Twenty Puns (continued)

You should see the photo of that 1st win.  7 of the 8 Horses are in the photo.  The Horse that finished second, Devil With Class was the favorite and was owned by Mike Gill.  And here's the really fun/good news.  I had $300 in my pocket and bet a hundred to win and place and 75 to show... held onto 25 bucks to eat (just in case).  I cleared over 1600 bucks.  I don't usually bet gimmicks when my own horse is involved.

Well back to the barn we go.  Twenty Puns had a huge overbite, you can see it in his win photos, and he loved carrots.  Of course I spoiled him with carrots during the brief time he was in our barn, when he ate them carrots shavings would go all over as he munched them because of the overbite.

So, I say to Karl "do we raise him up to 16K" and Karls says "noooooooooo....."

On July 31st we ran for 12.5K again.  These races are all at Rockingham Park.  (miss that place)  Magali had days so Tammi Piermarini rode that day.  The track was as sloppy as any track could ever be, not raining during the races, but sloppy!!

Numerous scratches.  4 horse field.  Cleveland Circle, Katikopi, Devil With Class, and our hero, Twenty Puns.  Splish Splash, we win again!  Devil with Class second again :)  Forget how much I bet, not as much, paid $4.40 or something  I was very happy with the purse money.

So, do we raise him up?    Noooooooooo.......  Karls a sharp Trainer.

We ran in August one last time for 12.5K.  Our boy finished 6th and was claimed by Joe Hampshires wife, Kim.  I cleared about 10K in 5 weeks!   Twenty Puns didn't win again for almost two years and that was at the bottom for 4K.

I sure do have fond memories of that Horse.........

Twenty Puns

Here's what got me hooked. For better or worse.

The second racehorse I ever owned was Twenty Puns. I owned him for 5 weeks. Here's how the 5 weeks unfolded.

I was working with Trainer Karl Grusmark at the time and I was looking to claim a horse. Karl recommended Twenty Puns. He was running for 10K at Rockingham Park on July 4, 2000. I think he finished a respectable third that day. We watched the race from the pavillion which was a little ways from where the groom picked up Twenty Puns when my claim was successful.

I watched with binoculars and noticed that Mary Cameron who owned and trained the horse was crying as our groom led Twenty Puns away. We got back to the barn to check out my champion and everyting seemed good.

Over the course of the next week, me and Karl talked about running the horse back and at what level. Karl is very consevative so I knew to be realistic. I told him I saw Mary crying and I thought she would take him back if we ran him for 10K and that I'd like to run him for 12.5K. Karl said "I hope we don't get embarrased" and entered the horse for 12.5K on July 19th.

Twenty Puns went off at odds of 10-1 in an 8 horse field, ridden by Magali Mascarte. Early on in the 6 furlong sprint he trailed the field. Turning for home he circled the field passed every horse in the race and just got his head down at the wire to win the race!