Ups and Downs

Churchill has been nice and sloppy for the last few days, thanks to the seemingly never-ending rainfall we have been experiencing. On one level, rain is a good thing...on another level, it's depressing, cold, and makes cleaning tack much less fun. The good news? The track crew have actually been doing a good job maintaining the slop, and the horses have been traveling well over it.

Storm has been relishing his training lately and is eager to go out every morning. We have started going off the upper Romans gap, which seems to control his explosive nature on particularly busy mornings. At this gap, he is off the horse path quicker and therefore has less time to react to pounding hooves behind him, and then we have a nice leisurely walk back home. He has been a perfect gentleman. Naturally, he managed to hurt himself in his stall this morning...nothing major, thank God, but a freak thing that only he could manage to do. ;)

Flash has been training like a true beast. After his fast work last week, he has been tugging me around and prancing and acting silly whenever he finds the opportunity. Very excited about his attitude change and how solid he feels while galloping. He WANTS to train, which is a big difference from a month ago.

Diva is one work away from her first race, and she has been very aggressive in her training, wanting to go straight down to the rail and go as fast as she can. Naturally, that isn't the goal, so I've been working extra hard to keep her in the "slow part" of the track, giving and taking on her mouth and saying "No ma'am, no ma'am, no ma'am" every time she wants to fight with me. You can see her little ears flicking back towards me constantly, and for the most part she will relax with time and gallop around quite nicely. D. Wayne Lukas himself gave her a hard glance this morning and seemed to like what he saw. She is really blooming at the right time and keeping it together mentally..I'm quite excited about her.

Butters continues to maintain a very high level of professionalism for such a high-spirited young horse. Yesterday, a horse flipped over right beside us and was loose, and Butters calmly waited for me to stop him and check on the rider...I can always count on him to keep his cool. And he's learning to relax galloping, although it's a day-by-day process. Will have his first work under a jockey as soon as this weather clears up.

Nugget is in on Thursday! I just have to get him through ONE more day of training! It's always nerve-wracking the last couple of days coming up to a race, especially an important one. This horse is a home-bred and the owners are so excited about him, as are we. This race will really be a crucial one for him, potentially dictating the rest of his 2 y/o career, which we obviously hope is a lucrative one. Keep your fingers crossed for him! Also please keep BoldBold in your thoughts and prayers as he continues to battle whatever kind of infection/sickness is bugging him.

And on a parting note, we have two new kids in the barn! Kaz is a half-sister to Ali and Blackie, and looks JUST like them, a big fat bay. We also have Orange, who is way too cute for words and seems to be a sweet boy. Look for updates on these two as we start taking them to the track on Thursday!

God Bless!