Congratulations to our 58th winner in 2011, SWEETNESSNGOODNESS, who won a Maiden Special going 5 1/2 Furlongs at Turfway Park for owners Ira P. Mersack and Smokey Lynne Bare. She paid $23.60, $10.60 and $9.40.

The Churchill Meeting has been over for a week, and with the Fairgrounds (New Orleans) open and the earlier opening of Tampa and Gulfstream on December 3rd, the horses left Churchill faster than I have ever seen them leave.

The stable won two races (GOODNESSGRACIOUSME for owners Margaux Farm, Norb & Karen Paulin, Penny Lauer and YANBIAN EXPRESS, owners Margaux Farm and Penny Lauer) at the Churchill Downs Fall meet, which was good as the fall meet is much different from the spring meet. To begin with it is shorter, and when you add the Breeders Cup Days into it, there is that much left for the rest of us.

The weather held up good until the end, which is not always the case. We will hang around here until after Christmas and run a few in the area and then move to Oaklawn Park, in Hot Springs, Arkansas while leaving a short string at Turfway Park in Florence, KY. We also have a few Penn Breds at Penn National outside Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

We are trying to regroup and pick up a few new horses to go to Arkansas. If you have one that you would like to send with us, give us a call. It is a good meet where maiden specials run for $40,000. The minimum purse is $15,000 for $5000 claimers.

We are working with our yearlings preparing them for next year. None have names as yet. If you want to buy in, you can be on the naming committee. There are plenty of “legs” to go around. The ones we offered up last year, have done well providing entertainment and earnings for their owners.

The Breeders Cup was a great two days of races. I even came out on the positive end of gambling, thanks to my predictions last week that Mott would run big and Union Rags would run big. There were some very interesting races and stories to go along with them. COURT VISION paid over $131.60 and you had a couple of favorites that ran like they were predicted to. The Europeans did well on the grass as usual. The weather was absolutely perfect, but the attendance (35,000 Friday, 65,000 Saturday) and handle was down. Churchill Downs and The Breeders Cup said it was probably because there was no Zenyatta this year. Perhaps it was the high dollar tickets and concessions that kept many away? But overall, the star of the weekend was Billy Mott as he won The Ladies Classic with Royal Delta and The Classic with Drosselmeyer who is by Distorted Humor. There was a little something for everybody.

The sales start today, and from what I can see in the results tonight they are going very well. They continue for 12 more days selling everything. There are a few dispersals as well as racing age horses (hint hint) available for the bidding. We always need to keep looking for horses.

Churchill runs three more weeks through the Thanksgiving weekend. Go out and bet at your local track and support the business. Better yet, buy or claim a horse and get in the game!

Churchill is open. It is the best place to claim a horse this time of year. Very competitive racing. We would gladly claim a few for you. The November Mixed Sales at Keeneland start next week as well.

The Breeders Cup is upon us. The fillies run on Friday and the Colts on Saturday. I am not going to give you all the picks, but I will give you a few. I think Billy Motts horses will do well as Billy himself has been here since the beginning of Keeneland watching over all the horses.  UNION RAGS is in our barn at Churchill. He came in Monday. He looks good and is doing good. The only question is the two turns. He has handled a one turn mile, but if he can adjust to the two turns he should do well. I would like to see GOLDIKOVA win the Mile Turf and be the only four time winner of the Breeders Cup.

It is raining in Louisville today. Steady rain, probably accumulating 1/2 to 1 inch and then it should clear out tomorrow and Saturday. It should soften the Turf course which the Europeans should like. They don’t need much more to like as they already like and have excelled on the Churchill Course in previous Breeders Cups.

I kind of like STAY THIRSTY in the Classic and I think Mott will run good in the classic as well. I think Ken Ramsey’s filly in the Juvenile will run good. Ramsey owns the stallion Kittens Joy and this filly is by Kittens Joy. He is quite an interesting person. Self made and loves every aspect of the thoroughbred business. Nobody loves the game more than Ken Ramsey. He wants to walk every horse into the winners circle. I have seen him take his shoes and socks off to go out onto the track in the mud to get the horse. The sport needs more owners like Ken and Sarah Ramsey.

Keep checking back for more amateur picks!