Ohmygosh, what a great day!
Sumwon comes into the paddock dancing and feeling full of herself ... I'll let Steve and Chuck comment, of course, but here's what I saw (while my heart was racing a mile a minute!) .... she gets up and settled into a nice, steady lick, well within herself and comfortable, Willie puts her just off the two path to block the rail down the back stretch - if you watch the replay, twice he took her back a tad on the lead and she responded (good girl!) with a little rest .... she goes around the turn, came off the rail while fussing a little when he asked her to change her lead again (that's when the other horse came through) ... she gets back up into her stride and when the other horse passed she opened up her stride (huge stride, wow) and fought back and she closed down on the winner. Nice race riding!
Cherie said she came back to the barn happy, proud, and bucking and kicking!
What an awesome day - so glad Chuck got a payday! Cherie was so proud of her girl - she's done wonders with her, she looks marvelous, beautiful, so many improvements from big to little (and she'd not done yet I hope) and of course Steve was a wonderful "racing manager" and got us owners passes to the boxes for the rest of the day, and made sure we all had a great time.
I can't thank all of you guys - Hooves, Steve, Chuck, Cherie ... for letting me experience the pure thrill and joy of being a part of this, of meeting so many great new people, of being a "race horse owner". Everyone, the other owners, are so much fun - I hope this starts friendships that last a long time
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