Today's work

Sumwonlovesworked well this morning, going 5 furlongs in 1.00.2. She broke off under a steady clip and finished up well under no urging from Willie . A horse of Ron Moquett's broke off about 5-7 lengths in front of her at the half mile pole and acted as a prompter, but she never got rank and settled nicely and finished up well. She was blowing pretty good and it was very humid this morning and Willie thought that she might be having a little trouble with the heat after the work but she cooled out fine and walked good but she was clearly tired. I would think that one more work probably next Thursday going 5 furlongs again would be enough for her before she runs at Arlington.

Saturday Update

Sumwonloves you has galloped the last three days and seem like she is in good health. I will probably get a work into her next Tuesday or Wednesday as long as things are ok. It is supposed to be really hot in Louisville on Monday and Tuesday and possibly storms later in the week so Wednesday is most likely the day. I think that the Arlington race on the 11th is the best possible spot for her on the radar. It will give us time to get a few works into her and though the purse is not nearly the same as Churchills, the competition should also be a bit lighter. I'm not sure what we will do about a jockey but I will figure that out in the next week or so. A wild card in the mix would be if there was a similar race opening week at Saratoga. They wont have a condition book out for that meet for another week or so so we will just have to wait and see. Right now I would say there is a 90% chance on us going to Chicago as it seems to be the logical spot to get a win picture.

Yesterdays work

As Steve said yesterday I wasn't thrilled with yesterdays work. Even though I was no looking for a big work time wise, the filly never really picked up the bit much and did not show the same spark that she had. She cooled out fine and ate up her lunch. But she left a little feed this morning and I believe that she may be a little under the weather. Her temperature has been okay but she was a little more lethargic than usual in her stall and walked around like a zombie which is not her. It has been very hot here and the heat may be bothering her a bit or she may be fight off some kind of sickness. We will take a blood work on her in the morning and see if that sheds any light on the situation. Sorry it took so long to post but I wanted to assess the situation as much as I could before speculating about possible issues. I will keep everyone updated as the info becomes available.

Todays Work

Sumwonlovesyou worked four furlongs in 49.60 this morning. Cherie broke her off going to the half mile pole under a easy gallop going the first 1/8th in 13.40. She picked it up a bit going past the 1/4 pole and finished full of run under the wire while staying in the two path the entire trip. Sumwon galloped out well and was on her toes going back to the barn. She finished up her last 1/4 in 23.40 which is very good especially under no urging. We will probably breeze her 5/8ths next weekend and decide after that what race to aim for. By then we should have a pretty good idea of what types of allowances races are available and who is pointing for the stakes races.

Sumwon to work on Sat. (maybe)

Sumwonloves you is scheduled to work tomorrow morning after the harrowing break at 8:30 depending on how much rain we get overnight. If not tomorrow then we will go on Sunday. I am planning on working her an easy 1/2 mile hopefully around 49 to 50. I gave her a few extra days off to recover from her last race and though I will usually breeze around 10 days following a race, she needed a few more days. We have had a couple of feelers on her but no one has come up with a firm offer to our liking so we will just proceed as normal. The Monmouth race is still a possibility but I would think the race in Iowa may be a bit too steep for us right now. I will try to formulate a definite plan later next week as we see how things shape up.

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.