There’s a saying around the Bluegrass, “The last foal is the best one.”  Well, I heartily agree!!!   Team Rosecrest / Wilshire Farm is done birthing babies for another year — with just 72 hours to spare before Derby Day.  …But I get ahead of myself.

Goldencents / Rose Dela Troienne colt.

At 5 AM on May 2, Rose Dela Troienne delivered a big Goldcents colt.  Did I say “big”?  I mean “really big” colt.  He tipped the scales at 143 pounds and he was up literally bouncing around his stall within a half hour.  For those of you who follow my blogs, you know that’s really fast.

And at 143 pounds, he’s the biggest foal we’ve had in the last two or so years.  So, as you might expect, everyone around the farm is thinking he is going to be something special.  (But then, we think all our babies are special… so maybe he will be extra special.)

Meanwhile those long legs made it extra tough for him to figure out how to maneuver them to lay down for the first time.  Check out this video:  <div style=”position:relative;height:0;padding-bottom:56.25%”><iframe src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/WmhJ-CXcbsE?ecver=2″ width=”640″ height=”360″ frameborder=”0″ style=”position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;left:0″ allowfullscreen></iframe></div>

Or Click here  if the embedded video doesn’t work.

Rose Dela Troienne’s breeding gives her 10 lines of La Troienne, and with that we are hoping that she will produce great runners the way La Troienne did.  [La Troienne is one of the most successful broodmares in the history of Thoroughbred racing.  

Click HERE  to read a little more about her contributions to the breed…]

That left Charley’s Hope.  She was two weeks past due, we had plans to go to the Derby and so we were hoping she would go ahead and deliver before Saturday.  Well, it was “deja vu all over again”.

Glenn and his wife Kesenia arrived from California and Charley delivered within four hours!!!  (You might remember the last time Glenn and his daughter Macy visited Kentucky, he helped deliver Truely Blessed’s Tonalist filly.)  Again Glenn was involved, and even more so this time!

Since he just arrived, Glenn was still “on California time”.  He took one look at Chuck and, hearing he had been up since Rose Dela’s delivery that morning at 5 AM, he told Chuck he’d stay at the barn and watch Charley, so Chuck could get some sleep.

Glenn said he watched her for awhile and, like most nights, she just looked at him with her ears back… not happy but also not showing any real signs of imminent delivery.  The horses in the barn were sleeping.  He was enjoying the peacefulness of the barn, with the only sound being Our Unbridled Gem, who was sleeping so soundly that she was actually snoring.

Charley’s Hope: “You guys can go now.”

He finally sat down with a book, thinking he’d get some reading done and being glad to give Chuck a break.  Within minutes, he heard the rustle of some straw.  Glenn went to check on Charley. and soon he was on the phone telling Chuck, “We’re having a baby.”  [Ladies, please note that masculine tendency to say WE’RE having a baby extends even to the Foaling Barn.]

But Glenn meant it, bless his heart.  When Chuck walked in, Glenn was all ready with the cart in place and he was ready to wrap Charley’s tail.  The two of them delivered a 123 pound Strong Mandate filly.  Glenn continued to be right there for all phases after the birth with the mare and baby, even mucking the stall and scattering the fresh golden straw you see in these pictures.

Charley’s Hope enjoys her baby, our last newborn of 2017!

Soooooooo, the last two foals are doing great and we can go to the Derby without the worries of mares having babies.  Now I just need to pick a horse for the Derby.

We’re going to be at the races with Team O’Neill…. so the first candidate has to be their Irap – winner of Keeneland’s Blue Grass Stakes in his last start.

The second candidate has to be Always Dreaming, since our neighbors and friends Siena Farm own part of him.

The third through ninth (or tenth, if Royal Mo draws in from the Also Eligible List) candidates are the SEVEN Bourbon County horses in the race.  Yes, Bourbon County has SEVEN horses in the 2017 Kentucky Derby, plus the first horse on the AE list. That’s 35% of the field!!!!  Our little slice of heaven hasn’t had so many starters in the race since 2013 — Goldencents and Orb’s year.  They are, with post position noted:
1.    Lookin at Lee (John Penn Farm)
3.    Fast and Accurate (foaled in PA, raised at John Penn Farm)
4.    Untrapped (Indian Creek Farm)
10.  Gunnevera (Brandywine Farm)
15.  McCraken (Maple Lane Farm, 2150 Georgetown Road, Paris)
16.  Tapwrit (Denali Stud)
19.  Practical Joke (Whispering Oaks Farm)
AE #1. Royal Mo (Brandywine Farm)

Finally, there’s the hunch pick.  Last Friday and Saturday, we were anxiously awaiting our last two mares’ foalings and we had three Rosecrest Farm fillies run second…. as Sweet Halory was second at Indiana Grand Race Course, beaten a nose; My Sweet Reward was second at Indiana in her second career start; and Pistol Packin Rose was second at Santa Anita after dueling virtually the entire length of the mile turf starter allowance.

That would seem to point me toward the # 2 horse in the Kentucky Derby, which is Thunder Snow.

One last look from Rose Dela Troienne 17.

Oh well, today I picked “Lucky Red” for my toenails as there’s NO doubt about my pick in the $500,000 Churchill Downs Handicap-G2.  It’s the 10th race on the card (two prior to the Derby) and WC Racing’s Denman’s Call has post # 12 in the 14 horse field.  My fingers and toes will be cramped from crossing them with all my might.

But I’ll not be wearing my highest heels since my back’s a bit wrenched from helping with that BIG Goldencents colt, out of Rose Dela Troienne.  LOL

Happy Derby Day to all, and may all horses, all day have a safe trip!