Post by Cruisey on Feb 1, 2016 17:06:05 GMT -5
 It’s been a while since The Eighth Pole has had a chance to interview the newly-appointment owner of Firestone Racing. While certain reporters have gone out to interview the other stables surrounding The Wire and its sister tracks, Beth Drury had a chance to visit the Firestone barns this past weekend to catch up with some of the stars of the show. Beth Drury: Hello Mr. Leeson, thank you for taking time out of your busy day to talk to the Eighth Pole. We’ve noticed many things have been happening lately, including your ownership of the farm. Would you mind telling us a little bit about that before we get into your racing roster? Carter Leeson: Thanks Beth, today was my easy day anyways. Yes, you’re correct, I was handed over ownership of FRS this past January at the beginning of the racing season. It came as a shock to me really, but the former owners have been very helpful in the transitioning stages. They may have not been around a lot, but they know what they are doing and it has made my other job as head trainer easier knowing that they’re handling everything mostly. BD: That sounds like a very generous gift. The Eighth Pole wishes you the best of luck in ownership in the new year. Speaking of the new year, this brings new horses. How have your juveniles been shaping up this season? Do you have any big plans for them yet? CL: We’ve been doing fairly well with our new juveniles. Currently we have seven active racers, most of which have broken their maiden already. Only two are left which haven’t, but we aren’t worried about them. Both Arctic Fox and Patriot have the same race record and have been facing a tough bunch of juveniles this season, but at the rate they’re going they should have no problems breaking their maiden their next time out. Our other juveniles have had no problems whatsoever and have mostly a 100% consistency rating so far, which is hard to come by considering all of the juvenile fields have been huge this season. BD: Sounds like your juveniles have come a long way since the beginning of the year. Let’s talk about your classic string - how are they doing and what can you see them doing in the future of this season? CL: Our classic string keeps on turning heads and they continue to fire on all cylinders. Barely Smokin’ is in a great position for the Triple Crown; he sits just where we want him and you can tell that he’s been muscling up and maturing for this season. With Dancing On Nails, we’re taking a slower approach to the Turf Sprinter Crown than anticipated. We’re working on building up his confidence and he’s been delivering so far this season. Fire Goddess is our most lightly raced 3 year old right now just because we’ve had a hard time finding races fit just for her liking. Hellfire has also been under raced this season for the same reason. Once we find good races for her to run in, she’ll get back to her old self and be winning races in no time; we’re not worried about her one bit. Innerstellar has yet to get a win of the season but we have no doubt that he will get it soon enough. Like A Lady has been doing very well this season. Whilst she too has not gotten her first win of the season, she has been delivering in each race that she has run. Scintilla two has proven that she can run against the boys without a problem. Although her plans to run in the triple turf tiara will stand because we know that she would best be suited for that category. BD: I’m really looking forward to seeing your classic string run this season. I think Like A Lady has to be my favourite out of the seven, girl power rules. Can you tell us about your senior string, and where most of your horses stand at this point in time? CL: Right now our senior string is our largest that it's ever been since Firestone started. It would probably take me about three hours to explain to you all of the qualities that our horses have. Instead, I’ll talk to you about our undercard horses that are constantly overshadowed by our superstars like Speak Easy, or Silver Serendipity. Coco Cabana is in his last season of racing here with Firestone. Our plans for him to send him to all of the races we think he can handle. The smallest horse in the barn goes by the name of Dark Maiden. This season will be focused on building her record and hopefully by next season she will break through and finally show the world that she is a winning horse. Devil's Blessing and Inferno, two of our original horses, have been doing well and are going to be sticking to the undercards this season. Flashing The Declaration will be pushed into any race he can handle to build up his lacking record; the sprints are hard to find for older horses. Since her change to turf, Silent Heart has been doing fantastic and will be running against horses of her caliber until she's fully prepared for HoTY. Last but not least is White Rose, the filly who was left for nothing at an auction last year. It's been a tough road for her so far but with a bit more work, she'll get to winning in no time. BD: Thank you for all of that insightful information, Mr. Leeson. I and everyone else at the Eighth Pole will be looking forward to seeing Firestone silks on the track. I'll definitely be keeping an eye out on Dark Maiden and Silent Heart. |
