UPDATE - Meese Rocks Stakes

We are sorry to inform you that the Meese Rocks Stakes, which was scheduled for Monday, July 25^th, did not fill and therefore will not be on the program.  Despite the best efforts of PJ Campo and the NYRA secretarial staff, there were simply not enough horses available to run.  Needless to say, it is a tremendous disappointment to our stable.  For the first time in months, we had a reason to be excited to go to the track, only to come up a nose short.  However, though we will not be in attendance on Monday, we will continue to support the leaders in the older NY-bred fillies and mare division, such as Ava K, Lots of Stones, Minerologist, and Catchapenny K, just to name a few.  We are hopeful that there will be future occasions to spend the day at the track amongst family, friends, and fellow race fans.  Sadly, it will not be on Monday. 

We’ll be providing an update on the rest of the stable in the coming week and will keep you all up to speed on any future entries.  Enjoy the beginning of a Saratoga meet that appears to be chock full of talent and excitement.  We’ll see you all soon.

Meese Rocks Stakes

We were informed last week that the classy folks at the New York Racing Association have named a stakes race at Saratoga in Meese Rocks’ honor.  Scheduled as the 7^th race on Monday, July 25^th, the Meese Rocks Stakes will be run over 6.5 furlongs and will feature fillies and mares, aged 3 and up, bred in New York state.  It is an appropriate choice of races to name after our late mare, as this is likely a race we would have been targeting for our girl.  We are incredibly thankful to PJ Campo and the rest of the NYRA secretarial staff for giving us a chance to gain a small amount of closure on what is still very much an open wound.  As a local stable, we train, stable, and race in New York and continue to keep a close eye on the New York racing and breeding circuit.  It will be an honor to see the best in Meese Rocks’ New York division compete for a black-type win in her honor.

To the family and friends that have supported us along the way, we invite any and all of you to come up to Saratoga to help us enjoy the day.  The picturesque upstate New York track is the site of some of our fondest memories as a stable, with a close 2^nd place finish in last year’s Fleet Indian Stakes and an open lengths victory in the 2010 Union Ave Stakes in the Saratoga slop.  And though things are still not quite back to normal around the barn, nothing would mean more to us that to have those we care about help us continue the process of moving forward.  It should be a special (if not bittersweet) day and we hope to see you all there. 

                                                     

Meet the Horses -- Kissdon't Tell

It was November 2010 and our stable was fresh off Meese Rocks’ Iroquois win.  Riding a wave of momentum and enthusiasm, we sought to bring in some new stock while diversifying our barn.  After a bit of legwork, we came across a spunky little 2-year old chestnut filly named Kissdon’t Tell (Badge of Silver—Kirby’s Fuse, by Lite The Fuse), who was running out of Allan Hunter’s barn at Calder Race Track.  A winner in her first time out on the track, this late-running lass had the breeding, style, and determination that we were looking for.  After brief negotiations, she was on a van headed for New York.  She was our first 2-year old.  It was quite a thrill to have a horse whose potential was yet to be realized.  The sky was the limit.

A January foal, Kissdon’t Tell (KDT, for short) arrived at the barn with a maturity not often seen in 2-year olds.  Even more importantly, she was a total professional, both in training and on the track, amongst other horses.  Though amazingly kind and gentle in the barn, this filly hit the track with an attitude that said “I’m coming to get you in the stretch, whether you like it or not.”  Still, we were reserved.  Running a relatively slow 5.5 furlongs in a $16k claimer at Calder is one thing.  Coming to New York to run in the “big leagues” was quite another.  Many a shipper has found success at regional tracks, only to spit the bit on the New York circuit. 

Hoping that talent, grit, and luck were contagious, we stalled her next to Meese Rocks in Eddie’s barn.  It worked.  On December 8^th 2010, we sent her out a relative unknown running for a $25k claiming tag, and brought her home a winner.  After moderate early splits and a troubled stretch run, our little filly found her best gear and motored home under Junior Alvarado, running down a $125k Pletcher-trained blueblood to score the win at a largely dismissed 10-to-1.  We celebrated like we had just won the Oaks.  The sweet rush of promise and hope washed over us like a warm blanket. 

KDT out-guts Avanta in the Aqueduct stretch

A little over a month later, we entered KDT into a much tougher race over Aqueduct’s inner dirt course (this race’s winner would go on to place 2^nd in a stakes race and 1^st in an allowance race).  Despite an extremely troubled trip (again), she had enough kick left in the stretch to score the show honors.  However, after two tough races in less than 6 weeks, we decided it was time to give our girl some much needed R&R.  A 3-year old who had already shown flashes of talent, we decided to take it slow and develop her properly.  Too often, 2-year old winners are never heard from again after they are pushed too hard too fast during their formative years.  We had a keeper and we wanted to do right by her.  Our little girl is now back in training and gearing up for the trip to Saratoga.  We hope for (and expect) many late-running thrills from our little filly this summer and beyond.

"See you all in Saratoga" --KDT