Entered in a Starter Allowance on Sept 11, 2022, our Novgorod The Great ran fabulous but....
GOT CAUGHT ON THE WIRE!
If you remember, last time out we ran 3rd while we were closing like a freight train on the 2nd place mule. So we thought that stretching our boy out by another half furlong in this race would be the magic move to put us back in the Winners Circle. Well, Close But Not Quite....
Again we were on the Tapeta surface at Gulfstream - though this time at 5 1/2 furlongs. Luca Pacini again was on board. Of the 7 horses in the field, 4 were in our prior race including the winner of that race, Uncle B. Luca was adorned in the Red, White & Blue of Red Rabbit Racing and looked Dapper as Hell.
In Chicago, Princess Kathy, Laurie, Nancy, Ryan, Randy, Brad & Brett were watching with other Rabbits around the Midwest tuned in as well. Money Rabbit (Jean) and Clocker Rabbit (Nemesis Steve) were onsite at Gulfstream and took all the pictures. Great Job.
Jimmy had vanned Novgorod up from Ocala the night before and Jimmy said he was "READY". He was. We had drawn the 5 hole (again) with Uncle B eyeballing us next door from the 6 hole. When the gate opened...
NOVGOROD WAS THE FIRST ONE OUT!
Click Here To See All The Pictures- Click Here to Download The Pictures
- Click Here To See The Official Video Of The Race
- Click Here To See The Official Head-On Video Of The Race
- Click Here For The Official Race Result
- Click Here For Video Of Dancing Rabbit On The Whip
In typical fashion, Luca had our boy just on the outside of the leader until midway through the turn. Though still under a firm hold by Luca, our WarHorse sprints into the lead as they come out of the turn and ripping down the stretch. Late in the last furlong, you see that old crafty Uncle B start to rally on the outside and just beats us by a long neck on the wire.
DRATS!
Even though we had hoped for the win, we were very pleased with our boy's effort. He ran a great race - he just got beat on this day by an older, more experienced horse.
Founder Rabbit's (Peggy) theory is Novgorod couldn't see the late runner closing because we wear blinkers. And if Novgorod had seen him coming up the lane - we would have dispatched him with authority.
Not so sure - but what I was surprised at was how relatively late Luca was with the whip to rouse our boy. Take a look at the head-on video and you'll see what I mean. Maybe a couple lovetaps earlier might have made a difference. Maybe Luca needs a lesson from Dancing Rabbit on how to brandish the Riding Crop? Who knows?
Trainer Gulick reports he came through the race just fine and now we look for our next race. Thanks to Jimmy, Roberta and the entire team for another great effort and a healthy slice of that purse!
SEVEN RACES FOR US AND NOVGOROD
HAS ALWAYS BEEN IN THE MONEY!
THIS HORSE IS GAME!