I joined the Empire Racing Club this spring to chronicle the experience.
The club, organized by the New York Thoroughbred Horseman’s Association to give people the chance to experience ownership of a Thoroughbred racehorse, has done just that.
ERC has shown a group of 165 new owners the lowest of the lows and the highest of the highs in the past few weeks. This truly is what Thoroughbred owners experience.
The first filly in the partnership suffered an injury and returned to the farm to recover for a campaign next year. The second, a colt, placed in Friday’s Skidmore Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.
Proven Strategies, owned by Leonrard C. Green, Aron Yagoda and Empire Racing Club, won a close photo for second and completed a 1-2 exacta for Len Green, who co-owned the winner, Another Miracle, with his son Jonathan Green.
Gary Contessa trained the winner, a son of Triple Crown Champion American Pharoah, and the ERC Sky Mesa-colt is trained by Mark Casse. The $1 exacta returned $27.25.
“We had a good trip. He’s still a little green; still learning,” Gaffalione said of the maiden post race. “That was a big race and a huge effort from him. He’s going to keep improving. Once we got it all together, he was finishing nicely and he galloped out well. I’m looking forward to him moving on down the road.”
Proven Strategies earned black type, has an exciting future, excited a herd of new owners, and is still eligible for all his conditions. Well done!
3 Responses
Clearly, you’ve learned the first rule of horse ownership; thankfulness and humility. So allow me to brag for you. The boy ran great, finished up really well, as Tyler, who rode a smart and patient race, said.
And credit is due your trainer, Mark Casse. Tomorrow there’s a race for maidens going long, but he saw an opportunity he get some black type and took advantage of experience and conditioning, as he was turning back from a two-turner.
All options remain open. You know, maidens run for $140,000 at Kentucky Downs and they card races at 6-1/2 furlongs–don’t know if that condition exists for 2-year-olds. And off yesterday’s performance, I think that trip would hit him right between the eyes.
Get yourself a condition book and check it out, sharing what you know with the HRI Faithful before his next start. Talk about the highs and the lows; crazy. Happy for you, and all the partners!
JP-
Thanks, the horse did run well. I’d also like to thank Mark Casse and Todd Pletcher, who had the filly. And thanks to Joe Applebaum, Andy Belfiore, Christina Bosinokas, Tom Durkin, Spendthrift Farm, Aron Yagoda and my 164 micro partners. A big thank you goes out to Len Green, who invited the ERC members into the winner’s circle and bought each a photo. Even though our horse placed, everyone felt like a winner.
I’ll go look for the KD condition book now.
BTW: Mr. Casse does point for Kentucky Downs and might like this idea. Your baby, with three starts worth of experience and conditioning, should play very well at the old Dueling Grounds. I wonder how he’ll finish going uphill?!