'Practice' pays off for gelding Paddy's Notes

NEW ORLEANS – What turned out to be a practice race Nov. 30 at Fair Grounds for the 5-year-old gelding Paddy’s Notes set him up to win last Sunday for trainer Tim Glyshaw. The victory was the second of the weekend for Glyshaw in starter-allowance/optional-claiming races.

The practice for Paddy’s Notes came in a first-level allowance sprint in which he and the horse next to him in the gate were declared nonstarters. “The [No. 7 horse] false broke,” said Natalie Glyshaw, Tim’s wife and assistant trainer, who is overseeing his 22-horse New Orleans barn. Paddy’s Notes, who was in the No. 8 hole, reacted and was being restrained by an assistant starter when the gate opened, Natalie Glyshaw said.

“He was 22 lengths back at the half, and he got beat four lengths,” she said. “[Jockey Marcelino] Pedroza said, ‘I just let him run down the lane.’ It was a good breeze for the horse.”

Coming back a week later at a mile and 70 yards, Paddy’s Notes, running for a $25,000 claiming price because he wasn’t eligible for the $12,500 starter condition, was trying two turns for the first time. He set a quick pace and held off the favored Hazards of Love by a half-length.

“We’re really proud of him, especially for an Indiana-bred,” Glyshaw said.

The day before, the consistent, 5-year-old mare Gettem Up Girl, running for a $5,000 starter condition, won a six-furlong sprint as the favorite. This year, she’s 9 for 16 and has earned $121,450. Since Tim Glyshaw claimed her for $6,000 in September 2013 at Indiana Grand, she has won 10 of 19 starts, with eight of those victories coming under starter conditions.

“We try to claim them with the hopes of making a starter horse,” Natalie Glyshaw said.

The stable has had several other successes with modest-priced claims that yielded productive starter horses. One of the best was the gelding Ready’s Rocket, who won a modern-day record 11 races at Churchill Downs. He was a $7,500 claim in 2008.

◗ Sunday marks the return of one-mile races on the main track. Such races, which start and finish at the sixteenth pole, haven’t been run since the 2008-09 meet.

“We are hopeful that our investment in this additional finish line will provide our horsemen with greater flexibility and more options for their horses,” track president Tim Bryant said in a release. “We hope that offering this new distance will help us continue to card large and competitive fields.”