Brother, Where Have You Been?

Dear Partners and Friends,

I, for one, never stopped believing in Brother O'Connell. I just thought he needed enough distance and an average trip and he would get there in front. And he did.

Of interest en route to Brother's victory at 4-5 odds is that someone made a $10,000 win bet between clicks in the early going. That wasn't me ;).  

The question now is what's next for Brother. The NY Bred NW1 at 1 1/8th miles is about four Rag points easier than the open company NW1 at 1 3/8ths miles. There is no doubt Brother would do better at the longer distance, but whether he would do four points better is another question. We'll see how he comes out of the race.

Two things are certain: The work Christophe had done on Brother's tender teeth seemed to work and Rajiv gave him his first good trip ever.

I am not ready to declare Brother a stakes horse but I do think getting him in a mile and half outing would move him way up.

FINNEGAN'S WAKE

Just a quick update. The Grade I on the dirt in two weeks out West may be coming up light. It goes without saying that a Grade I win on the dirt would be huge in terms of Finnegan's stallion value. Before Finn went to California his best speed figures lifetime were actually on the dirt, so we are taking a hard look at this race. Also looking at a turf race at Del Mar as a warm up for the Arlington Million should we decide to go there and take on California Chrome.

ROCK SHANDY

As you know from earlier emails, Shandy has had a flake in his ankle that we have been trying to work around. Because of occasional stiffness we have decided to remove the chip and then bring Shandy back in about two months.

SMART COVER

This courageous horse was working hard to get back to his best racing form but has now developed a torn tendon. I fear this is the end of the road for this boy. We will look for a nice home for him.

We will have a KEEN ICE report as the week progresses and a full stable update a week from tomorrow.

Jerry