Back on track

Lady Thief on the training track at Arlington Park

All three of the girls at the track are back in full training. They have all been going to the training track and haven't yet gone over the main track but are all progressing nicely. The reports from Rea Farm are that Hemissesu and Red Baroness are both doing fine and have grown quite a bit since the first part of the Summer. They will be coming to the track to train sometime mid-September.

Getting back in the groove

Slumber Smarty and Lady Thief have been jogging on the training track and are doing great. Angry Dragon is going to start back this weekend as she is being ridden in the shedrow every day by Paula and is close to being ready to return to the track.

Half brother to Red Baroness sells for big money at Spa sale

We watched with great interest as hip number 118 went through the ring tonight at the Fasig Tipton sales pavilion in Saratoga Springs. The colt who is by Dynaformer is a half brother to Smart Girls filly, Red Baroness, both being out of the Lord at War mare, Must be a Lady. He was bid up to $340,000 where he was purchased by noted bloodstock agent, Buzz Chase on behalf of West Point Thoroughbreds. The colt was consigned by Eaton Sales and was one of the 'hips to watch' prior to the session.

Hip No. 118, a colt by Dynaformer – Must Be a Lady, by Lord At War. Consigned by Eaton Sales, agent
“He’s a big, tall, leggy colt,” said Eaton’s Archie St. George of this bay yearling out of a winning full sister to the grade III winner Must Be War and stakes winner Warleigh. “He walks well, he’s correct, and he’s very well balanced.”
 
Here is a look at his (and Red Baroness') pedigree Hip 118
 
This is the video of the big colt
 
*A few shares of Red Baroness are still available at a very affordable price

Gearing back up

Lady Thief and Angry Dragon have resumed light training after a brief respite. They have both put on a few pounds and are maturing into nice fillies. Slumber Smarty still has minor foot issues and we are waiting on those being completely resolved before putting her back under tack.

Angry Dragon

Angry Dragon getting closer

Angry Dragon is inching closer to her debut after working 4 furlongs in 49 on Saturday morning at AP. This work followed a snappy 36 breeze on June 27th. She has been going to the gate in between works for schooling and is scheduled to return there on Wednesday. If she does well coming out of the starting gate we may work her from there this weekend.

ANGRY DRAGON

Update!

Lady Thief

The girls are all doing great! Lady Thief has been back under tack since Monday, walking the shed row for 30 minutes with a rider up to build up her back muscles. Her shins are fine and we are going to start jogging her on the training track next Monday. I plan on going slow with her to try to prevent aggravating her shins but she has really blossomed with the downtime.

Angry Dragon has been jogging a mile and galloping a mile everyday on the training track. Her shins have also quieted down and she has been training fine. We are going to bring her to the gate this weekend and I plan on having her breeze a quarter mile next week.

Slumber Smarty has been a little off lately and we arent really sure what is bothering her. Her legs look fine and her feet dont seem to be bothering her either. So we are going to proceed with caution and hope that she improves.

Treading Water

We have had more rainy weather this past week in Chicago though the forecast looks good for the next week or so. Angry Dragon did well schooling from the gate, breaking alertly and relatively straight. She has improved each time she goes and getting her gate card (which is the starters permission slip to start in a race which every horse has to have before running) shouldn't be too much of an issue. Her shins flared up a bit afterwards and we did not breeze her this week as we don't want to further aggravate them. She has remained in training however and has been jogging on the training track daily. Angry Dragon has filled out quite a bit since we came North and is really looking good.

Slumber Smarty also did well in the gate during her schooling session. She is really going through a growth spurt and as such we have level off in her training, jogging and galloping but no fast work. Her shins have held up well and her foot issues appear behind her. As she has grown her action on the track has gotten a little higher indicating that she very well may be more suited for grass. Being out of a Giant's Causeway mare and with Smarty Jones emerging as a turf sire, this is not a surprising development.

We backed off on Lady Thief's training and she has responded well. Her shins are settling down and we will start her back under tack next week.

Monday update

Lady Thief's shin hasn't progressed as well as we were hoping and we are going to give her a little time off. Her shin is still bugging her enough to cause concern and we went ahead and x-rayed it to be sure that it wasn't more than just shin soreness. The X-ray results did not reveal anything nefarious and after consulting with Dr. Bordelon we decided to just give her a little downtime and start her back up later this Summer.

Slumber Smarty was left without her training partner so we adjusted her schedule so that she could train with Bob Gary's Johar filly, Surfer Rosa. Slumber has done really well this past week, is scheduled to go to the gate on Thursday and will work 1/4 mile (2 furlongs) on Friday.

Angry Dragon has also progressed in her training and had a gate schooling session on Saturday. She is also scheduled to return to the gate Thursday and work on Friday.

Red Baroness and Hemissesu are doing fine and will be heading north to AP in a few weeks.

Weather blues

The Chicago weather has been downright miserable this week as rain, wind and cold temperatures aren't what you are expecting in May. Our training schedule has been thrown off kilter as we have been dealing with poor conditions. Friday's forecast however looks promising and we are looking to get some steady galloping done this weekend. On Sunday we are planning on Slumber Smarty, Angry Dragon and Lady Thief going over to the starting gate for some schooling. If things go well we will probably give all three fillies an easy work mid-week.

Quick Update

Everybody is back on track after a few minor issues with feet and shins sidetracked us for a few days. Slumber Smarty's feet are much improved and she is galloping on the training track again. Lady Thief and Angry Dragon both exited their works with tender shins but they have quieted right back down. That is not an unusual occurrence in young two year olds. More on the girls progress later in the week.

The Dragon works

Angry Dragon worked yesterday at Arlington Park going 2 furlongs in 25.3. She galloped out well in around 39 seconds and looks like she is ready to go three furlongs next week. We will do some gate work with her prior to her next work and she may be ready to work from the gate soon.

Lady Thief was scheduled to work as well yesterday but we wound up postponing the work due to sore feet. She just was shod for the first time on Tuesday and her feet were still a little tender so we played it safe and will wait till next week with her.

Slumber Smarty is improving but her feet are also still bugging her a bit as well.

I am heading out to Rea's today and will get some photos of Red Baroness and Hemissesu and will post them here and on facebook.

Welcome to the Smart Girls blog!

We want to use this blog as well as our facebook page to keep everyone informed on what is happening with our Smarty Jones fillies. Rather than spend money on fancy websites and such, we have chosen to use the modern (and free!) methods of easy and fast communication and spend every dollar on our horses!

Three of the fillies are at Arlington Park in Chicago and worked their first quarter mile last Thursday. Slumber Smarty (SJ-Dream Child), Lady Thief (SJ-War Thief) and Angry Dragon (SJ-Screamer) all worked easily over the polytrack surface. They spent the Winter in Ocala, Florida at the Classic Mile Training Center and have adapted to the racetrack life in fine fashion. Lady Thief and Angry Dragon are scheduled to work again on Wednesday, again going 1/4 mile in around 26 seconds. Slumber Smarty sustained a minor foot bruise on Saturday and will not work this week. We will be videotaping the work and posting it here and on youtube(hopefully without technical issues!).

Hemissesu (SJ-Wheatly Way) and Red Baroness (SJ-Must be a Lady) are both later maturing types and are in training at Rea Quarterhorses in Shelbyville, KY. These two will be joining the others at Arlington Park towards the end of May.

We will be racing not only in the Midwest at Arlington Park and the KY tracks but have stalls at Philadelphia Park (Smarty's home track) which gives us easy access to other East coast venues like Monmouth Park, Delaware Park, Pimlico, Belmont and Saratoga.

For further information contact Charles Simon at simonracing1@aol.com or 502 639 0707.