Red Rabbit Racing

Red Rabbit Racing's 15th race saw our General Charley begin his winning move down the stretch when

WE WERE FOULED!

On June 6th, (Bradley's Birthday no less) we endeavored to defend our title in this years edition of the $50,000 added Tin Man Stakes race at Arlington Park. We had won the inaugural running of this race last year. This year's race had been lengthened to a mile and an eighth and was contested over the turf as the feature race of the day.

We went off at 5-1 as the 4th choice of the bettors on this rather cold, cloudy day. As usual Charley was all business - as professional as could be - as he came in to be saddled in the paddock.

All the partners were there of course, and watched as jockey Eddie Perez got his instructions from trainer Chris Block prior to the race. Chris wanted Eddie to let any front runners have the lead and keep Charley close, but in reserve, to make a big run down the lane. Eddie executed it perfectly as you can see from the race replay below and to the left.

Turning for home we were laying in the weeds third behind tiring pace setter Rumor Has It and directly outside of Public Speaker who was a head of us in second. Halfway down the stretch Eddie roused our Charley in earnest and was ripping down the lane when

BLATANTLY, RECKLESSLY, UNFAIRLY, COWARDLY, SHAMEFULLY & PROVOCATIVELY

Public Speaker lugged out sharply to the outside and banged into Charley hard - knocking him off stride and almost causing Eddie to lose an iron. Look at the video below of the blatant attempt on our Steed's and our Jockey's life.

Charley had just reached his top gear and could not regain it quickly enough as we then saw eventual winner Silverfoot on the inside and Embossed on our outside snake past us in the final jumps before the wire. The order of finish was Silverfoot, Public Speaker, Embossed and then our Charley.

However, no sooner had Eddie turned Charley around to bring him back to be unsaddled we saw the Objection and Inquiry sign go up on the scoreboard with both our number (8) and Public Speaker's number (2) flashing on the board.

An Objection is a protest lodged by either the jockey or the trainer, while an Inquiry can only be lodged by the Racing Stewards watching the race from on high at the racetrack. Well Eddie had wasted no time raising the Objection and the Stewards knew they had an issue as they had watched the race.

On the track Jumbotron they immediately started to show the Head On view of the stretch run where it was plain to see that Public Speaker had lugged out sharply, impeding our General Charley as he was flying down the lane. As part of their procedure both Eddie Perez and Public Speaker's jockey Junior Alvorado had to talk to the Stewards to explain their side - but following that discussion the Stewards immediately disqualify Public Speaker and placed him 4th and moved us up to 3rd place earning us another nice paycheck courtesy of our General Charley.

Looking at the race, had we not been slammed, I don't know if we could have held off Silverfoot, but I surely think we would have got up for second. But that's racing and we are just glad Charley & Eddie came through the race without injury.

WHEW - HOW'S THAT FOR HIJINX?

 

 

PICTURE DIRECTLY RIGHT IS OF BIRTHDAY BOY....

 

BRADLEY ROBERT KENNEDY EISENHOWER JOHNSON

on his 17th birthday shown with cutey babe friend Christina.

Also, as many of you know, jockey Rene Douglas suffered a very serious injury a couple weeks ago in a horrific fall at Arlington Park. As part of yesterday's festivities at Arlington track owner Richard Duchossois, along with jockeys across the country, held a moment of tribute to Rene and other jockeys paralyzed or disabled as a result of tragic falls.

Showing our support, Kathy Rabbit had made pins for all of the partners and families to wear in support of Rene - who incidentally had ridden twice for us securing a win and a second place just last year.

You can see the pin on Bradley's shirt to the right. It features a picture of Rene on our own General Charley in his win for us last July. Next to his helmet is the Red Rabbit Racing logo, followed by a heart, followed by Rene's RRD initials. We will be wearing them in support of Rene throughout this racing year. Nice job Kathy!

Red Rabbit Racing will be making a donation to the fund setup to help the family and urge any others so inclined to do the same. Should you want to help the family, the address for any donation is:

RENE DOUGLAS

C/O CITIBANK, 539 N. MICHIGAN AVE

CHICAGO, ILL., 60611.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Official Race Video