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| Lisa's Booby Trap is a horse for anyone who has given up on horseracing. Or life. Photo courtesy of New York Racing Association. |
But on Monday night, the best pedigree in the world couldn't get you to a new home; svelte yearling after svelte yearling went unsold at the Fasig-Tipton Select Sale, or sold at prices below what was expected, and hoped for.
The buyers turned up their noses at the yearlings. The hottest horse in town, instead, is none other than a $2000 freakishly-fast-finishing Florida-bred Finger Lakes filly who is trained by Tim Snyder, a guy from Maine who normally wouldn't be able to even get a stall at Saratoga.
The racing secretary at Saratoga does not have Tim Snyder on speed dial. The guy has one horse in his stable. But, this year is different in a lot of ways.
You see, Tim seems to think the horse may be the reincarnation of his wife, Lisa, who died of ovarian cancer in 2003 and vowed she'd "come back as a horse". And then this horse showed up in his life.
Lisa's Booby Trap. That's her name. The whole thing reads like a script for a video that plays inside a Hallmark card. Except it's really happening, right here in Saratoga, of all places. He was broke, and didn't even have a horse trailer to go pick her up when he bought her. She was club-footed, and only had one eye anyway. But, the way people tell me the story, she had not just a bad club foot but a flat pancake foot too and she needed someone to pay some attention to her hooves. According to NYRA, she wears a hind shoe on the flat front foot now. And she no longer hits herself when she runs. Tim found a horseshoer to get the job done. And now it is just a matter of waiting for Oprah to call.
Here's their story, though we don't know yet what her feet look like. (I'm on it, though.) This TVG segment was made when she had won her first three starts this spring and summer at Finger Lakes, which is sort of the "outback" of New York racing, out in the middle of the state.
So Tim must have borrowed a trailer or begged a ride for the filly across New York State to Saratoga. She made her workout debut during the morning trackside breakfast on the main track. The announcer didn't notice her streaking by, but the timer certainly did. That was a fast work. Lisa's Booby Trap had arrived.
Tim Snyder had never even entered a horse in a stakes race before. Not even at Finger Lakes. His filly was entered against a full card of Kentucky-breds. Two were conditioned by Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. One was owned by Stonestreet Stables, owners of 2009 Horse of the Year Rachel Alexandra. Speed demon Stormandaprayer is owned by chef Bobby Flay. And than there's Lisa's Booby Trap at 12-1, the only longshot on the program. Here's what happened:
According to NYRA and the Albany Times-Union, Lisa's Booby Trap will probably run next on Travers Day, which is Saturday August 28, in the Grade 3 Victory Ride.
I can't wait.
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