I took the family to Santa Anita this weekend with our good friends Marshal and Julie.  Marshal often invests in racehorses and showed us around the track.  The guys who he invests with had a horse running in the 10th race — Hard Bill —  and we visited the paddock, met the jockey and owners of Hard Bill.  

The race was extremely exciting.  Below, is how the race was described in a newsletter put out by the investment syndicate.  Here’s a picture of our families with the winning team in the Winner’s Circle — I’m wearing my green Jets hat, my wife is wearing the glasses to my left (picture right), my oldest son Jack is on the right side of the photo, my daughter Ryan is wearing the black hat in front of my wife and my daughter Tate is in front of Ryan holding her hat in the air.

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In a heavyweight battle to the finish, HARD BILL won for the eighth time in ten career starts with a stirring nose victory on April 4 at Santa Anita. Hard Bill, sent off as the 2-1 favorite, galloped along in 10th after the first quarter mile. Under expert handling by the nation’s leading rider Garrett Gomez, Hard Bill started picking off the back markers and saved all the ground along the inside through the far turn. When Gomez saw an opening at the head of the stretch, he guided Hard Bill outside the pace-setting A Lil Dumaani. During a vigorous stretch duel, Hard Bill was able to prevail by a nose in a driving finish, “I told you before. This horse just wants to beat you! Period,” exclaimed trainer Mike Puype after the win. Posting his second straight “91” Beyer Speed Figure, Hard Bill avoided the dreaded “Euro Bounce” and may have a big say in the sprint division on the west coast. With the allowance win, Hard Bill pushed his U.S. earnings for Little Red Feather to $51,000 in just two starts.