Oaklawn Park Race Track closed its meet on Saturday with a crowd of 67,000 under sunny skies. We were lucky winning our sixth race of the meet on Saturday with THE MONEY DANCE for owners Michael Johnson and Penny Lauer. It was an $85,000 3 year old maiden special going a mile and a sixteenth and he won impressively (if I say so myself) by seven lengths. During the meet he also ran two seconds and a third with total winnings for the meet of $92,760 and the stable won over $270,000 for the meet.  As we have been trying to tell everyone, Arkansas has great purses in the winter.

Indiana Grand opens tomorrow and Churchill Downs will open in 12 days after Keeneland closes. Lots of good racing in the area and plenty of opportunities to get in the owners box. Remember, it is cheaper than golf and more fun.

Tried to fill my bottles with wonderful water in Hot Springs Arkansas, but due to the government shut down there was no water today.

Happy New Year- better late than never. We had a good year in 2017 (check out our “History” on the web page) and hope to have a better year in 2018. We hope to get to Two Million in earnings this year which is our highest goal ever, and 60 wins.

We are presently running at Turfway and will be at Oaklawn as they open this Friday the 12th. Minimum purse is $23,000 for $6,250 claimers and maidens run for $75,000 which is the highest in America this time of year. This is a great place to claim one with the purses being so good. Spring arrives there about a month earlier than it does in Kentucky. It is a great place to come for a couple days of racing.

I thought we did good overall in claiming horses throughout last year. We lost one of our best horses (Mister Pollard)for $25,000 after we had won over $550,000 with him. Secret Trick was our leading race winner after we claimed her for $5,000 in December 2016 she won five races in 2017. We look forward to action this year in the claiming game. If you have some interest in this, let me know.

We also have some just turned 2-year-olds that we are preparing to race, and if you have any interest in those we have some available for sale. Just let me know and I will forward some pedigree’s. We have high expectations for this group.

Last year we had 8 of our two-year olds break their maidens. Two of them won $100,000 stakes and a third one placed in a $75,000 My Dear Girl Stake at Woodbine (Canada). Looking for good progression into their 3 yr. old year.

We won a few Stake Races with three year olds of 2017, CAKE POP, WHISTLE STOP and EVADER. Whistle Stop and Cake Pop have lifetime earnings over $220,000. There is a good chance that Cake Pop may win 3 year old champion Ohio Bred Colt of 2017 as he won two stakes and placed in two others.

As I said earlier, we intend to beat last years record and hopefully with your support we can all experience “A Great Day In Racing”.

I have been watching these football games the last two weeks. The big ten are 7-1 in bowl games. The loss coming with that “circus” they have in Michigan. Jim Harbaugh is more concerned about self press than winning, but that is what you get for 7-8 million per year. The so called mighty SEC is 2-5 with the Georgia and Alabama games still up in the air. So I am sick of hearing about how great  the SEC is.  The two head to head bowls was when South Carolina beat Michigan today and Northwestern beat Kentucky.

You only have 24 hours to take advantage of the new Donald Trump tax bill. Now is the time to get your horse and get the tax breaks.

Also remember the new year is right around the corner, which means only one thing…..you need to renew your owners license today.