie can do right around 110. I have not seen the pp's yet.

Sumwons CD Work in the AM

We are going to work her 6 furlongs tomorrow after the break at 8:30. Willie is going to come and work her and I am probably going to have him work her from the 1/2 mile pole around the clubhouse turn to the 6 furlong pole. This way she gets to work around both turns and it will give him a chance to work on her lead changes around 2 turns instead of just one.

MTO

Sumwonlovesyou has been entered in the 8th race at Churchill Downs this Saturday. She is listed as a main track only runner and will only run if the race were to be taken off the turf, which seems unlikely at the current time. Being that we may run on Saturday I am pushing back her work until Saturday morning by which time we will know if the race is staying on the turf. I am still pointing her toward the race next Friday the 25th as her target date. She is training really well and I think that she will run well regardless of where she actually does it. I will keep everybody posted.

Sumwonlovesyou works

tommorrow weather permitting.

Next race

As most of you are aware by now, the filly that beat us in our last race at Churchill, Girls Pearls, returned to the races with an impressive allowance victory yesterday. With that in mind and in light of how well Sumwonlovesyou is training I believe that we are going to be pointing her toward a May 25th allowance race at Churchill going 1 1/16th. Willie will be riding for us again and I may have him come by to work her next week. Not that this race is set in stone, we still have to get another work under our belt, but it looks like a strong possibility. We will probably work next Thursday morning weather permitting. I know some of you come great distances to watch the filly and we are trying to give you as much advance time as possible to get your arrangements in order. We may enter her for a grass allowance race on the 16th for the Main Track only in case it were to scratch down to a 3 horse field. That would be the only caveat to our original plan. Unfortunately in this business you have to take what is given to you and it would be hard to pass up a short field of grass runners running on the main track.

Sumwons CD Work May 9th

Sumwonloves worked this morning in 49.3 for four furlongs. With Princess Doreen and her husband looking on, Sumwon broke off nicely going to the half mile pole, picked up the pace down the stretch and galloped out very well, not pulling up until returning to the half mile pole. She was not winded or breathing heavily after the work and cooled out well. Cherie said that she switched her leads in the stretch and felt great. It was a nice work for her and she appears to be in good shape following her last race. We will look to work her next Tuesday or Wednesday probably going 5 furlongs though a 6 furlong work is a possibility as well.

Update on Sumwon

Sorry for the delay in getting the blog updated but it has been very hectic this week. Sumwonlovesyou came out of her race in good shape. She has been alert and bright (possibly from the massive doses of sugar she has been fed the last few days) and seems like she is bouncing back nicely. We will send her back to the track on Thursday for a little jog and most likely do the same on Friday and Sat. I never train at Churchill in the day after the Derby because of all the debris and cleanup going on in the infield, so she wont get back to galloping until Monday.

I was very pleased with her race on Sunday. She settled quietly on the lead despite Willie having to ask her a bit early after breaking a touch slow. I was encouraged that she was so game after the #2 passed her on the inside, fighting back right to the wire. Sumwon may yet be better going 2 turns, especially if she can get an uncontested lead where she can relax without pressure. I will wait for a week to 10 days before figuring out where to race her next. I'm inclined to keep her at the level she ran in on Sunday but an allowance race at a lesser track like Mountaineer may also be under consideration.