Wow!  First Our Superstar won his maiden race (finally!), then The Final Roar ran second at Hollywood Park.  Good week for Gerson Racing, right?  Nothing could prepare us for the race  Backbackbackgone would run in the Willard Proctor Stakes. After a 10 length victory at Bay Meadows, Backbackbackgone blew away the field in the Willard Proctor Stakes at Hollywood Park in stakes record time. See the video HERE.

BBBG was scheduled to make his first start at Hollywood Park three weeks ago.  When he drew an inside post, trainer Peter Miller opted to scratch and try his luck up at Bay Meadows.  BBBG broke slowly in his last gate drill, and Peter was concerned he would end up in the back of the pack if he broke slowly at Hollywood.  When the gates opened at Bay Meadows, BBBG when right up on the lead, and when they turned for home, he ran away from the field.  Official winning margin of ten lengths "ridden out".

When I saw Peter Miller at Hollywood I asked if he knew how good this horse is.  "Not sure what we beat up north, but he is a nice colt" Peter replied.  Well, the fans were on board.  BBBG was the prohibitive 3/5 favorite right up until they loaded in the starting gate.  Stalking the early pace with jockey Corey Nakatani, BBBG swung out for the drive and ran away.  Four lengths back to second place and another four lengths back to third.  Official time – 1.03, a new stakes record. And he did it easy…again.  BBBG did not switch leads, and Corey was hand riding him all the way.

This horse is scary good.  In both races he was looking around in the stretch, also known as "racing greenly".  Both times the jockey got his mind on racing the last 200 yards and BBBG literally ran away from the other horses.  His pedigree is obscure, and we have no idea if he can route yet (Kentucky Derby).  That stated, you have to give Peter Miller full credit for picking this two year old colt out at Ocala.  Also, what is up with Charleville Stables?  The Abt brothers partnered with us on Set Play (winner of the Del Mar Debutante and ran in the Breeders Cup) last year, and this year they are partnered with us on BBBG.  These guys have the Midas touch. 

Unfortunately, BBBG came out of the race sore and will be resting on the farm for two months.  We expect to see him back later in the Fall. 

As many of you know, I own race horses with business partner Sean Gerson (www.gersonracing.com).  Sean is one of the best people I know, and we have been buying horses together for three years.  Our trainer is Peter "Peter from Bonsall" Miller, one of the best horsemen in the nation.  Last year we had three stakes winners – Thoroughly, Whatever Whenever and Set Play.  Our filly Set Play won the Grade 1 Del Mar Debutante and ran in the Breeders Cup.

This year we have three colts and a filly – The Final Roar, Backbackbackgone, Holy Bull colt, E Dubai filly.  Our first youngster made his debut at Hollywood Park last week.  The Final Roar loomed large on the turn for home, but fell back to fifth at the finish.  Pretty nice race for his bow, and we expect him to go "wire to wire" next time around.

Backbackbackgone made his debut this weekend at Bay Meadows against several promising colts.  Three of them had gone off at 2-1 their last race, which gave them a decided edge in experience.  Turning for home Backbackbackgone was dueling for the lead, however when jockey Chris Landeros asked the question, Backbackbackgone gave him the answer!  He opened up eight lengths on the field under a hand ride, and the official winning margin was ten lengths "ridden out".  Wow!  This prompted the Godfather to shout the Gerson Racing winner’s anthem "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner".  Congratulations to trainer Peter Miller, our partners Charleville Stables and John Rogitz, and all the Gerson Racing team members.  For those that participated last year, it was a thrill to get our first win of 2008.  For several of the new stable members, this was their first win ever!  Expect to see Backbackbackgone in the Willard Proctor Stakes May 25 at Hollywood Park.  We won this race with "Thoroughly" last year.  Will lightning strike twice?

The Final Roar will run back pretty quickly with his new name, "Roackandroarstar".  Also scheduled to run this month are Princess Susan M, Whatever Whenever and Our Superstar.  And very soon….she’s baaaack!  Set Play is done sleeping on the farm and back in training for Del Mar this summer.  Our Grade 1 stakes winning filly is full of herself and ready to make some noise!

Day one was spent in Tampa, Florida at Tampa Bay Downs.  Sean Gerson, Peter Miller, Burt "Doc" Smith and I (along with a small posse) spent the day sweltering in the 90% Florida humidity with 25,000 of our closest friends.  I was the youngest person at the track by 20 years.

We had to park in the swamp (literally), within rock throwing distance of the of the alligators.  War Pass, the undefeated two year old and early Kentucky Derby, ran dead last at 1-9, which resulted in a $77.00 show payoff.  A "bridge jumper" (someone that bets huge amounts on a favorite to run third) had bet $100,000 on War Pass to show.  Look out below!

Next up was dinner at a steak house, where it’s always interesting to see how much money each person will contribute to the $1,500 bill.  We will withhold names here, however one particular trainer donated a five and two ones.  Nice. 

Sean needed to switch out the rental car, so I accompanied him to the airport.  Sean is not happy unless he has the biggest SUV on the lot, and it must get less than 8 miles to the gallon.  The airport was packed…at midnight!  It took us 40 minutes to get out of the parking lot.  National Car Rental – where all of systems are on a piece of paper.  Nice.

After 3 hours of sleep, we were on the road to Ocala.  Fortunately, Sean was so busy messing with his GPS and text messages that we did not end up with a repeat of his 105 MPH Ocala from last year.  We arrived safe and sound, then headed directly to the training track so trainer Peter Miller could "go to work".  Sean, Bert and I talked about our "shoulda woulda coulda" Pick 6 near wins, then spent 4 hours looking at horses in the sale.  We already bought a filly by "E Dubai" and I just love another filly by the same sire.

In the afternoon, team member Matt Vest wandered in.  We hit the off track betting, and thanks to one John Sadler, took home the bacon.  Sean Gerson and John Sadler are bigggggggg buddies!

Peter Miller has his eye on a few nice horses, so we’ll spend Monday checking them out prior to attending the Adena Springs sale Monday evening.  More to follow…