Because of colder temperatures and snow halting my chances to ride, and some days even get up to the barn, instead I started working on another "project". The part of it that I could control ended last week but I can't share what it was with you yet. If it comes to fruition, I'll have news for you in May. It could potentially be a life changer so fingers crossed I get to share good news with all of you in a few weeks.
Besides that, I've taken time the last few weeks to come out of a racing "hibernation" of sorts. I've spent the whole winter watching racing on the internet and hadn't been to a track (outside of stopping at Keeneland for random "quiet moments") in months. So when a friend invited me to visit Charlie LoPresti's barn with her in early March, I jumped on the chance.
If you aren't a huge racing fan, you probably aren't familiar with Charlie but he trains the "Dans". The headliner of that family is definitely two-time Horse of the Year Wise Dan.
Dan is returning for another season so we got to go up to the grandstand with Charlie to watch him gallop and hear some of Charlie's commentary.
While watching Dan on the track was awesome, the best part was showing Charlie how to work his text messages and jokingly being offered a job as his press secretary. That'd be a sweet gig!
We spent an hour watching Dan go through his cool down routine, including a bath in the colder morning air. As you can see, he wasn't a huge fan.
While his older brother Successful Dan had gone out in the set before Dan so we'd missed him, we did get to visit him before we left. His nickname is Moose and it's easy to see why.
There were still hours of training left after leaving the barn so I headed back up to the track to watch the rest of the morning's works and unintentionally kept my "Dan family" morning alive with Enchanting Lisa, the boys' 4-year-old sister by War Chant, breezing past me.
I also got to see international superstar No Nay Never get ponied around the track. If you don't know him, he won at Royal Ascot as a 2-year-old last year then returned to Europe later that summer to win a Group 1 in France. With my love of European racing, it was awesome to see him win the races over there and then see him in person.
I also got to go out to Milestone Farm later that morning and see an old favorite of mine, EZ's Gentleman. He's truly in a great place and everyone there seems to love him so I was happy to see him so happy. I have a standing invitation to come back and visit him and his foals again so I'm planning on visiting him again next month after the craziness of the final round of Derby preps.
Here's just one of EZ's foals, they are good looking horses!
They also own the dam of Going Wild (a blast from the past for me as I was a fan of his way back when) and she had just foaled a colt a few days before so I got to meet that little guy as well.
This past weekend I headed up to Turfway for the first time ever to go see the Spiral Stakes. You can catch my full experience here but here are two memorable photos from the day (and the same race).
First, Big Bazinga (yes that is really his name) decided to pull a prank on the paddock by getting loose when they called for riders up. A group of us were right in his way and had to scramble to avoid getting run over but his fun was over within about 30 seconds as he stopped at the paddock fence and was quickly caught.
We Miss Artie won the race and secured himself a spot in the Kentucky Derby. Since I've been to both of Artie's graded stakes victories, I really think Mr. Ramsey should invite me to the Derby. Artie definitely does better when I'm there, hahaha.
My track excursions mean that Spring is finally here and with it my motivation has reappeared. I spent some time yesterday writing down some of my spring and summer goals. I am currently down and out for a few days with a random foot injury, I have no idea how I did it and it doesn't hurt but I have some slight swelling, so I've decided to sit out a few days but I look forward to getting starting on those new goals later this week. The best part of the swelling meant that I could make a Triple Crown joke, which is always fun this time of year.
I've been put on stall rest indefinitely with a swollen foot. However, I have enough points for Derby so I am still on the TC trail.
— Melissa Bauer-Herzog (@mbauerherzog) March 24, 2014
I have a feeling the horses won't enjoy the goals as it means they have to work again but they are probably as tired of winter as I am so maybe they'll surprise me. I'd try to promise to write again next week but I don't have much to say from week to week right now so I'll settle for a "next time I have something to update on". Hopefully that's not too far in the future!Until next time,
Mel
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