For those of you who are following our foray into horse racing, we are pleased to report that White Thunder finally earned some cash for his owners by virtue of his fourth place finish in Saturday's tenth race at Aqueduct. Under the sure hand of female apprentice jockey Jackie Davis, our sterling steed made "a mild bid" after stumbling out of the gate according to the race recap. That is certainly progress! In his three previous outings, White Thunder had finished no better than sixth. Fourth place winnings are roughly $1,200 out of the $19,500 purse. That will make a strong dent in White Thunder's monthly upkeep.

We receive updates on our horse's workouts from the principal owner, Renee Doyle. She describes him as "professional" and "focused" in his training. I suppose we might prefer if he was just plain "fast", but hopefully White Thunder's solid work habits will translate into continued improvement. When the weather clears, we will journey to New York state to see him in action.

PS White Thunder ran again last Thursday and finished 5th! OK - out of 7! It was a longer distance - 1 mile 70 yards. We are looking forward to his debut on grass.