Feature Race | Auction | Breeding | General | Hall of Fame | Harness | Interviews | Mixed Breed | New Players | Racing | Site Updates | Steeplechasing | Steward's Cup | Triple Crown
From Feeling Hollow To Hallowed Halls
Original article written by Jack Meyer posted 9 years 2 weeks ago
I’m not one to do articles about myself or the things that call themselves horses in my barn, but when I was asked to talk about Hallowed Halls I couldn’t resist. I’m going to take everyone on a little trip that brought me and my favorite fake horse together, I’m sure by the time I’m done you’ll understand why she means so much to me.
First a little insight on me, I run a fairly large stable that I try to run in order to fund my ultimate goal which is to put a little dent in the Thoroughbred world in the SIM. I have mostly Mixed Breed horses in my stable, I do this because I use these fine little fake animals to fund my constant desire to better my Thoroughbred barn.
Up until last SIM year my barn consisted of one promising TB named Sizzling Hot, she is an AW Miler Wow galloper who won some Stakes races for me making me as happy and content as I could be at that time. I had several promising mixers, but nothing within the TB ranks to build anything on. Sure, I had a filly named Merope who was supposed to give me that foundation mare that players look for, but that’s never a guarantee, so I couldn’t go on that. It was mid-year of year 39, I had ZERO Wow or better galloping TB’s, not even in AW, it was the lowest point in my time in the SIM since my first 3 weeks. I had a bunch of TB’s that I just galloped over and over again to pass the time; I figured they weren’t going to mount to anything since they were all Okay/HTT gallopers.
I remember it was Week 8 or 9, it was soon after the Derby that year, so I know it was around that time. I went through my usual routine and galloped my TB’s that didn’t have equipment yet in case I catch a piece of equipment or something. As I glanced down the trainer comments to find the gallop comments I saw something that was odd, the comment got shorter on one of my horses, I’m used to seeing “so and so’s gallop looked okay, but I hope to see improvement”, but this was different. To be honest, I didn’t even see the horse’s name that galloped it since I close out of it right away; I just remember it looked odd.
At first I thought it was a mistake so I went ahead and searched through my horses to rid myself of the agony of some of my 2YO’s that galloped Okay/HTT to save money. As I clicked on this one named Hallowed Halls, I went ahead and checked her notes just to see if this was the one that gave up a piece of equipment. I was floored when I saw that her gallop for this time around was “This horse is a special animal”. I didn’t know what to think, I just had my first TB go up in gallops, and to top it off it jumped from Okay to Scary.
Mind you, we were coming up on Week 10 and she wasn’t ready to race, she had no works, no equipment, nothing. I had to get her race ready in 3 weeks so I bought her first piece of equipment then worked her out a few times to get the other. With her racing career about to begin, I knew she was the ultimate random slide since she was out of a formidable mare with very little pedigree. Her dam Stay Ahead was winless in 3 starts, and her dam side 3 generations back only showed one foal that topped 100K on the track. All I could see was that Stay Ahead was nicking A- to several sires which made her valuable for me. Even on the sire side, many thought Harry Potter was underachieving since he has yet to duplicate himself, so what made anyone think, even me, that the cross that came together to make Hallowed Halls was going to be anything but mediocre at best.
As her first race approached I was scared to death to put her in against anyone in the States so, so I shipped her to Japan and ran her in a small Stakes race avoiding any of the big guns that debuted in Week 10 of Year 39. Her run in the Dirt Route Ladies Stakes was dominating, but she didn’t have anything to dominate, she closed from 8th like she loves to do and glided home by 2 lengths. As I said earlier, this was my first real quality TB, so I asked for advice, after being told to bring her to the States, she was shipped State side that night.
To try and put into words the type of competition that was waiting once I got her to Florida for the Sky Flyer Stakes would be impossible, but I’ll try. The main challenge was a filly by the name of Mine, she broke her maiden with a 92 SF in her debut making my already shot nerves even more shot, if that’s possible. Hallowed Halls put in a tremendous effort with a 2nd place finish behind Mine, which was enough for me to give her a shot in the Juvenile Fillies. All of the sudden everything came together, I was about to place my best horse in the Steward’s Cup against the likes of Wish Upon A Star, Rekindle The Flame, and Skyfall, to name just a few on a whim and a prayer that the gate doesn’t open for the rest of the field. Though I figured she didn’t have a chance, the thrill was still there, I was running in a major race for the first time in my SIM career. Hallowed Halls ran 9th that day, with broken hearts, we moved on to what we should do next year.
Her debut as a 3YO was scary, as if I didn’t see enough of Skyfall in the SC; I decided to ship her to New Orleans Park for the Silver Bullets Stakes where Skyfall and Mine awaited. The race wasn’t a bad race for Hallowed Halls, she finished 3rd, but Skyfall was just amazing. Skyfall was headed to the Derby (thank God), I decided to skip the Louisville Oaks with Hallowed Halls in favor of a softer field for her prep for the Baltimore Oaks. I saw an opportunity, though against the boys, in the Herkemayah Stakes. As I glanced at the entries I saw a colt named Enjoy The Rain entered, I knew he was a tough colt and was on the fence as to whether to keep Hallowed Halls there or find something else. I ended up leaving her there where she held her own beating Enjoy the Rain by 1 ½ lengths, all he has done since is win 3 straight Graded Stakes.
As I zoned in on the Baltimore Oaks, I knew Skyfall was headed for the Crown after her win in the Louisville Derby, and I figured Wish Upon A Star was headed for the Acorn since she is a route specialist on paper. I accounted for several others such as Annie Potter, Aristocrats, and Gorgeous, but the one wild card was Rekindle The Flame. As I remember Rekindle The Flame was perfect heading in to the Louisville Oaks, her 4th place finish there was heartbreaking to say the least. I knew in the back of my mind that if I saw her she would be going on 1 weeks rest while my filly was on 2, if I was going to get her it would be now. I saw her in the entries and knew Hallowed Halls was going to have a rough time. Hallowed Halls again used that unbelievable closing kick to outduel Rekindle The Flame to the wire winning by a head. The win shocked everyone, especially me, the filly who was just an Okay/HTT 10 weeks earlier just nailed last year’s Steward’s Cup Juvenile Fillies champion at the wire to take the Middle Jewel of the Ladies Triple Crown.
To say I was speechless after that race was an understatement, I was literally yelling at the screen during the call and had chills from head to toe when I heard Em call her name first under the wire, there is truly nothing like that feeling. Those of us in the SIM know that after big races like this, there is always a chance for a bounce. I went ahead and aimed her for the Long Island Acorn even though I knew Wish Upon A Star would be there, and the 1 ½ might be stretching her ability. It was certainly trainer error on my part to put Hallowed Halls through this as she watched Wish Upon A Star dismantle the field in the Acorn to win by 2 ½ lengths.
I had to find a way to pick up the pieces, or at least that’s what I should have done. In my mind and everyone else’s, avoiding the tougher competition with her in her next race was probably a good idea. As I looked through races to place her in I couldn’t help but notice that the Midsummer Oaks only had 3 entries, being the curious person I am, I looked to see why and saw Skyfall slated to run in it. I was pretty sure I could get 2nd or 3rd going 1 ¼ as opposed to the 1 ½ so I figured it was easy Stakes money, after all you can’t win if you don’t enter. I talked myself into running her in the Midsummer Oaks despite the fact that Art Vandelay had the best filly I’ve seen in the SIM lining up in the stall next to her. Unlike the Acorn this race was live, and as Scott Eiland went through the Post Positions I figured I was running for 2nd money. When I heard Scott talk about Hallowed Halls and how she was a nice filly, I couldn’t help but smile, and when he said everyone believes this is going to be a Skyfall and “so and so” Midsummer Double, in the back of my mind I totally agreed.
When Em started counting down the moments before Hallowed Halls race, my son Brandon was getting ready to go down for the night so I had to step away from the computer itself but I still heard it. As I listened to the call and heard Skyfall out there by herself, I pretty much threw in the towel for any shot at a win. Though Skyfall never went for the lead, I figured her own pace was just what she wanted. As I heard Skyfall open up by 3 and Hallowed Halls another 4+ lengths behind Damehood, I was just hoping for 3rd place money, then the impossible happened. Hallowed Halls began moving quickly, as Em said, from the back of the pack toward Skyfall. Hallowed Halls passed Damehood and had zeroed in on the reigning Louisville Derby Champion, if there was a such thing as a silent scream and cheer, I was doing it with my son in my lap trying to rock him to sleep. Hallowed Halls was closing very fast, she was all out heading to the wire. I was throwing my fists in the air trying to be calm and crazy at the same time, it was insanity. As Em called “It’s too close to call”, my heart sunk, could it have really happened? Could my little HTT random slide had just knocked off the most prized possession in Art Vandelay’s barn?
As I sat there in anticipation I couldn’t help but fell pride, yes for a fake horse, because she just stood toe to toe with the SIM’s finest after everyone, including myself, threw any chance she had out the door as soon as I entered her knowing she’d be facing Skyfall. Em was about to announce the winner, and with the ever so long pause before naming Skyfall the winner, yes it felt like SIM eternity, I didn’t feel anger or sad, I felt happy, I felt happy because I just had a filly who shouldn’t be there lose by a nose in one of the biggest races of the year. I was just happy to be there, I knew how good Skyfall was long before this race, after this race is when I knew how good Hallowed Halls was, and boy is she good.
Take a deep breathe Jack! Okay, after all of that insanity I also noticed that she threw a 95 SF for her runner-up performance. That SF made me more upset than anything else because I knew that those figures are usually followed up by a dud because of a major bounce. I looked ahead at some races for her and decided there was no way I wanted to test older fillies and mares after that race, so I looked for one for 3YO’s. I was on the fence as to whether to give her 4 weeks off until the Steward’s Cup or to run her, I settled on sending her to Lafayette Downs for the Fading Star Stakes. When I entered her I didn’t expect to see a lot of depth, oh how I was wrong. Mike Eaton decided to send Annie Potter who was coming off of back to back Stakes wins, Jolene Danner decided to send Aristocrats who had narrowly lost to Gorgeous in the Louisville Oaks, Todd Lucas decided to send Be The Change who just beat Aristocrats and Undone in her last two wins, and Jon Xett sent Yellow Flame who had just taken down Rekindle The Flame in the Toronto Oaks. So, 95 SF and the fact that 4 very talented fillies had the same idea I did were very scary, but I did it anyways. Hallowed Halls did indeed bounce if you want to call it that, but still had the talent and heart to come home in front to win the Fading Star Stakes.
Hallowed Halls had her final prep; she is due to face older fillies and mares in the Steward’s Cup Distaff. As I was in chat the other night I wondered, why do I feel this way about a fake horse going into a big race when I’ve won a few SC races already, it’s because I haven’t had one in primetime like this, she is running on Friday with all the other big names.
I set out at the beginning of this article to tell a story about how I felt hollow inside because I couldn’t go anywhere with my TB’s. I bred nice mixers to buy mares to breed nice TB’s, but nothing was working, I felt very empty. On that one night that I re-galloped my 2YO TB’s that changed my whole outlook on the SIM, it gave me that feeling that everyone in the SIM craves. When Hallowed Halls became what she is that night, I truly went from hollow to Hallowed Halls because she became everything I wanted in the matter of a second. To all those new players who think they can never get to where those big stables are don’t give up, that rusty old formidable mare who should be out of your barn just might have that diamond in the rough that the SIM talks about, that random slide. Hallowed Halls was born from nothing but grew into everything for this SIM player, which to me is worth every minute I spend studying pedigrees and slaving over my stable.
Jack Meyer