Hey, Roguelet

[Denise]

What's Indiana Downs like? Have you ever raced there? I had a stable alert for an Unbridled Jet first time starter who's trying there. Her name is Hurricane Isabel.

[Roguelet]

Yep... I'm living there these days! I'll be there tonight, we have one racing in the 2nd.

To answer your question, the track is new and "pretty" and set up well for the horseplayers, but as a horseman I prefer Hoosier Park. Although, to be fair, Indiana Downs gets better each year as their employees figure out what horseracing is all about. Most people really enjoy the track, and this year the food is even decent! For a small, local midwestern track it's really not bad. Turf racing starts this week, so everyone's really excited about that. Tuesdays will be turf days... post time will be earlier than the rest of the week since the turf course has no lights!

When is she racing? I'm there quite often... all last weekend, last Tuesday, tonight... probably Saturday night...

[Denise]

Horse name Hurricane Isabel
Notes
Activity type Entry
Activity date 05-06-2005
Track Indiana Downs
Surface Dirt
Distance 5 1/2 Furlongs
Race number 4
Purse $11,000
Claim price
Race type Maiden Special Weight
Post position 9
Jockey Farrell J
Race entry http://www.drf.com/entries/06/eIND06.html#4

We own a share in Jet, and have two Jet babies, so I try to keep on top of his runners. Not much luck with the two year olds, as most Unbridled-lines are (besides Unbridled's Song), but they seem to be maturing well as three year olds. He had a MSW winner last week at Pimlico win by 11 lengths. Let me know what you think of her.
That's exciting to know that they card some grass races there. That's all we do, you know. Just had a third and fourth at Atlantic City yesterday.

[Roguelet]

We were out there last night and we'll be there tomorrow, so we probably won't go tonight. Sometimes HRTV shows Indiana Downs races... I don't know the exact schedule, but you might want to try them... you might be able to see the race!

Let me know the next time she races, there's a good chance I'll be there... (I spend WAY too much time at the tracks during live racing!)

[Denise]

Wed., 5/18, Hurricane Isabel in MSW at Indiana Downs. Don't know if you'll be there (it's race 9), but I promised I'd let you know when she was entered again.

[Roguelet]

A horse we bred is racing in the 7th on Wednesday... I'm not sure if we're going or not, but if we do, I'll be sure to look at Hurricane Isabel for you. I sure wish they showed more of the Indiana Downs races on HRTV (actually, I wish they showed them on TVG, but THAT will never happen!)

[Denise]

I don't think I've ever even seen Indiana Downs here in the east on simulcast.
Just curious to know what you think of this filly. If she's like all his other babies, they're big, rangy and slow to mature. But those huge, lopey strides (reminiscent of Easy Goer) seem to eat up a lot of ground, especially at the end.
I just wish they'd stretch them out a bit. Seeing these behemoths trying to sprint is awkward.

[Roguelet]

From what I understand, HRTV only broadcasts Indiana Downs on Tuesday (day racing) and Saturday, but not the whole card... and I don't know if it's the same from week to week or not. TVG broadcasts Hoosier Park, but not Indiana Downs. The only reason TVG carries the signal is because Hoosier Park is a Churchill Downs Corp... not like anyone really cares about Indiana racing!

[Denise]

But now I know why I've never ever seen the track.
This is a nicely bred filly, out of a Vice Regent mare. Someday, based on the female family, she should try going long on the lawn......

[Roguelet]

Maybe that's why they're racing her at Indiana Downs... there is a turf course there. This is the first year that Indiana Downs has had their signal anywhere at all... so I guess the track is "moving up" in the world. I think they show Tuesdays because it's "turf day" and that's sort of interesting... plus maybe they had some dead air time to fill.

[Denise]

Roguelet, did you happen to see the race Hurricane Isabel won last night?
I'm really happy for Unbridled Jet, who's finally getting some decent hits with his three year olds.

[Roguelet]

Unfortunately, no... I didn't. Neither channel was carrying Indiana Downs, and I didn't go to the track last night. I did notice the result though... looks like she won even after a bit of a gate bump. Nice job! I guess she likes Indiana Downs. Hopefully her next race will be on a day that I'll be out there!

[Denise]

I see Izzy's entered again (seems awfully soon) on Monday, race 2, post 1, in allowance company. If you're at Indiana Downs and can snap a photo, I'd love to see her. I meant to also tell you I actually saw Indiana Downs on the simulcast at Philly on Tuesday....so that's a start!
Another Jet filly, Miss Lombardi, won easily today at Pimlico in first level allowance company. I'm so grateful that Jet's three year olds are starting to show form.
We're headed out of town tomorrow till Sunday, and have our good turf mare, Outdone, in at Philly in a starter allowance Saturday. Hopefully, it stays on the lawn since she can't walk across the street on the dirt.
Then we have a maiden dirt starter, Sub Atomic, on Sunday at Philly, plus more entries there for Monday-Tuesday. Busy weekend!

[Roguelet]

Good luck with everyone this weekend. Maybe if you're at the track, you can see the simulcast of Indiana Downs. I've asked tracks/OTBs to switch to obscure channels before and every now and then they'll do it.

I will be there Monday, we have a horse running. However, ours is in the last race. I do plan to be there for the full card, so I should be able to see your girl in the 2nd. However, I will be at the Indy 500 all day Sunday, and sometimes it's really hard to motivate the day after the Indy 500. But the plan is to be there in time for the first post.

[Roguelet]

Well, as predicted it was very hard to motivate after the Indy 500! I got to the track just in time, the horses were in the paddock for the 2nd. I went rushing over there with my digital camera and snapped a few shots, then they led them to the track so I went to get my table. When I got seated, I saw that she had been scratched (launched the jock and took the scenic route back to the barn.) She was hopping around a lot in the paddock so it was hard to get good pictures, but she seemed nicely put together; overall a well proportioned attractive horse. I sent you some pictures to your email address... let me know if you don't receive them and I'll try again.

I hope your horses did better than mine last weekend!