Dirty Horse Update - Dishing the Dirt

Hello all Dirty Horse Club Members!

The summer is over and the 2027 Road to the the Kentucky Derby is underway. I wanted to update everyone on where things stand and what is coming up.

I have been putting 100% effort into two specific things which have taken up alot of my time. Even though I have neglected the website, alot has been going on behind the scenes over these past several months.

First, I have been hard at work trying to complete a 40 page Children's book that I am very proud of.

The manuscript is complete and I have been working diligently on 30+ illustrations. I'm at the halfway point and steadily plowing through it.

The book pays tribute to the 1973 Belmont Stakes with plenty of characters that will appeal to all children and their parents. A bit of nostalgia, great memories and the fictitious adventures of a little boy at Belmont Park, while still keeping the historical achievements of the greatest horse who ever lived intact.

It is the first time I have ever worked in pen and ink with oil pencils and also the first time making art that would appeal to children. It has been a fun learning process with this medium. A sneak peak at two of the illustrations with the first that speaks for itself - and the second one - well, those feet belong to Lucien Laurin!

The book will be available through Amazon and other outlets and the goal is to be published before Christmas. My hope is that the parents and grandparents who love horse racing share this book with the children in their lives. It is my small way of contributing to preserving the legacy of Secretariat and the Triple Crown.

The second thing that I have been working through deals with the new chefs and the new configurations. There are only two ways that we have in order to move forward with it.

Either we accept it at face value and completely end everything we worked on over the last decade or we stay the course as if nothing happened. It must be one or the other.

So far, we have had Salahudin win the Iroquois Stakes on September 12th and the Royal Lodge Stakes will be coming up on the 25th. It is the first year in a very long time that I have not started the analysis article of the prep winners which is really quite depressing.

As far as Baffert's colt Salahudin - with the new numbers, I had one analysis - with the old numbers - a completely different analysis. That's the dilemma I face moving forward which is why I did not start the article yet. My gut is telling me not to stray and to stay the course.

I want to wait until after the 3 preps on October 4th - The American Pharoah Stakes, the Champagne Stakes and the Breeder's Futurity - in order to gauge the historical relevance with both sets of configurations before posting any analysis. That will be clear and concrete information gathered to be confident in moving forward. Afterwards, I will resume the star ratings as usual.

I plan on working on the schedule tab today and hope that will be posted soon. The next 3 months of analysis will tell me if it is worth it to continue after January. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.