Musings of an Aging Nobody

Sunday, August 2, 2020.

It’s 4:51 Pacific Time.

“On to the track for the 7th race.  Post time in nine minutes”

Del Mar thoroughbred racetrack is located in San Diego.  I have never been to Del Mar.

I have been to San Diego once.

My brother Gary lives in San Diego.

Often when talking about my brothers I would refer to one as my “California brother” and the other as my “Cancer brother.”

In fact, the only trip I made to San Diego was to visit my “California brother” and it was with my “Cancer brother” Carl.

It is a nice memory.

Though I didn’t know it at the time he wanted to make that trip because he thought his cancer that was in remission had returned.  Thankfully that turned out not to be the case.

After that, we would kid him a little that every time he traveled or showed up somewhere unexpectedly it meant it was time for us to go buy a suit.

Like the second trip he made to San Diego with his wife Teesha, and the Mother’s Day he showed up unannounced at my mother’s after learning he had mesothelioma.

It was never really funny, but in more hopeful times it got a little laugh.

I would probably visit San Diego more often.

But you know, you have to be invited.

Then, of course, there is the virus.

“The horses are now approaching the starting gate.”

The seventh race at Del Mar was scheduled for 5 o’clock Pacific Time which makes it 8 o’clock here on the east coast.

The seventh race at Del Mar is special to me today because one of my horses is entered. You may recall from my post “We’re Going to Make It…” that I made a very small investment in four two-year-old fillies.

“The horses have now reached the starting gate.  It’s Post Time!  They’re at the starting gate for the seventh race at Del Mar.”

Moonlight D’Oro is the two-year-old daughter of Medaglia d’Oro, the dad.  Medaglia d’Oro was a very successful grade one stakes winner who raced until age five.  Moonlight’s mom Venetian Sonata was also a grade one stakes runner who had marginal racing success.

The conditions of the race are the requirements a horse must meet to be entered into a race.  In this case, the conditions are that this is a Maiden race at five furlongs for two-year-old fillies only.  The maiden term means none of the horsed entered have ever won a race though they may have started other races but just not won.   The purse is $55,000.

In the case of Moonlight d’Oro,  she has never run a race.  She is a first-time starter. She had been working out very successfully and as a result her trainer Richard Mandella felt it was time.  Of the four horses I made my very small investment in, Moonlight d’Oro is the first to be entered into a race.  She will exit the gate as the number 4 horse and will be ridden by jockey Flavien Prat, a French jockey who has been riding in the States since 2015.  So far today Flavien has already won two races.

Moonlight d’Oro was the morning line favorite to win the race with early odds at 8 to 5.  Currently, as we get close to post time, she is 2 to 5, the heavy favorite.

“Roll Up Mo Money moving in with Moonlight d’Oro.”

“They’re off!”

Thoroughbred racehorses all turn a year older on January 1^st.  Therefore, any horse foaled in 2018 as far as race conditions are concerned is considered to be two years old in 2020.  Moonlight d’Oro’s actual birthday was May 2, 2018, so she is twenty-seven months old today.  Though it is not unusual for a horse to begin racing as a two-year-old it is just as common for trainers to wait until they are three when they are a little more mature.

The more well-known races such as the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont, otherwise known as the Triple Crown are limited to horses that are three years old.  Most of the time the entrants to these races are male horses though there have been some girls who have been successful running against the boys like Winning Colors in 1988 and Genuine Risk in 1980 and Regret in 1915.

“Moonlight d’Oro finds herself six lengths off the lead early on.”

One of the unusual aspects of this seventh race at Del Mar is that none of these horses have ever been entered in a race.  They are all very young and very inexperienced.  Their only practice has been working out in the mornings, running against a stablemate or two, and breaking from the practice gate.  Therefore anyone of these horses could step up today and win this race.  One of them will “break their maiden” today.

“Nothing yet from the favorite Moonlight d’Oro who’s at the back of the pack”

The workouts are timed by the “clockers.”  Therefore there is some data, though not always considered to be very reliable, on how a horse may be progressing in their training.  Moonlight d’Oro produced a “bullet workout,” in other words, one of the best of the day at Santa Anita back on June 13 and has worked well over the Del Mar surface at five furlongs in preparation for this race.

“And they’re into the stretch. And it’s Roll Up Mo Money who has taken the lead”

I should probably go visit my “California brother” more often.

I was just kidding about the invitation, he asks us to come out all the time.

I can’t visit with my “Cancer brother” anymore.

I should probably learn something from that.

But we don’t always learn.  I have written about that before.

Then of course there is the virus.

“Closing in between horses is Moonlight d’Oro who’s kicked it in too”

“But Roll Up Mo Money is going to do it”

I don’t know if investing in these horses will ever turn out to be good as an investment, but it has been certainly worth the well-needed distraction.

Moonlight d’Oro had a big kick at the end and finished second.

She ran a really nice race coming way off the pace and closing nicely.

She will be fine.

She made another nice memory.