At Last

Greetings Race Fans,

The long awaited, on again-off again, debut of Tiz Gallatin has finally arrived. Expectations were exceedingly high since her purchase at the 2013 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The well-bred daughter of Tiz Wonderful out of Golden Say by Golden Missile is a half-sister to our incredible black type performer, Queen Negwer. The muscular chestnut is named in honor of my college basketball coach at SIUE, NBA Basketball Hall of Fame member, Harry “the horse” Gallatin.

Tiz missed a start as a two-year-old because she was not quite ready, at three, trainer Tim Ice conditioned her for a Maiden Special Weight, in the Mid Atlantic, when a slab fracture was discovered in her knee. Opting out of surgery we brought her back to the Moore Family Farm for some TLC, rest and rehabilitation. That extended layoff put Tiz on the sidelines for the entire 2015 racing season. Ed Essenpreis has cautiously worked Tiz back into racing fitness while being cognizant of her knee and other minor concerns. Connections have taken a conservative approach and now feel she is poised for an unveiling on Wednesday, October 19, at Hawthorne Racecourse in Chicago.

Seven fillies and mares line up in Race #1 at 2:20 pm, for a Maiden Claiming going Six Furlongs on dirt. The purse is $9,200 and the claiming tag is $15,000. Tiz drew the #7 post, on the far outside, with James Bielby in the irons. #4 Reminisce is the lukewarm morning line favorite at (5/2) odds. #2 Waddle is the next choice at (3/1) followed by #5 Funny Bone, a five-year-old Indiana bred, at (4/1). #1 Gypsy Lass, a Kentucky bred three-year-old at (9/2) odds, joins our four-year-old Kentucky bred at (8/1) as the only unraced fillies in the field.

It is a fragile and speculative game we play and many things must go right just to get a horse to the race track. Although, Tiz gets a late career start, she is now sound and we will remember this opportunity in the Windy City, just as Chicagoans recall the first at bat by Ernie Banks or Michael Jordan’s first basket.

In her timeless classic Edda James sings:

“Oh yeah yeah

At Last.”