New Owner joining into Sonny

We have a new owner joining the elite crew of Sonny. Joining into the partnership will be David Day.

David was our buyer at the magic millions sale and did all the running around with Clive as we narrowed from 41 horses down to the select few of 3 that had passed Clive's inspection and that David headed into the sales ring to bid on.

The story around is posted on Sonny's blog here and just to pull a couple of the comments that came to me by SMS during the bidding:
"Feeling Fluid"
"Clive really likes but thinks it will go expensive..."
"Good looking looks like Tappy"

Well the rest is history as we got Sonny for $53,000 when the hammer came down. He also earned the nickname from Clive's wife of Sonny...Son of Tappy.

All in all David has a history with Sonny, and if what we are hearing from the stable turns out to be real on the track he will have a whale of a time with the rest of us. As a Perth resident with Gavin, David will be on hand close for all the action.

David is no stranger to racing. He has enjoyed all the wins of the mighty Dog, and the beaut Black Amber and participated in numerous family wins around Peter H Day's racing success. David though has never been an owner in a horse, so this will be a first. He will get to experience racing on this side of the fence. The Kings side.

He did not know he was about to become a part owner at the time, but David visited the stables on Christmas eve to look him over and reacquaint himself with our future legend. I had to laugh when mum recounted a story from Clive. He took mum to the side and had a quiet whisper in her ear :
"Jeanette, you really should be an owner in this horse. He is going to be something special"

As our late father used to say "you have to get a ticket to get on the fun train", and David now has his ticket.

Giddy Up
Slacka

Happy Christmas Bro

Happy Christmas Bro !

I'd thought long and hard as to what I could get you as a Christmas gift. I wanted to make it something memorable, unique, and fun. Like a big boys toy on steroids that would not run out of batteries or need charging. Also something that could be shared with Sarah and your own friends.

With the history that you have with Sonny, I reckoned this would be the go! Racing together. I doubt there would be anything else that could come close to enjoying between us as the fun we can have through owning a horse together.

Your Christmas gift is a 1% partnership into Sonny. (I had to respect the limits...but...errr, well to hell with that)

If we have the run with Sonny that I'm thinking, then we are in for an entertaining time together. Dad and I shared so many great times together around racing and now it is time for us to do the same.

Thus I wish you well as a partner and owner. You have a ticket :)

Happy Christmas

PS. You have 1% ownership paid up till Railway stakes day in 2010!! The word on the street is this could be worth a bit more than current cost :)

Sonny First Trial

We are pretty happy with the way Sonny stepped out in his first real test on the track. He did everything right and acquitted himself very well with respect to all aspects of education.

See here

Sonny to Trial

ome big news!!

Clive has Sonny lined up for a Trial this coming Thursday at Geraldton.

Since bringing him back in to this final work, all Clive's expectation have been met. He has worked well on the track, and built up fitness to the point that Clive is ready to push him onto his biggest test to date.

The trial result itself is unimportant (unless he runs many lengths from the winner which will leave us scratching our heads...and arses) as this is all about proving he is well educated and does not make a mess with the pressure on. The general plan is to bustle him out of the gates, then let him find his own pace in the race. We will not be pushing him hard trying to do anything more. What we are looking for here is to see how he reacts with all the noise and excitement of many horses around him. We will not worry if he finishes in the middle or the field or just behind it so long as he behaves and shows us he knows how to run.

Up until this point, he has only worked alongside a single horse. He does not yet know what it means to be in a full field with other horses. Thus, a big part of the outcome on Thursday is to see how he handles this step up in pressure.

The training has gone very smoothly till this point. Clive put him through a "jump out" last week, which is like a trial of a trial. Just with one other horse. Roy came back in saying that he felt super and had plenty of petrol left had he asked for it. What this means, and what Clive feels, is that Sonny has the ability to run a solid pace and they believe he still has enough juice in his tank for a powerful finish.

The trial will take place after the last race of the day at Geraldton and Roy McKay will be riding him. It will not be played live over radio or Sky Racing. It WILL be put up onto the WA Turf Club members site. It costs about $100 a year to subscribe to the site that gives access to all the race meetings and replays including trials. I expect to see the trial up there about Wed the following week.

I will be getting a debrief from Clive on Thu evening, and will drop you all a message as to what happened etc.

I'm very excited about this all. The trial is really the pinnacle in the training. After Thu we will know a little bit more and make our forward plan depending on how he comes through the trial.

Giddy Yup

Slacka

Sonny kicks Amber....

Sonny is in the bad books this week. Clive had him at the beach with Amber. As all kids at the beach, Sonny started frolicking and jumping around. In the process of enjoying himself, he kicked down on Amber and has hurt her leg.

Clive has Amber in bandages right now, and it only looks like a surface wound...fingers crossed, as we have no spare time in this very careful campaign we have set for her.

We hope Sonny has not thrown his "foot" into the plan.

Something a little bit exciting

“I have to tell you something Peter. Now I know we have not galloped him yet, but he is something a little bit exciting”

- Clive.
April 15th, 2009

This was the opening of an update I had with Clive yesterday. He is very excited about Sonny and normally not one to come out with such forward statements of performance, unlike the financial institutions most of you work for !! Clive has made one such reference in the past, just prior to turning Sonny out for a break.

Clive has had Sonny back in now for a few weeks, and has him training in both the bush and at the track. The reference to “galloping” above is in terms of speed. Sonny has not being allowed to stride into a gallop. This is a normal process for your horses who are being looked after and will not race until they are 3yo or 4yo. Sensible trainers do not like the babies to hit top speeds, because this is how early bone fatigue and joint problems can begin especially through the higher stresses of running the bends. So, at this stage he is still only cantering.

Clive has had him working at the track with another 2yo, that our own jockey Roy McKay is training (Roy is training part-time now). The difference in the two horses is apparently quite noticeable. Means not much until they hit the track galloping, but gives an eye of where he could be. The horses are doing work and education. Sonny is worked with the other horse, then is dropped back behind the other and then brought around the outside. The other horse then does the same.

Roy hopped off his own horse this week and told Clive that Sonny has “some arse”, meaning he is powerfully built behind. (equate this to human sprinters vs human marathon runners). Clive himself puts it bluntly “he is built like a brick shithouse”. (he leaves the shit out...needs to be in there imo)

So, all in all Sonny is shaping up to be something to look forward to.

The forward plan, is that he “may” trial in a short 400m up-the-straight 2yo trial on April 27th. It will depend on how he is training, and that nothing at all is amiss such as shin-soreness which is a common issue in growing horses. The trial itself is not yet confirmed in the planning, thus we are waiting on two different confirmations.

The trial will not be televised, and the position of Sonny is unimportant. What is important is that he behaves himself in the gates. This is confirmation of his education. All else is just enjoyment and the thril of having him begin the next phase of prep to real racing.

Another little thing from Clive. He said he has started to show some real attitude. He has changed from the gentle natured little horse, into a strong willed, strong bodied gelding. Equate this to a kid growing from a weak 12yo into a bustling 16yo full of cheek and attitude with the body to match, but not the conditioning to take on the big boys. Clive has lost his kid, and now has a teenager on this hands. Whilst he laments the loss of the kid, he has a real excitement in his voice about the future.

All good.

Slacka

The Final 3

All tips are in, and we have our final 3. Tip count summarized below.
Looks like Lodger came out a clear leader in the tips, but vote count
saw it evenly spread with Crafty Lodger, and The Lodger.

Our top 3 are
Lodger
The Lodger
Crafty Lodger

Time to cast one of these names aside and leave us with just 2. I'd
like to be doing this at a pub, on a round table. Debating one of
these names out, then drinking on until we had consensus over our top
pick. Alas. That will not be.

So what i reckon is as follows. Put this new list in your preferred
order. I will then follow same method, and we will get
the top 2. Then we need to debate a little and vote again.

The Final 6

Final decisions from all are in!!! Very strong support for the Lodger base.

The list stands as below

Lodger
The Lodger
Crafty Lodger
Cunning Lodger
Lawless Lodger
Foxy Lodge

Process from now is to select the top 3 from this list. We will then get down to top 2, then the

We have 3 votes each.