On the way to the latest yearling sale, we stopped off at the Ingleside Training Center in Montpelier Station, Virginia. What a magnificent place. If you're ever in Virginia, out near Charlottesville, this is a must-see place to visit. How often do you see a full-on training center with a beautiful track on National Park grounds? This place is horse heaven. Very quiet and serene, it really gives the trainers, riders, and grooms a chance to be one-on-one with our fabulous group of horses.

The day before we visited, because of weather constraints, Belle Vitesse and Magavi breezed on the track and had published workouts. They were so full of themselves that, the morning we were there, they galloped around the shed row inside the barn and were still pretty much on go. “Well, Tom, why didn't they wait for you to visit before they breezed the horses?” I can hear someone asking out there in Internet land. Because trainers are far better at predicting the weather than any weatherman (or should I say weather person) on the Weather Channel. Woodbury knew that it was going to rain on Thursday, which would disrupt the track surface and their training schedule, so he breezed the horses on Wednesday to avoid the change and inclement weather. And guess what? He was right on the money. It poured Wednesday night into Thursday morning, and the horses did not miss a scheduled breeze.

We also saw the yearlings. We were amazed by the Frosted colt out of Gypsy Queen galloping around the shed row inside the barn. We also saw two other yearlings that had just arrived and haven't started training yet, but are well into their education with bitting rigs and surcingles holding pads on their backs. These were the beautiful, big chestnut filly by Frosted out of Princess Samurai (video below) and a huge colt by Authentic out of the race mare Satisfy.

The latter two shipped in just about two and a half weeks ago, so they are going through the breaking process, which means groundwork with bits in their mouths and pads on their backs. A groom leads the horse in figure eights in a stall while a rider stands by its side, moving with it, and then eventually mounts its back. Once the rider bellies up on its back and everything is copacetic, he will very gently throw a leg over the saddle and raise his body. All this is done according to the comfort level of the individual horse. Some horses take a little longer to get used to somebody on their backs. In the wild, if something jumps on a horse's back, it likely wants to eat it. This goes against every fear response that a horse instinctually has. Some horses accept it right away; some horses take a little more time. At the end of the day, once this process is done, a rider is on the horse's back, going around the shed row and then eventually going around the racetrack. Eventually, they'll be in the gate, out of the gate, breaking from the gate, and off to the races we go.

All in all, it was a beautiful day despite the rain, just seeing how much these horses have grown and matured. It's always exciting for me to see them graduate into the athletes they will become. At this point, they are all undefeated, and that is a good thing! Another good thing is that they're becoming Virginia-certified, which, like I've said in the past, will pay us 25% on top of a win purse in New York or anywhere along the Eastern Seaboard down to and including Virginia, as long as Colonial Downs is not in session.

We also had the pleasure of visiting Dormello, who was turned out in a paddock for most of the day and into the night. He looks content. Call me crazy, but I think he recognized me. He gave me a look like you would if you saw somebody totally out of context, and then it hit him: “Oh yeah, it's the short, fat Italian guy. I know who you are!” He's still a flawless individual and has not gained any weight. We are hoping his brain does a little bit of a reboot and the desire to win kicks in!

We have the best of both worlds: a beautiful training center and a fabulous bonus program. So get on board and join us for some excitement in the near future.

The latter two shipped in just about two and a half weeks ago, so they are going through the breaking process, which means groundwork with bits in their mouths and pads on their backs. A groom leads the horse in figure eights in a stall while a rider stands by its side, moving with it, and then eventually mounts its back. Once the rider bellies up on its back and everything is copacetic, he will very gently throw a leg over the saddle and raise his body. All this is done according to the comfort level of the individual horse. Some horses take a little longer to get used to somebody on their backs. In the wild, if something jumps on a horse's back, it likely wants to eat it. This goes against every fear response that a horse instinctually has. Some horses accept it right away; some horses take a little more time. At the end of the day, once this process is done, a rider is on the horse's back, going around the shed row and then eventually going around the racetrack. Eventually, they'll be in the gate, out of the gate, breaking from the gate, and off to the races we go.

All in all, it was a beautiful day despite the rain, just seeing how much these horses have grown and matured. It's always exciting for me to see them graduate into the athletes they will become. At this point, they are all undefeated, and that is a good thing! Another good thing is that they're becoming Virginia-certified, which, like I've said in the past, will pay us 25% on top of a win purse in New York or anywhere along the Eastern Seaboard down to and including Virginia, as long as Colonial Downs is not in session.

We also had the pleasure of visiting Dormello, who was turned out in a paddock for most of the day and into the night. He looks content. Call me crazy, but I think he recognized me. He gave me a look like you would if you saw somebody totally out of context, and then it hit him: “Oh yeah, it's the short, fat Italian guy. I know who you are!” He's still a flawless individual and has not gained any weight. We are hoping his brain does a little bit of a reboot and the desire to win kicks in!

We have the best of both worlds: a beautiful training center and a fabulous bonus program. So get on board and join us for some excitement in the near future.