HOOSIER DADDY!

Dear Partners and Friends,

We interrupt the horse talk long enough to say that Des Moines is pleased to have accomplished what Indiana has failed to be able to: Get Kentucky to play them. Now we see why. Coach Calimari was the perfect appetizer course for this year's tournament.

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming ;)

KEYS OR TEASE?

Well...it is one or the other. Are Moon and Ice showing us keys to future performance or will it prove to just be a tease?

KEEN ICE

Saturday morning in Dubai Keen Ice, working alone, breezed in 59.1...his fastest ever. Importantly, we followed up on Jockey Ryan Moore's suggestion that Moon would benefit from blinkers and this morning Ice had them on and will again in the World Cup. Ryan Moore will ride Ice again. We had lined up Javier Castellano to ride but he had a lot of conflicts and I made the decision to let him off so long as we could get Ryan who is the top ranked flat jockey everywhere else in the world. Trust me when I say we have a couple of favors coming from Javier and you know I will collect on them ;). Stay tuned.

DONEGAL MOON

Not to be outdone, Donegal Moon had Todd Pletcher smiling yesterday morning following his breeze. "Very solid with an outstanding gallop out," was the report. Just what we wanted to hear as we continue to point Moon at the Bluegrass Stakes or the Lexington Stakes with a strong preference for the Bluegrass if it makes sense as we get closer to April 9.

If you want to get fired up consider this: Many (including our very own Derby analyst Leslie Huddleston) thought the Rebel yesterday at Oaklawn was one of the toughest preps. Cupid won it. And he failed to run as fast a Beyer, Brisnet or Ragozin as Donegal Moon did in his last race. Cupid's final all out fraction was also slower than Moon's "rapped up on" final fraction.

VULCAN'S FORGE

Meanwhile, down in Florida, Vulcan's Forge had another solid breeze today. He is on the inside in this video. My god he is a monster!

So, so much to be excited about. Remember our upcoming events at Elloree Training Center and (likely) the Blue Grass Stakes. As well as the Derby May 7. If you haven't signed up now is the time!!!

Jerry

P.S. Donegal Partner Eliot Honaker has turned into a handicapping monster! Yesterday Eliot won his SECOND National Handicapping Contest qualifier finishing second out of 245. Yours truly finished 20th out of 245 in my third attempt this year.