(This is the time of year when the horse racing season for the Ivory Pine Syndicate is winding down, but the soccer season for the Rosevelt Soccer Club is gearing up. Here's a 90-day glimpse of the day in the life of a horse racing managing partner and soccer club administrator.)
Awoke, 5:14a
Handicapped races, 6:15a-7:30a
The Breeders' Cup Saturday card almost always features the most interesting collection of races to handicap.
There are nine championship races that feature most of the world's highest-level horses who specialize in different surfaces and distances, and there are so many different big and small angles to consider. After listening to a few hours of podcasts throughout the week, this morning's handicapping session mostly consisted of using Equinedge to find value to complement Cogburn in the turf spring, my big single for the day in horizontal wagers like Doubles, Pick 3 wagers, and a Pick 5.
Rosevelt SC admin, 9a-10a
During the fall, many of our club's staff work with high school programs, town-based clubs, or even have a college season they need to play themselves. So there are some issues we encounter that are tough to reconcile until our respective high school, town-based club, and collegiate seasons end. This morning's work was a perfect example for how we'll soon be going 0-60 real quick.
Listened to the Mutstack podcast, 10a-10:45a
My last listen to Breeders' Cup handicappers was Mike Mutnansky's show featuring Jessica Paquette and Dick Jerardi. I'm not very familiar with Jerardi, but I am familiar with Mutnansky's and Paquette's work. They're both fellow New Englanders, and they're a couple of the most recognizable and visible New Englanders involved in Thoroughbred racing.
That circle seems to be getting smaller by the year, so it's important that we continue to follow and support their work.
Watched Windham girls' soccer playoff game, 11a-12p
High school and collegiate programs have gotten so much better about streaming games live over the last few years, which I plan to take advantage of now that my own soccer schedule in the fall will be getting lighter in the coming years. My favorite part of the fall is watching our club's players represent their communities and schools by playing with their town-based clubs and high school programs, so it was enjoyable watching a number of our club's players earn their spot in the regional championship even though I wasn't able to attend the game live.
Worked with older daughter, 12p-12:15p
Our older daughter's progress on the soccer field has really grown over the last 14 months. Until last July, she seemed to mostly play soccer because that's just something she's always done. She's always enjoyed playing, and it was never anything we had to force her to do. But until last summer, she'd never really put in any more work into her own improvement than participating in her teams' training sessions and games.
Over the last fourteen months, though, she's been remarkably consistent about running around our neighborhood's 1-mile loop, lifting weights, being mindful about her nutrition and sleep habits, and working with the soccer ball in the backyard.
And her work since July 2023 has been paying off: She went from a sophomore unlikely to earn a roster spot with her varsity team to actually earning a varsity roster spot and making a few varsity appearances to complement her steady playing time in junior varsity games.
And this season as a junior, she went from a player who barely played varsity minutes to one of the first subs off the bench and playing about 30-40 minutes a game. She plays with one of the top high school programs in the state, and those relatively modest improvements in opportunity were only because of all the additional work she's been putting in over the last year.
With all that said, the end of her season has been disappointing. Her team this year has a really strong senior class, and it wasn't unreasonable to hope for a state championship run this season. And on a personal level, she rather unexpectedly went from one of the first subs off the bench playing 30-40 minutes a game to not getting a single minute of playing time in the team's two playoff games.
So we've been curious to see how she'd bounce back in 24-48 hours after her team's season ended Friday night. Fortunately, she's really resilient and she's just picked up where she left off less than 24 hours after the close of her junior season with more off-field work to put herself in a better position for more opportunities in the future.
We're really proud of her.
Rosevelt SC admin, 1p-2p
Monday is the unofficial start of our club's 2024-2025 season, and the to-do list between now and our official start in early January will get longer and the to-do items will become more urgent.
Because of my on-again, off-again issues with vertigo over the last couple months, my wife has been helping more with the off-field admin than usual. And our club is starting to feel more like a family business now, which is a good thing. So today was the first of what we plan will be more regular meetings to work on the club's growing to-do list together.
Watched Breeders' Cup, 2:30p-8p
Speaking of opportunities, the Breeders' Cup is arguably the apex of horse racing in America. And besides watching the event from afar as a fan and a handicapper, it's also not ridiculous to say that we can watch the competition as an aspiring owner.
Horse racing is an open sport, with difficult--but not impossible--barriers to entry for most folks to become participating owners. And the fact that one of the world's toughest races was won by Soul of an Angel, a mare who's 41 races into a racing career that almost didn't happen because she couldn't even fetch $3,000 in a 2020 auction is a great story. As is the story of Straight No Chaser, a 5-year-old horse owned by more a thousand co-owners and trained by a first-time Breeders' Cup-winning horseman who doesn't have a big operation.
Our own partnership is currently focused on learning all we can about the harness racing game and maximizing our success in that particular sport, but the beauty of horse racing--and most every other sport that is an open sport around the rest of the world--is that the opportunity to one day compete at the top levels as a community or as an organization isn't impossible.
And it's days like today that we get that reminder.
Asleep, 10:38p
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