GETTING A BREAK... finally (Part 54j)

I was looking forward to the Grand Circuit arriving. It seemed like there was ”electricity“ in the air what with the big name stables and their famous trainer/drivers. Even with the poor performance with the two year old in his last start I was looking forward to racing him against some of the best in his class. I was worried about drawing for post position because, on a half mile track, things are a lot tighter and an inside position would not have been good for him. I was afraid he’d act up with horses all around him. I needed not to worry as they ended up with eleven horses entered. Since they starting gate could only accommodate eight horses it meant that three of them would have to start behind them. I was so happy to draw position ten. It meant that I’d be able to take him back and get him to the rail early.

I knew the owner would be there and entered his other horse. What I didn’t expect was to have AJ there as well. He decided to drive the other horse which upset me a bit as he’d raced so well for me. But, the boss is always the boss. The other horse raced before I did and didn’t do all that well. I don’t remember much about it as I was focused on my race. I wasn’t as intimidated by the reputations of the other drivers as last time which helped to keep me calm. When the race started I did just as I planned. I held him back and quickly got over to the inside rail. There were a lot of horses ”parked out“ (It means they had to race a whole lane from the inside rail making them have to travel a further distance) which was good for me. I just had to have patience and hope that I’d find a way to get to the outside when we got to the head of the stretch heading for the finish line. Patience for a twenty three year old novice driver is not easy to find. I waited and waited and finally I had a chance to pull out at the 3/4 pole. It was earlier than I’d wanted but... When I got to the head of the stretch I pulled him out into the middle of the track and just turned him loose. I knew we were ”flying“ as I passed a bunch of horses on the inside of me. When we crossed the finish line I wasn’t sure where we’d finished. When I came back to be excused by the finish wire judge I saw that we were in a photo finish for 3rd. I also saw we were around 70 to 1, really long odds. It took what seemed like an eternity before they announced that there was a ”dead heat“ for third which meant the judges couldn’t determine a clear separation. I was in another planet! (9).

The owner was beside himself. Here was his home-bred, racing against some of the best two year old horses in the country, finishing third. As I readied to take him back to the barn to ”cool him out“ I saw the same famous trainer who had spoken to AJ and the owner the first time we raced walk up to the owner and start to talk to him. I didn’t hear what was said this time but he appeared to really be interested in the horse. I wondered what would become of that.

Back at the barn AJ congratulated me. It was rare for him to offer up much in the way of criticism or praise so it caught me by surprise. It didn’t take him long to get to the real point of his visit. He told me that he was shipping to another track located in Boston. It was a running horse track that had decided to try harness racing. AJ told me that it was just a month long ”test“ for them and it was to see the public interest. They hadn’t gotten a good response from trainers so, to induce them to ship there, they were offering some really good money for the purses. It was somewhere around 50% more than we’d raced for all Summer. AJ, who’d not had a good season, was hoping to do well there. I heard what he was telling me but, on a personal level, it meant the end of my ”independence“. Since two of the three horses had raced that night AJ told me not to enter the other horse and to be prepared to ship on Saturday.

That news took all of the excitement from doing so well with the two year old away. When I got back to my trailer I just sat on the step wondering what the new track would be like and how I’d adapt to no longer being my own ”boss“. I’ll admit that I was hoping for a ‘show” from Ellen but the lights were out and didn’t come on before I finally went inside.

To be continued...