Wild Encounter wins Jersey Village
As predicted by Jim’s Orbit last week, Wild Encounter won Saturday night’s Jersey Village Stakes by 2 1/4 lengths over Sweet Idea. Read the Sam Houston news recap here.
This was extremely exciting for me, as it cinched a nice winning ticket on the single-single-all Pick 3 that I’d played in races 7-9. It started with 5-1 Gentlemen’s Gun easily taking a 6 1/2-furlong non-winners-of-two claimer, and then I wrapped it up with Wild Encounter, who ended up the post time favorite, even though she was not the public’s choice in the multi-race wagering pools. I was surprised, as I had pegged Bret Calhoun’s Sweet Idea as the probable favorite. I certainly wasn’t the only one, as the morning line oddsmaker had Wild Encounter as the 6-1 fourth choice and Sweet Idea as the 9-5 fave. Perhaps more people are being influenced by my handicapping on this blog than I realized!
Alas, my Pick 3 came back relatively soft when a 6-5 favorite won the ninth. That was Governors Trixie, who took longer to load than she did to win the race.
But enough about my winning night, let’s talk about the incredible Wild Encounter, who boldly bullied her way through on the rail under a confident ride by Roimes Chirinos.
It was the 4-year-old Burbank filly’s fifth win in six tries, with the lone loss being a valiant fourth while laboring over yielding turf in last month’s Allen’s Landing.
After the race I had the pleasure of speaking with winning trainer Michelle Lovell. The former jockey (formerly known as Michelle Hanley) has quickly established herself as one of the top trainers in Texas after only three years as a licensed conditioner. Michelle and her husband Casey have 50 stalls at Sam Houston this season, and are getting the most out of them, with 15 wins already, good for fourth in the standings.
Michelle first caught my attention at Lone Star last spring, where she won quality races at a high percentage and was a great bet because she was still flying under the radar, at least early in the meet. That’s not really the case anymore, as people have caught on to how well her barn performs overall. It used to be that live horses of hers could always be found in the 5-1 and up range, overlooked by bettors who concentrated on the usual suspects. But nowadays, Michelle IS one of those suspects.
In any case, here’s the transcript of our conversation last night, which also includes some comments by winning co-owner Mark Martinez of Agave Racing Stable.
Jim: Lets start with Wild Encounter's last race [the Allen’s Landing]. I was watching the replay a while ago and it looked as if she wasn’t liking the surface that night and she was fighting the jockey early on
Michelle: Yeah, I think she always runs 100-percent, but more than anything I think she had a lot of tough races back to back and we’d been running her pretty good. She ran a little bit flat that night and I think the surface had a lot to do with that. She had been running on a pretty firm surface and it was really boggy that night. She had to work real hard over it and just kind of flattened out. But she always wants to run.
Jim: Were you surprised by how powerful her win tonight was?
Michelle: No, because I thought she went into this race a little better. Not that she was off or anything last time, she was doing everything well going into that race, but this time I just really liked her and we were really wanting to win this one. I was not surprised because I thought if she fired her regular shot she would get there, and she did.
Jim: The ride was very impressive. Were you worried about her going up the rail like she did?
Michelle: It’s a little scary when you’re waiting behind a wall of horses, but that’s how we want her to run. She runs late anyway and she’s pretty brave. I was a little worried, not that she wouldn’t run through the hole, but that we might not get one.
Jim: Your stable had really come a long way in three years. To what do you attribute your quick success?
Michelle: Good owners and lots of hard work. I don’t know why these guys trust me with their horses but they do.
Mark: I wouldn’t trust them to anybody else. A friend of ours introduced us and Wild Encounter was the first horse of mine that Michelle had. We’ve got 10 either in the stalls or on the farm, and 2-year-olds that are on their way. Michelle’s got the entire string. She’s quite a woman and quite a trainer. She’s a great caretaker and easy to work with. I’m a huge fan. And believe me, I won’t give you the whole list of names, but I’ve had a lot of trainers since I’ve been in the business and she could stand with any of them.
Jim: So what’s next for Wild Encounter?
Mark: I’ll let her call that one.
Michelle: I try to play it one at a time, looking three or four weeks ahead. I think there was a stakes race every month that she could run in at this meet, as long as she’s happy and healthy going into it.
Mark: We might run her in a $10,000 starter. She’s still eligible for one of those and they run them over at Fairgrounds on the turf.
This was extremely exciting for me, as it cinched a nice winning ticket on the single-single-all Pick 3 that I’d played in races 7-9. It started with 5-1 Gentlemen’s Gun easily taking a 6 1/2-furlong non-winners-of-two claimer, and then I wrapped it up with Wild Encounter, who ended up the post time favorite, even though she was not the public’s choice in the multi-race wagering pools. I was surprised, as I had pegged Bret Calhoun’s Sweet Idea as the probable favorite. I certainly wasn’t the only one, as the morning line oddsmaker had Wild Encounter as the 6-1 fourth choice and Sweet Idea as the 9-5 fave. Perhaps more people are being influenced by my handicapping on this blog than I realized!
Alas, my Pick 3 came back relatively soft when a 6-5 favorite won the ninth. That was Governors Trixie, who took longer to load than she did to win the race.
But enough about my winning night, let’s talk about the incredible Wild Encounter, who boldly bullied her way through on the rail under a confident ride by Roimes Chirinos.
It was the 4-year-old Burbank filly’s fifth win in six tries, with the lone loss being a valiant fourth while laboring over yielding turf in last month’s Allen’s Landing.
After the race I had the pleasure of speaking with winning trainer Michelle Lovell. The former jockey (formerly known as Michelle Hanley) has quickly established herself as one of the top trainers in Texas after only three years as a licensed conditioner. Michelle and her husband Casey have 50 stalls at Sam Houston this season, and are getting the most out of them, with 15 wins already, good for fourth in the standings.
Michelle first caught my attention at Lone Star last spring, where she won quality races at a high percentage and was a great bet because she was still flying under the radar, at least early in the meet. That’s not really the case anymore, as people have caught on to how well her barn performs overall. It used to be that live horses of hers could always be found in the 5-1 and up range, overlooked by bettors who concentrated on the usual suspects. But nowadays, Michelle IS one of those suspects.
In any case, here’s the transcript of our conversation last night, which also includes some comments by winning co-owner Mark Martinez of Agave Racing Stable.
Jim: Lets start with Wild Encounter's last race [the Allen’s Landing]. I was watching the replay a while ago and it looked as if she wasn’t liking the surface that night and she was fighting the jockey early on
Michelle: Yeah, I think she always runs 100-percent, but more than anything I think she had a lot of tough races back to back and we’d been running her pretty good. She ran a little bit flat that night and I think the surface had a lot to do with that. She had been running on a pretty firm surface and it was really boggy that night. She had to work real hard over it and just kind of flattened out. But she always wants to run.
Jim: Were you surprised by how powerful her win tonight was?
Michelle: No, because I thought she went into this race a little better. Not that she was off or anything last time, she was doing everything well going into that race, but this time I just really liked her and we were really wanting to win this one. I was not surprised because I thought if she fired her regular shot she would get there, and she did.
Jim: The ride was very impressive. Were you worried about her going up the rail like she did?
Michelle: It’s a little scary when you’re waiting behind a wall of horses, but that’s how we want her to run. She runs late anyway and she’s pretty brave. I was a little worried, not that she wouldn’t run through the hole, but that we might not get one.
Jim: Your stable had really come a long way in three years. To what do you attribute your quick success?
Michelle: Good owners and lots of hard work. I don’t know why these guys trust me with their horses but they do.
Mark: I wouldn’t trust them to anybody else. A friend of ours introduced us and Wild Encounter was the first horse of mine that Michelle had. We’ve got 10 either in the stalls or on the farm, and 2-year-olds that are on their way. Michelle’s got the entire string. She’s quite a woman and quite a trainer. She’s a great caretaker and easy to work with. I’m a huge fan. And believe me, I won’t give you the whole list of names, but I’ve had a lot of trainers since I’ve been in the business and she could stand with any of them.
Jim: So what’s next for Wild Encounter?
Mark: I’ll let her call that one.
Michelle: I try to play it one at a time, looking three or four weeks ahead. I think there was a stakes race every month that she could run in at this meet, as long as she’s happy and healthy going into it.
Mark: We might run her in a $10,000 starter. She’s still eligible for one of those and they run them over at Fairgrounds on the turf.
posted by Jimbo @ 2/11/2007 05:17:00 PM
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