Tony and Vinny

[Scott Eiland]

Meet my new superstars (OK, maybe not SUPERSTARS yet, but gettin there...)

Tony
and
Vinny.

Both are three, both excel at eight furlongs on the grass. Both are awesome

"TONY", Test Your Soul, is a half brother to elite miler Scotland Yard by the almost-unbeatable Test Your Strength. He finished 2nd in the Stewards Cup Juvenile Turf and has run off two straight wins in Great Britain, including the English 2000 Guineas.

Meanwhile, "VINNY", Vincero Borgia, is out of my first big horse Lucrezia Borgia by one of the most popular stallions of his generation, Acapulco. after I messed around thinking he was a router, he's rebounded to win three straight mile races, including the Spanish 2000 Guineas in Madrid.

The success of these two has made me think about acquiring turf mile mares to support them, but for now I'm just going to enjoy campaigning them. It's entirely possible that I'll have some tough decisions to make down the line, but boy is this fun.

And I'm sure I'll come up with a few mafia jokes along the way.

[Kim Plausible]

I love their nicknames.

They're great horses, both of them. Continued good luck in the future!

[Meagan D'Amoure]

<333 Tony and Vinny

[Michelle Calderoni]

hit me up when they retire. I have eleventy billion stakes winning turf miler mares

[Scott Eiland]

They both won, again, Tony in the Irish Two Thousand Guineas and Vinny in the G3 Prix de Mont Michel. I'm extremely proud of both of them and excited for the future.

I'm going to try to finish Tony's year 10-13-16 and Vinny's going to do a slightly lighter path, trying to take the oceanside mile. If all goes well I might have a double entry at Calder. (that is where the SC is this year, right? I should probably look...)

[Melissa Mae]

Do they take bats to peoples' knees when they don't pay up?

Congrats on their successes, might have to dig out a mare or 2 for them.

[Scott Eiland]

Tony has a headshot and is quite handsome, if I may say so.

Vinny lost a tough race to Leo's horse his last out and will wrap up the season in California Week 14. Test Your Soul's prep race is this Friday, as he takes on (at least) Sanjaya and No Bias No Hate in the Prix Benjamin Franklin.

[Kim Plausible]

*grumbles something about "wimping out with Vinny" and trudges away*

[Scott Eiland]

even worse, i decided to do a stateside prep week 14 with tony, because the french field is insanity.

[Scott Eiland]

It's a fairly big night in Mooby's Stables tonight as Vinny, his brother Tony, and his other brother Tony (Marc Antony) are all racing in stakes races in different circuits. Marc Antony, coming off his impressive Grade 1 victory in Hong Kong, will try his luck in the Land of The Rising Sun in the G3 Osaka Mile. Vinny, remaining in southern california, runs against Test Of Willpower and Star's Daughter in the American Mile (along with a fairly impressive field of long shots as well). Tony comes off a five week layoff to do battle in the rain in Ireland in the Dubliner Mile.

So I'm pumped! Go Vinny Tony and Tony!!!

[Scott Eiland]

Both boys are entered in the SC Turf Mile. Both are coming off wins and should be brimming with confidence against a deep, impressive bunch. Woot! Just 12 days away!

[John Slotmon]

Scott, out of curiosity, why would you run both of these guys in the exact same race? Isn't this why they have the Birthday Candles Stakes or the Asia circuit?

[Scott Eiland]

Scott, out of curiosity, why would you run both of these guys in the exact same race? Isn't this why they have the Birthday Candles Stakes or the Asia circuit?

I considered leaving Test Your Soul in England to contend for the SIMMY award but then I realized his likely competition (Trafalgar, July, Oversized Heart) is way more popular than he is, also he has that pesky loss on his record to Norman's horse.

It's Test Your Soul's last race; he narrowly missed a Steward's Cup win in his two year old year and I fouled up his prep schedule last year. I want to give him a shot to win.

As for Vinny, he's just there because I think he's awesome and I want him there. They both deserve to be there, so I entered them.

I'm thinking it over but I can't think of a truly compelling reason to pull either of them out. But I'd be happy to listen to reason.

[Peter Gleason]

Scott, out of curiosity, why would you run both of these guys in the exact same race? Isn't this why they have the Birthday Candles Stakes or the Asia circuit?

Both a worth like a ninth of the purse of the Steward's Cup - fourth place in the race is more than the Birthday Candles and almost as much as a win in the HK race, neither get chat room calls, neither have as much interest in the SIM than the SC, a win in the SC will be more impressive on the stallion page than the other two, the Birthday Candles has Menacing in it so they'd probably lose anyway, winning the SC is the pinnacle of training in the SIM in my opinion

What's that - like 6 reasons?

[John Slotmon]

I don't know, unless your name is Nalbone and you stand 75 sires anyway, I could never think of a compelling reason to enter two colts with stallion potential in the same race. I'd rather take a G2 down somewhere than finish fourth in the Steward's Cup, but hey, to each their own. Good luck if you do run them both in any event.