August 7, 2008

Great Friends,

Sandita ran a pretty good race today but couldn't quite catch the leaders who were allowed to go very slow early.  He finished third, passed all the other horses after the wire, and was not claimed.  Overall, not a bad performance.  We'll likely run him back sometime on closing week.

Big Sunday is right around the corner.  Band of Thunder is in the first race, so try to get to the track by 1:30pm if you can.  Trainer John Sadler is very confident about this horse, and Sadler has been on fire lately, so who are we to argue.  Band of Thunder drew a short field of only five opponents in this $40,000 claiming race, and we'll have Sadler's go-to jockey riding for us, Garret Gomez, so we expect to be one of the favorites.

About three hours later, Mr. Chairman will run in the 7th race.  This is the same type of allowance race he ran in last time when he finished an unlucky second, so expect Mr. Chairman to be one of the favorites as well.  However, there is a horse in the race who scares us a little bit.  He is shipper from Australia that Rafael Bejarano thinks enough of that he got off our horse to ride.  We're not happy about that, but we were able to retain the services of Del Mar's leading jockey from 2007, Michael Baze.  Let's hope Rafael and his agent regret their decision.

If two races on Sunday aren't enough for you, we'll be back in action on Monday, when Mikey Bones debuts for the Great Friends Stable in the first race.  We bought Mikey Bones for $12,500, and the plan was to run her back for the same price in mid-August.  Unfortunately, the appropriate race for her - a $12,500 claiming race at a mile on the Polytrack - was not scheduled, so we are forced to go to Plan B.  Since she's ready to race, we are going to move her up in class into a $16,000 claiming race.  The good news is that it appears she drew a weak field, so she has a chance.  Also, we decided to forgive Rafael Bejarano and let him ride for us again despite stiffing us on Mr. Chairman.  After all, he is the hottest jockey on the grounds.

Finally, check out Union Tribune tomorrow.  Rumor has it there might be a story about the Great Friends Stable...on the front page!

See you all for Big Sunday!

The Great Friends Management Team