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USA Results
Harness & Greyhounds
JayJay
7,629 posts
After trying to make sense of the Elitelopp, and failing miserably, some horses from down under appeared in the USA Results this week.
Good old Christen Me, now a 10 year and one of my favourite horses, just keeps winning over there but he is down in class winning an $18k race in a lazy 1.50.2 whilst Heaven Rocks ran a close 2nd to Fillibuster Hanover in the $150k Commodore Cup going 1.48.2.
And in a rare coincidence, brothers Brookies Jet and Brookies Prince nearly bought up an international double....Brookies Jet winning in Northam WA in 1.58.1 and Brookies Prince 3rd in 1.52.1 in America, a long way away from their foaling paddock in North Island NZ.
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^:)^
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Sire: JEREME'S JET Dam: ENJOY
Race Time:0:26.4 - 0:56.3 - 1:24.2 - 1:51.4
Finishing Position: 1st
Odds to $1: 0.80
Driver: Berry, Patrick D Trainer: Berry, Traci L
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By Bill Finley
There's a forgotten part of the Foiled Again story, buried
under the mountains of money he's made these last several
years and the many big races he has won. It's the first few
chapters of his career, a story that begins well before Ron
Burke and Yannick Gingras arrived on the scene, well before
Foiled Again got his first headline. And it's the story of
maybe the most lopsided sale in harness racing history.
Foiled Again began his career for owner Patrick Lacey and
trainer Hermann
Heitman. Following a
June 29, 2008 race
at Chester, his
record stood at 8 for
46 and his career
earnings were less
than $80,000. There
wasn't any reason to
believe the horse
was going to amount
to much, so Lacey
sold him–for
$62,500. For his new
owners the 9-year-old son of Dragon Again has made more
than $5.9 million.
"I can't be happy about it," Lacey said matter-of-factly.
Lacey and his trainer Hermann Heitmann had their eye on
Foiled Again at the 2005 Harrisburg sale because they had
campaigned his mother, In A Safe Place, and Foiled Again's
grand dam, Sunshine Judy. They bought the then yearling
for $20,000.
Foiled Again won his first career start, a non-winners of
two at Freehold. The purse was $3,400 and the driver was
Jim Marshall III.
It was a promising start but the son of Dragon Again
looked like he was just another horse. He went 4 for 22 in
2007 as a 3-year-old and was 1 for 19 the following year
before the Burkes took over.
Right around that time, Heitmann was preparing Foiled
Again's full brother, Spoiled Again, for the races. They had
bought him in 2007 at Lexington for $25,000.
"We had the full brother and we thought he was going to
turn out to be the better of the two," Heitmann said. "We
only keep a limited number of horses in order to keep
expenses down. We thought we would sell Foiled Again and
keep his brother instead. Later on, (Spoiled Again) wasn’t
doing well as we were training him down. We took him to the
New Bolton Center and they found out he had multiple holes
in the heart. If I trained him more he probably would have
fallen down dead.."
Spoiled Again never raced and remains at New Bolton
where he is used to help train staff and future
veterinarians.
It was Dave Reid from Preferred Equine who picked out
Foiled Again when he was 4 and he called the Burkes and
suggested they buy him. Reid is involved in the selling of
so many horses that he barely remembers the details of
the Foiled Again sale. Ron Burke said they paid $62,500
for him.
"We thought he'd be a good $50,000 claimer for us,"
Burke said. “Really, nothing more.”
At the time, Lacey thought the move made perfect
sense.
"The price seemed right at the time," he said. He was 4
for 22 for us as a 3-year-old and he just wasn't racing that
good. They offered me more than three times what we
paid him for so we decided to sell."
Foiled Again won his second start for the Burkes. With
Mickey Burke then listed as the trainer the win came in a
$15,000 conditioned race at Yonkers, and Jason Bartlett
was the driver. Foiled Again got better after the Burkes
took over, but he would not develop into a star until later
years.
"I told my owner he was going to be better as an aged
HarnessRacingUpdate.com • 12/6/13 PAGE 2 of 9
horse, that he would get better over the years," Heitmann
said. "Obviously, I didn't think he be that good."
But he is that good. He's won 71 races for the Burkes and
at age 9 is still going so strong that it looks like there are
many more wins to come. Considering he's averaged $1.33
million per year in earnings over the last three years, it's not
hard to imagine him adding a lot more to his bankroll before
he's done.
"You have to take your hat off to that guy, Burke," Lacey
said. "He's done a really good job. He's good at what he
does."
Heitmann said he still watches all of Foiled Again's races
and admires him from afar. He recently donated his original
halter to a charity auction.
"I don't have any regrets," the German born trainer said.
"We made some money with him and we sold him . That's
how the business works."
Lacey said the decision to sell Foiled Again bothered him
for a while but he's gotten over it. Born in 1937, he's been in
the business for a long time and knows that harness racing
is filled with ups and downs.
"I have had a lot of success with horses and in life as well,”
Lacey said. “At my age you have to look at the positives and
not look back and worry about something like selling a
horse."
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