Halley

[Autumn Blackmill]

Always happy to see this lady win! Congrats!

[Nicole Marie]

[Autumn Blackmill]

So super happy for you!!

[Darcy McBride]

I am so thrilled for you, Nicole!

[Laura Ferguson]

Congratulations!

[Nicole Marie]

Thank you everyone, I am so proud of her. <3

[Nicole Marie]

Halley had her career best speed fig in the Steward's Cup! She ran in the Pegasus last year and didn't do great (her stablemate, newly retired Eloquent Sound, was 2nd in the Pegasus in Y63 and 4th in Y64) but maybe next year she can crack the top five. She peaked in Y64 but I've had horses hold their peak gallop from yearlings to 4yos so she might have another good year in her.

Her SC win was also my first ever G1 (I was going to say "in the sim" but...I don't race in real life, so first G1 anywhere lol)

[Nicole Marie]

Autumn wrote this very sweet article about my girl! Some of those two and three year olds in the AWS division are a bit scary but we'll see what Halley can do in her last year on the track! She's already gone so far beyond what my imagination could have thought up for her.

[Nicole Marie]

Homegirl was 3rd in the Pegasus Summit tonight, behind two colts both of whom are two years younger than her. I was convinced she'd bounce HARD out of the Steward's Cup but she didn't embarass herself here like I was convinced she was going to. She is now knocking on the door of 900K in earnings and I hope she can hit seven figures by the end of the year...wild to think about since my original hope for her was the 200K to preserve her name.

[The Steward]

I tried to buy this horse but got shot down. Womp womp.

[Autumn Blackmill]

Another beautiful performance, and a record time to boot! Congrats!!

[Nicole Marie]

GOSH I love this mare. I know a few people were side eyeing her running at six (and I really only made that decision because Eloquent Sound was breeding shed and Halley was longer career and so I was retiring Eloquent Sound at 5 and was sad at the idea of both my big girls leaving the racing barn at the same time), but she's been absolutely thriving out there this year. I even gave her a workout between her W9D1 race and this one on W11D5, because on W10D2 she was vetting peak and I was worried an extra 10 days would be too long. She ran the fastest 3F work of her life, and then still ran like this yesterday. (We need a 'very very sound' soundness rating, or as someone suggested in chat 'bulletproof' ) She blows my mind. And what a mare St. Tropaz Mirage is, gotta credit her breathing on Halley's throatlatch for that finish time.

Records were made to be broken, so saving it as an image, although I'll sure never forget


T minus two more starts

[Nicole Marie]

Well, despite racing on W2D5 (Pegasus, 3rd), W5D1 (1st), W7D1 (1st), W9D1 (1st), working the fastest 3f of her life W10D2, racing W11D5 (1st, record time), Halley is vetting peak/ready to race. I don't gallop her hardly at all, so that's probably the only reason I haven't gotten the "8 to 9 races per year" comment since she's apparently insanely sound.

[Nicole Marie]

Halley won her penultimate start last night, a race I created for her. I was worried she'd bounce after the huge effort in the Artificial Dash, and I wanted her to have a spot where she'd probably still win even if she regressed, so she could go into the Steward's Cup with full confidence, since that is going to be a FANTASTIC field and I want to go into it knowing she's as ready as she can be.

I am a little tempted to run her as a 7 year old, since she's clearly still loving it and still capable - her best race of her career as well as her fastest work of her career were both this year at 6, and she's still a freak so probably would at least still be a stakes galloper next year. But all good things must come to an end and the Steward's Cup will be her 35th start. She's now run as many times as Roughian which is wild to me (even though Halley got her full two year old year as she is a sprinter). So...one more time and then we'll be off to see what kind of momma she'll make.

[Nicole Marie]

Big Girl's last race is Monday. I'm more emotional about that than I am nervous. It's shaping up to be a fantastic field and if she's beat it'll be by a fantastic horse. I may be nervous on Monday but right now I'm just sad that her career is going to be over, she's been so much fun to campaign and she's existed for such a significant chunk of my game play time - I joined W11 Y55, and she was born W2 Y60. It's going to feel like the end of an era for me when she's moved into the breeding barn.

Her current record is 34: 12-5-8, with a 97 BSF and a record time. We'll see what all of that looks like Monday night and then I have to come to terms with her career being over.