Winter 2024 Update

January and February of 2024 were all about preparation. Winter is the warm up season for racing as young horses still need time to grow and develop for their adult years.  Since most 2, going on 3 year olds, take a longer break, the normal race season starts in April or early May. Due to the close turnout location of Trotter’s Run Farm (as some horses turnout in Florida, or other southern states) and ending our season early, we were able to come back to training sooner in hopes of getting a few races in before the stakes season starts.

Winter is also about trying new things and attempting to correct any issues we saw last year or foresee, heading into this years’ experience. We began this process by adjusting and trying new harness gear to see if it can make a difference come race day.  With the new and colorful harness, it is slightly lighter than her practice gear and is equipped with a few additional items we did not use last year.  This winter we also performed a small procedure called Caslicks (named after the French veterinarian that invented it) or what is commonly referred to as “sewing up”. We did this as many races we received comments from the driver that as she accelerated she began “sucking air”. Sewing up helps a female horse from “sucking air” or “windsucking” which occurs during a race where air is sucked into her private parts creating gas in her stomach while racing. By sewing part of that airway, it reduces the ability for this to happen and hopefully will create a better racing experience without gas in her belly coming down the homestretch. This is very common among female racehorses and is a very easy and quick procedure to perform (and remove) when necessary.

In addition to the new gear and minor procedure, we switched her feed again to a new formula that is for high performance and stomach sensitivity.  We also did a few “witch tricks” to help clear out any bad things in her stomach and balance the enzymes/probiotics that are naturally occurring.  Lastly, we injected her knees (which is like a cortisone shot for people) as it is a common thing done among racehorses to provide extra care on their joints since they take a beating when at top performance. 

All of this culminated to our qualifying day on the last Friday of February. We asked Jason Beatie to push her a little to make sure we get the correct time, but to not push her too much to keep her flat and ensure we don’t hurt her. He did exactly what we asked for with a finish of 1:59.2 (bootleg link to my recording of the race 20240223_FullRace.mp4 ) which makes us eligible for the Ohio Sires Stakes and the Buckeye Stallion Series.  As long as Faith doesn’t take more than 45 days off of racing, she won’t have to qualify again.  As the madness of March is right around the corner, race season will officially begin.