Can we all remember that first victory we had when we started playing this game. The feeling of jubilation and excitement as we watched our horse run down the stretch and we cheered at a screen as he or she crossed the finishing line first. Mb Stables Listen To The Wind winning by three in a two horse race, and then four days later seeing Mind On The Prize win at MNR by some 25 lengths! Australia Wide taking Darling Harbour to an 18 length victory at Belmont in 2003, and then watch as that filly became the HRP Female Turf champion in 2003, then go on to capture HRP Older Female awards in both 2004/05. How that must of felt. Even for a fairly new barn like Cubsflan who watched his recent purchase Victory win by a half a length at GG after seeing so many of his runners place 18+ lengths out up until that first win. The feeling must have been amazing.
I think we all remember that feeling, like as in Mb Stables case, mine came in a two horse field when Wicked Street won by eleven. I only had one Graded victory with Last Tequila Shot when he won the Gr. III Spend A Buck at Calder. Man I was over the moon with that win and it probably got me hooked on this game. Which brings me to the point of this article.
Another player of this game found his first victory all the way back in October of 2007 with a horse by the name of One More Filly who would win by two lengths against a field of ten runners leading throughout at MNR. He would start to get more active with entries by the 2009 season, and come the following year would compete in two Graded races. Finishing second in the Gr. III Tokyo City Cup with a runner by the name of St Exupery and then a third in the Gr. II San Gabriel Handicap at Santa Anita in late December with his horse Bottom Line.
Bottom Line would now turn five years old the following season and in his first of 2011 he would capture the Gr. III TAM Stakes, earning his trainer his first ever Graded victory, and a 104 SRF rating as well. He would follow that up three starts later with a three length victory in the Gr. III River City Handicap at Churchill Downs on the grass like his previous Graded victory, this time with a 105 SRF figure. How these two victories must have brought on a smile, possibly a dance across the room, but just how it made this person feel was the way we all wish we could feel all the time. Oh by the way, did I forget to mention who this trainer is? None other then Sir Edward Estates. Surprised?
I still remember back to a discussion I had with my Dad when i was probably nine or ten, and I tried to tell him how Mom wasn’t getting what I was saying about how important something was to me. He said, I am going to tell you a little story about two men. Both were looking at a wall in the room. The first man said.” What a nice shade of purple that wall is.” The second man looked oddly at the first man and said, ” Purple, your daft, its blue. ” Are you O.K. said the first man, its Purple!” “I think you’ve been drinking,”said the second man. It’s Blue. My Dad pointed out to me that the first man was truly seeing the color purple on the wall, and the second man suffered from being colorblind, so he didn’t see the red pigmentation in the purple, so it looked blue to him. The point I’m trying to make is that everyone looks at thinks from a different perspective, not that they are wrong our right, but they have an opinion that they feel inside is important.
Sir Edward Estates has his opinions that he expresses quite freely here at HRP. I applaud him for the fact that his individuality is important for the game. I don’t think we all want to be bovines following the other cow to the barn because he is heading that way. In the United States they have the First Amendment to the Constitution that I know Americans will defend adamantly. Canada has the Charter Of Rights and Freedoms which states we are protected from freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression. The UK has Under Article 10 of the Human Rights Act 1998, “everyone has the right to freedom of expression” in the UK. But the law states that this freedom “may be subject to formalities, conditions, restrictions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a democratic society”. I guess my point is and the other Bottom Line for this article, is though I may be using Sir Edward as he seems to draw the most attention with his views and I apologize to him if I offended him, we all have expressions, feelings, thoughts that need to be expressed. and while HRP tries to police the site and keep everyone under wraps as to not offend anyone in particular, it does seem to happen from time to time from everyone. I know this is not the type of article that Sir Edward was looking to have written about him, but keep in mind that he did take a horse to two Graded Stakes victories, and while his most recent efforts may make some feel like he has no experience to be able to talk about horse racing and the game in general, his overall stakes record is 31 ( 8-6-4 ), winning at 25.8 % and an ITM ratio of 58 percent, numbers I know many players wish they could achieve. I think that gives him some right to express an opinion just like we all do.
I get positive feedback about my writing and also negative comments like I missed the point about a certain horse. Each side of the coin has meaning to me, as i will go back and use both critiques as helping me be a better writer.
We are a Community people, and we can make each other strong and the community better with more positive output and support. Trump worked on the slogan ” Make America Great Again”, we can all do our part to KEEP HRP great always!
Duffer.
Categories: EDITORIAL
