New Sites, More Racing & Lost Horses

New websites for racing that encompass media are springing up, and our very own TBA Blogs is one. It contains blog posts, news, twitter feeds and more. That is a damn good job Patrick P.

Saturday night harness was more than just Meadowlands races. At Mohawk, Shadow Play returned off a foot ailment and was second. He does not yet look like the old Shadow Play, but it appears he is heading in the right direction. A few years ago American Ideal, who was super-fast, raced in the shadow of Rock n' Roll Hanover and was brought back at 4. After a nice first effort, he suffered some nagging injuries and was retired. I hope this is not a repeat of that. I would love to see this big colt add his name to the list of Canadian Pacing Derby (which is shaping up as the best race of this year) at Mohawk next month.

At Georgian, Yellow Diamond was beaten soundly in an OSS final. The week before she took the lead and won, snatched up by driver Mark MacDonald. However, she was not pacing through the wire, like a good horse should. Sharp cappers could have made a score against her as she was 1-9, but with small pools (a pox on the harness racing house) it was difficult. There was clearly some sharp money in the pools, and despite YD running out, the exotics were not as they should be.

The saddest news on Saturday was that rock-solid pacer and $700k winner Stormaway had to be euthanized after an accident in the $100k+ Masters.

This is not your everyday story where a good horse who has a mishap is 'filled in' with other great horses from a conveyor-belt stable. Stormaway, the recent Molson Pace winner, was a homebred for a small stable which has had little success in the past. These folks had the horse since he was a baby - not as blue blooded breeders or something - just like you and me would. A lesson for me? Any horse I have who does well and gives me some thrills, appreciate him/her every day.

Stormaway finished his fine career with 19 wins in 46 starts and was well on his way to having his finest year to date. Allan has some thoughts and a post about Stormaway here.