Barn Report - Wednesday, June 23rd

Steve and Jean went to the track on Wednesday afternoon, not because a Castle Village Farm horse was running – none was – but just to be handicappers again. It was an exceedingly warm afternoon, so they found it a special pleasure to sit, out of the sun, in the third floor grandstand, with a Diet Coke and a cooling breeze, and the most beautiful race track in the world spread out before them. Belmont was at its quietest. Belmont is very quiet on a Wednesday. They had almost an entire section of the grandstand to themselves. Well, them and six guys sharing their betting strategies with each other – “Go for the 5 – I hate the trainer, but nothing can beat that 5.” “That 7 couldn’t hit the Board if they aimed him at it.” (Yup, you guessed it: at the finish line, the 5 was way down the track; the 7 up for first.) There were at least 10 seats for every person in the third floor grandstand on Wednesday, and the six guys had spread themselves and their racing forms accordingly, so their shared handicapping had to be pretty loud. (Not so much “I gotta have the 4 in the next race” as “I GOTTA HAVE THE 4”) which meant the Zorns got the benefit of every insight. It always helps to know which horse not to bet on.

Best overheard repartee of the day:

“Last I heard, NYRA’s run out of money. They’re gonna tear this place down and put up a senior citizens center.”

“Whaddya think it is now?”

[Note to NYRA: Much as Jean and Steve and the other senior citizens enjoy their peaceful Wednesday afternoons, maybe it’s time to consider going to a 4-day, or even a 3-day week. Even though Wednesday’s cards were pretty small, the track still probably needed more grooms for that afternoon than there were people in the stands.]

Steve was feeling badly, because he’d been too busy to visit Strings & Arrows on Sunday. Nobody wants Strings to feel that, just because he isn’t racing any more, he’s yesterday’s news. The short drive from the track to the barns took Steve and Jean back into a countryside that hadn’t existed since Tom Sawyer set his friends to work painting picket fences. The wooden barns stretched like sleeping cats in the warm sun, and wide-canopied oaks and maples cast patches of shade across the dappled grass. Inside the dark, cool shedrows, fans whirred, a hen clucked, and horses slept and dreamed of races to be run.

Strings was glad to have some company, gladder to see a couple of carrots. He already looked less like a race horse than he had just a few weeks ago. With his morning workouts reduced to sedate walks around the shedrow, he’d put on a few pounds, and, compared to his sleek racing self, was positively plump. But his coat and mane were as red and glossy and Secretariat-like as ever. In the paddock, a big, handsome white horse stood watch over the shedrow, like a wild stallion watching over his herd. It was Diligent Gambler, who once upon a time was dark gray and a pretty good race horse himself (Florida bred claimer of the year, in fact, in 2004, when he won nine races and raced for Castle Village Farm). He, too, was happy for a couple of carrots, and, after the first batch was gone, nosed the Zorns’ pockets, hoping to find a few more. But he was more interested in chatting with Steve about racing and memories. Nose to nose, they carried on an earnest colloquy for a while, while Jean contemplated skipping the rest of the races in favor of stretching out under one of the trees with a big summertime novel in hand.

Barn Report, Sunday June 6

Hot topic of conversation on the rail at the Belmont training track this morning: Uptowncharlybrown’s disqualification from a 5^th-place finish, and a $30,000 share of the purse, in yesterday’s Belmont Stakes.

Uptowncharlybrown was on or near the lead early in the race, then hung on through the stretch for 5^th. But when jockey Rajiv Maragh weighed in after returning to the unsaddling area, he was eight pounds too light. It turned out that a lead weight from the saddle had fallen out near the turn, heading into the stretch. Trainers on the rail this morning, including Bruce Levine, Tim Ritvo and Heriberto “Ocala” Cedano, couldn’t recall when something similar had last happened. They said that so few races now require the jockey to carry a lot of extra weight – the Belmont weight was 126, but most everyday races are at weights of 115-118 pounds -- that hardly anyone needs the eight-pound lead weights that Maragh was carrying. Maybe trainers have forgotten how to secure them in the saddles.

Too bad for the 60 New Jerseyans who are partners in Uptowncharlybrown. Tough way to lose a pretty big piece of change.

Barn Report, Sunday May 16th

Lots of worried horsemen and women leaning on the training track rail at Belmont on Sunday morning. Everybody’s talking about the possibility of no racing in New York. Consensus at the rail was that NYRA isn’t crying wolf when they say they are running out of money. Neither New York State nor NYC OTB are paying what they’re supposed to. Worse, we’re still, after nine years, waiting for slots at Aqueduct. It’s beginning to look like NYRA really might have to shut down some time during the Belmont spring-summer meet. If that happens, it’ll be hard to gear up again for Saratoga. You know it’s bad news when even the jockey agents – those guys whose job it is to be incurable optimists -- are nervous.

After all that gloom, Joe, Steve, and new claiming partner Vinny DiSpigno, were only too happy to quit the rail in favor of Bruce Brown’s shedrow, where they got to say hello to Good Law. Our recent winner was acting much more frisky than the railbirds, and wanted to do more than the jogging he’s been limited to since his last race. In Bruce’s absence, Kay, who rides Good Law in the mornings, said that he’d be getting some stronger gallops the next few days, and that we’d be looking for a race in early June. We like that timing for another reason: Bruce will be back by then.

We also saw Strings and Arrows gallop by on the training track, looking very strong. Leah wasn’t at the barn, but Assistant Trainer (and grill chef at CVF summer parties) Herbie Castillo said that Strings and Arrows is ready to run right back – maybe as early as May 22nd, but definitely, assuming the racing office obliges by using a race for us, before the end of the month.

Barn Report, Sunday May 9th

Good Law on Sunday morning -- fast asleep in his stall -- with his eyes wide open -- but not seeing a thing. Steve tried talking to him, but he might as well have been talking to a kid who'd fallen asleep on the living room couch -- good mostly for hearing the sound of your own voice.

Over by the clockers' stand, nobody was sleeping. Much talk about whether the politicians in Albany would come to their senses in time -- and pay the money the state owes to NYRA. If the state doesn't pay, the track closes. Consensus among the rail birds: pretty pessimistic.

Joe's Barn Report - Sunday May 2nd

A spectacular summer day at Belmont! Temperature was climbing toward the 80s, and one of our group, who shall go unnamed in deference to the fashion police, was wearing shorts.. The group, by the way, consisted of Steve and Joe, as usual, joined by new claiming partner Vinny DiSpigno and by Bagavond veteran Paddy O’Hara.

Much time was spent on the rail at the training track, mostly because the weather was just so perfect. Can’t think of a better place to be on a weekend morning than leaning on that rail, picking up some trainer gossip, watching the experienced horses breeze and the young ones see if they can throw their riders. As the MasterCard ad goes, the feeling is priceless. And it’s made even more so by having three horses on target to run over the next couple of weeks – Good Law this coming Wednesday, Strings and Arrows on Saturday, and Bagavond, we hope, on May 20th.

Even Bruce Brown got into the swing of things. We first spotted Bruce over in the “paddock” (actually it’s more like a 10-by-10 foot square of grass in front of the barn), getting in some quality sun time while holding onto a shank that had Repole Stables’ stakes horse Digger at the other end. Digger was too busy chomping on that sweet spring grass to pay much attention to us humans, but we had a nice long chat with Bruce. In fact, Bruce had Good Law brought out for us, so GL got in 15 minutes of grazing time too, with Bruce holding on. Steve asked whether Bruce was short a groom today, to account for the fact that he was doing the work himself, but Bruce said no, he was just enjoying the sun and the horses. That’s kind if the way all of us feel on a nice day on the backstretch.

Much good feeling down at Bill Turner’s barn as well. Bagavond was getting his morning bath as we arrived; he was just back from galloping, and will most likely breeze in the next couple of days. Our veteran campaigner knows the barn routine pretty well by now – he should, at age seven! – and seemed to be telling his groom and hotwalker just how he likes his bath done.He’s such a professional horse. No pulling on the shank, no shaking all the water off all over his handlers, and nary a kick in the direction of us four interlopers.

Nice to see Pat Turner back at the barn along with Bill. Pat had stopped off in Virginia for a while after the horses shipped up from Palm Meadows, and had gone out to visit Iguazu at Diana McClure’s farm. Iguazu, Pat reports, is doing well, and both she and Bill expect great things when our colt returns this summer.

We never did get down to Leah Gyarmati’s barn, which is all the way down at the bottom of the hill, as far as you can be from that rail next to the training track. But, we didn’t really need to pay Leah a visit, because, while we by the rail, she rode by twice on our old campaigner Diligent Gambler, who’s now, in retirement, her stable pony. Leah decided not to wear a helmet on the track – trainers, it seems, aren’t subject to the same rules as exercise riders or jockeys.We think the no-helmet rule applies only when a trainer is on a pony, not riding an in-training race horse. But, with Diligent Gambler, Leah has to be pretty careful. It hasn’t been that long since he was racing, and every now and then, we’d notice him looking longingly at the younger guys breezing down on the rail, as if to say, I can do that.

We arrived at the track just as Strings and Arrows was finishing up a five-furlong breeze. Naturally, none of us spotted him until he was galloping out, but even slowing down, he looked strong and ready to go. Herbie Castillo breezed him, and Herbie said he was fit and ready to go.The breeze should set him up nicely for next Sunday’s race.

Steve and Herbie

No first-hand report on Talking Blues this week, but, sometime during the week, Joe will be stopping by Dave Rintoul’s farm– which is all of five minutes away from Joe’s house – for another update.

Steve and Joe are always happy to have CVF partners (or future partners) join them on the backstretch on Sunday mornings or at Rintoul’s farm on another day. Give Joe a call at (888) 989-7223 or email him at cvfsales@gmail.com to set it up.

If you don’t like the weather at Belmont, wait a minute. That’s what it’s felt like this spring. A couple of weeks ago, it had felt like summer – and now that’s back. But when Joe and Steve were at Belmont on Sunday morning, it was cold and rainy yet again. So cold that Joe and Steve were on their own – unlike last week, when, in bright sunshine and balmy breezes, they were joined by partners Vinny DiSpigno, John Capece, and Ellen Cohn. And, so rainy that a lot of the horses just jogged around inside the barns, rather than getting their feet all muddy on the training track. That was probably better for the horses – and their riders – but visitors beware! It wasn’t so great for Joe and Steve, who barely had time to leap out of the way whenever a horse came jogging around the corner of the shedrow.

We checked out Good Law at Bruce Brown’s barn as he was getting tacked up for his jog. He’s happy and in good shape. Jogging around the shedrow, he was bouncing along, up on this toes. He’d had a breeze this past Wednesday and is all ready to go. We’re hoping for a starter allowance, and there was one in the condition book for closing day at Aqueduct, but that wasn’t used. It was brought back for opening weekend at Belmont, but, again, didn’t go. If it doesn’t fill next time either, we’ll look for other races for him.

At Leah Gyarmati’s barn, it wasn’t just the horses who pined for better weather. With all those horses galumphing around the shedrow, Leah’s two Jack Russell terriers had to stay in the office. Instead of being grateful that she was saving them from all those hooves, they were leaping around even more wildly than Jack Russells usually do, whenever anybody made the mistake of going in there.

Strings and Arrows looked in good form. Leah passed on the turf race scheduled for closing day at Aqueduct because she didn’t like the looks of the Aqueduct turf. She’ll enter Strings and Arrows for a NY-bred maiden special on the turf at Belmont. There’s one in the book for May 8.

And at Bill Turner’s barn, now back to (almost) full strength with most of the horses back from Florida, Bagavond was up on his toes and looking like he can’t wait to get back to the races. Bagavond came back from his winter vacation in Virginia in such good condition that Bill thinks he’ll be ready for a race after just a few more breezes. There’s a seven-furlong turf sprint at Belmont on May 20 that might be a good target for his first race back.

Iguazu is still missing from Bill’s Belmont barn. He’s at Diana McClure’s Carousel Farm in Virginia, where he is living the good life, spending most of the daylight hours in the paddock.Diana reports he’s happy to be out in the fresh air, playing in the big paddock with a bunch of other horses.

Joe and partner Marilyn Miller visited Talking Blues at Dave Rintoul’s farm in Suffolk County again on Wednesday morning. Talking Blues is getting to know that, when Joe and Marilyn show up, that means carrots. He spends a good deal of his time in the big round pen where, as the attached photo (taken by Marilyn) shows, he gets to roll in the dirt to his heart’s content.

If you’d like to join Steve and Joe at Belmont any Sunday morning, or if you’d like to visit Iguazu or Talking Blues down on the farm, just call Joe at (888) 989-7223 or email him at cvfsales@gmail.com and he’ll be happy to set it up for you.

Joe’s Barn Report – Sunday, April 11th

Spring is here, bringing warm, bright mornings to the backstretch, perfect for spending an idle hour or two by the rail at the training track, watching the horses go by. It’s not surprising that for Castle Village Farm, this was a busy week at the barns – and not just the ones at Belmont. Joe and partner Marilyn Miller went out on Wednesday to David Rintoul's farm in eastern Long Island to make sure Talking Blues’ is happy in his new (temporary) home. Colby Mitchell and his daughter had a nice, long visit, in beautiful weather, at the Belmont backstretch on Friday, and Marty Schwartz and Barbara Burke came by the barns on Sunday to meet our newest horse, Good Law.

Early on Sunday morning, just as Joe arrived, a horse got loose on the training track, throwing its rider. The alarm sounded for what seemed like at least 10 minutes as the ambulance came out to check up on the exercise rider, and the errant horse was vanned off. This is the third week in a row that a horse has gotten loose on the training track while Joe was there, and our trainer Bruce Brown threatened, jokingly, I hope, to bar Joe from the training track in the future.

The big news this week is that we have claimed a horse for our new 2010 partnership. We claimed Good Law, a five-year-old New York-bred gelding by Good and Tough, for $25,000. Trainer Bruce Brown promptly installed Good Law in the corner stall, with a good view of the training track, and this Sunday, Steve and Joe stopped by to see how the newest Castle Village Farm team member was settling in. Here’s their report:

Good Law had just finished his morning gallop, had his bath, and done about 45 minutes of hot-walking when we arrived at Bruce Brown's barn this morning. He’s a very striking animal, with his shiny, nearly red coat (officially it’s chestnut) and he’s got lots of curiosity; he wants to know everything that’s going on. He’s also very calm; nothing in the morning routine bothers him. That’s probably why Bruce put him in the corner stall, which gets a lot of traffic and where there’s a lot going on just outside the window. Good Law just takes it all in stride.

Good Law has impressed Bruce with his reliable work ethic and good physical condition. As of now, it looks like Good Law will be able to return to the races in relatively short order.

Because we’d have to run him for at least $35,000 if we brought him back in a claiming race within 30 days, and because we don’t really want to put him in for a tag the first time he races for us, Bruce and Steve are discussing a Starter Allowance race, rather than a claimer. There’s one in the condition book for the last weekend of the Aqueduct meet, and another on the second weekend of the Belmont meet.

Anyone who wants to see our newest horse is welcome to join us on Sunday mornings at Belmont.

We also watched from the rail at the training track as trainer Leah Gyarmati galloped by on Strings and Arrows:

The colt looked great, pulling at Leah to let her know he wanted to go faster than she was about to let him. After his gallop, Leah walked him over to the rail where we were standing, so we could get a good look at him, and have a chat with her. Leah said that Strings and Arrows came out of his last race none the worse for wear, despite having clipped heels and almost fallen on the first turn. Leah and Steve want to give Strings and Arrows another try on the turf, to see if he can get a clean trip. There’s a race in the Aqueduct condition book for April 25th, but Leah isn’t happy with the condition of the Aqueduct turf course and may wait until Belmont, when there’s a similar race in the condition book for May 8th.

Earlier in the week, Joe and CVF partner Marilyn Miller stopped by the Rintouls' farm in Suffolk County where Talking Blues is having his Spring Break. Here’s Joe’s report on his visits to the farm:

When Bruce Brown decided that Talking Blues could do with a short rest, he recommended we look into David Rintoul's Farm. It’s at Exit 62 off the Long Island Expressway, not all that far from Belmont. Bruce had sent a couple of his horses there already, and found it a good, safe place, with owners who have a good feel for horses. They also do layups for Carlos Martin and Bill Mott. The farm is small, just two rows of stalls and a few turnout paddocks. It's the last surviving agricultural property in what has become a suburban neighborhood. I got my first tour of the farm from Dave's father, James. He took me to the farm office, where there’s a whole wall covered with win pictures from horses who’ve been at the Farm. I promised him one from Good Law.

When I came back the next day with Marilyn Miller, Talking Blues was in the holding pen rolling around and kicking up a storm. The Rintouls told Marilyn and me that after a brief adjustment period, Talking Blues is now acting like a happy horse. Time and rest should work wonders for Talking Blues. We are all looking forward to our horse’s return to the racetrack.

Further afield, Iguazu has left Florida and arrived at Diana McClure’s Carousel Farm in northern Virginia, where he’ll stay in training until he’s ready to come north to Belmont race track. Bill Turner thinks that Iguazu just needs a bit more time to mature.

Castle Village Farm seems to be operating a revolving door policy at Carousel Farm. As Iguazu arrived there, Bagavond was preparing to leave the farm and return to Bill’s barn at Belmont for the upcoming turf season. I’m sure Bagavond will regale his barn mates with stories of the record-shattering snowstorms that hit his winter quarters.