I came across Down The Jazz in a Maiden Claiming race restricted to 2yo's with the claiming tag of $ 25,000 . Whether it be in our auction or for any claim I have a set of requirements that the horse in question must pass before I bid for them. With un-raced horses I have requirements for it's sires. I kept looking at the pedigree of Down The Jazz and of course made a Dosage Profile for him (I only make them to understand what they may suggest about a horse and then incorporate that into other criteria.) He passed, and before my appreciation for him turned into a yearn, I quit looking at him before this desire to have turned into; I need this horse!! I grabbed hold of myself and rationalized that with the hundreds of bids for claim this horse is going to get, I shouldn't build my hopes up too high or think about it too much, he's just another horse and if I don't get him they're will be plenty more next week to try for.
On that Saturday I did my usual routine of looking up the races that my horses were in, this was before I had ever seen the animated "Viewer" visual of any race. I have analized many race Charts from The Daily Racing Form for my own purposes and was very adept to how a raced played out by understanding them. So, that was how I played this game for nine months.
I waited for the stable up-dates as I always have in the past waiting to assess that weeks races,get the horses speed figures etc., etc. and adding the horses new speed figures to their Form Cycle charts. I had been analyzing my horses form cycles through these charts for quite a few months and I find them very helpful in understanding why a horse performs the way it does in a given race.
Just about done with my Fleur-De-Lis Stable and I was in a hurry to move on to the next when something caught my eye. Something had changed with my stables line-up ..... I started reading the names ...... Down The Jazz?!?! I clicked on the name and waited for his pedigree sheet to download. Benny The Dip x Tom Rolfe x Sisters Prince .... I got this horse?!?! I had done a great job of putting him out of my mind for the last couple days and wasn't even looking at the posibility of gaining a claim. I kept looking at him and re-clicking on him, I had claimed many horses before, but why was I getting more excited than usual over this one. Then I realized .... "Oh yeah, ...... he ran today." I scrolled down to see how he did; 6.5f on the dirt .... he won from off-the-pace to pull away and win by four lengths ...... "He won easy!!" Speed Figure = 78 ... 78!! For a 2yo that is great!!
Again, I pulled myself together and moved on, I felt confident that I had claimed a stakes winner .... for; $25K !!!
