If you happened to read the last post that had a similar picture to this one, you should have an idea of what this one is about. Following his third consecutive win in the Red Bank Handicap held at Monmouth Park, Royal Kiwi was entered in the Oceanport Handicap also held at Monmouth. 

What do A Bus, Smart Money, Princess Royale, Color of Fame, Daredevil, Southern Charm, Braveheart, and Star Studded have in common? Yes, they are all a part of the top 25 overall earnings list. But, that's not the answer that I was looking for. What if we add to the list the names of Fine Memories, Chatterbox, Vampirical, Blushing Approval, Nightwing, Missmelodramatic, Sir Empire, Case Closed, She's A Prize, Flow Diagram, Camena's Thunder, Led Astray, Faldo, Isca's Revenge, Retribution, Malvern Hill, Point Taken, A View to a Kill, Final Problem, and Two Thousand? Yes, that's a whole lot of total wins and money earned. But again, that's not the answer that I was looking for.

When I first joined Photo Finish, I took the $200,000 that was allotted to new stables and jumped into the fray known as the year end auction. One of the five horses I picked up in my first auction, was a Lemon Drop Kid x Pompeii filly by the name of Lava Drop. The big gray filly, acquired for the bargain price of $29,000, was our stable's first star. Over her stellar four-year racing career, Lava Drop won fifteen times from thirty-seven starts earning over $2.6 million. Her efforts kept the stable afloat in our inaugural season.

Back in week twenty-two, Royal Kiwi cruised across the finish line of the Red Bank Handicap to no fanfare. Looking at it objectively, should this victory have been noticed? It was a comfortable, three-length win by the 1:2 favorite. The other three horses in that field have a combined total of six victories to their name in sixty-five career starts. They have two PSR's of above 100...as a group! So, a heavy favorite easily won a race that he was supposed to win. What's the big deal?