 Race 4 - Post Parade |
 Race 4 - Home free! |
 Race 4 - Winner's Circle! |
Dance Naturally was purchased privately by the Virtual Owners Partnership
in early March, 1997. A '93 filly by Sword Dance, out of S' Naturally
by What a Pleasure, Dance Naturally was bred in Florida by John L. Peterson.
She had a record of 6-0-2-0 with earnings of $5,280 when she was
purchased.
All images .jpg format unless noted otherwise.
AP 2nd, mdn1000, 1 mi. dirt, track fast. Purse $6,000. Garrett Gomez up.
This was a dream trip for Dance Naturally and Garrett. They sat just back
of the pace for most of the race, and then just powered by in the
stretch win win by widening lengths. Not too many VOP'sters out at the
track on a weekday afternoon, but those who had managed to sneak out
of work to stand in the Winner's Circle were happy campers indeed.
Dance Naturally's running line: 2-2-2-2-1-1, times 23.1, 46.3, 1:12.3, 1:40.1
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Race 4 - Post Parade |
Race 4 - Home free! |
Race 4 - Winner's Circle! |
AP 5th, alw21000n1x, 1 mi. dirt, track fast. Purse $21,000. Ray Sibille up.
Well, this was one of those cases when Dance Naturally was ready to run,
but the proper race wasn't in the condition book. She wasn't anywhere
close to these allowance fillies, and got blasted after trying to run
with the leaders.
Dance Naturally's running line: 2-1-4-4-7-6, times 23.2, 46.4, 1:12.2, 1:37.3
AP 6th, alw21000n1x, 1-1/8 mi. turf, turf firm. Purse $21,000. Mark Guidry up.
With her Sword Dance breeding, trainer Liane Davis had been anxious to try
Dance Naturally on the turf all summer. Unfortunately, turf races at AP
were few and far between for the lesser classes of horses. Finally we bit
the bullet and tried Nat in a turf allowance. She tried valiantly to
keep up with the pace for about a mile, but faded badly in the last eighth.
Dance Naturally's running line: 3-2-2-3-9-9, times 23.2, 47.2, 1:11.1, 1:36.2, 1:49.2
Race 6 - 1st pass down the front
AP 2nd, clm7500, 1 mi. dirt, track fast. Purse $6,500. Mark Guidry up.
This was a race Nat should have done quite well in, but she really didn't
run a lick. Concerned, Liane gave the horse a good going over after the
race and found a small injury that would require a layoff of a couple
of months.
Dance Naturally's running line: 4-5-5-5-6-6, times 23.2, 47.0, 1:12.4, 1:39.3
Race 7 - Post Parade
HAW 9th, clm17500n2l, 7-1/2f turf, turf firm. Purse $12,000. Ray Sibille up.
Nat got a bit of a slow start out of the gate and was behind immediately,
and Ray had no choice but to try and conserve her energy for a late run.
There was still a little bit of gas in the tank, and Nat made a good run
through the 2nd turn and down the stretch, rallying to get up for 4th.
Dance Naturally's running line: 2-7-7-7-6-4, times 23.04, 46.37, 1:13.17, 1:32.00
HAW 10th, clm17500n2l, 1 mi. 70yds dirt, track fast. Purse $12,000. Randy Meier up.
After that nice effort on the turf, and given Nat's Sword Dance breeding,
we were eager to give her another chance to run on the grass. Unfortunately,
the weather didn't cooperate, and the race was taken off the turf, leaving
Nat and Randy to compete with a class of dirt horses she probably wasn't
up to running with. Nat showed some good speed throughout the early going,
but faded in the stretch to finish well back of the winner.
Dance Naturally's running line: 2-5-2-2-2-6-8, times 23.92, 48.16, 1:14.89, 1:46.35
HAW 7th, alw21000n1x, 1 mi. turf, turf firm. Purse $21,000. Kelly Sampson up.
Still wanting to get Nat in a turf race, we waited patiently for HAW to
card another $17.5k race on the turf, which they finally did as an overnight,
but too soon after a workout, so we were left with no choice but to put
her in a turf allowance. Horses a little too tough for Nat to begin with,
and then the bad luck of having our scheduled jock get hurt in an earlier
race in the card, so Liane had to round up a jock at the last minute. Nat
ran a decent, even race, but it wasn't good enough, as she finished 5th in
the middle of the pack.
Dance Naturally's running line: 7-7-5-5-3-7-5, times 24.09, 47.38, 1:14.09, 1:40.51
HAW 7th, clm5000n2l, 6f dirt, track sloppy. Purse $6,300. Ray Sibille up.
With turf racing over for the season at HAW, there wasn't much choice
but to try Nat in a low level dirt race to try and pick up a win. She
ran a decent race at a distance that isn't her best, over a sloppy track,
picking up a 3rd place check.
Dance Naturally's running line: 6-3-4-3-2-3, times 22.32, 46.86, 1:00.30, 1:13.39
Hou 11th, alw11000n2l, 1-1/16th mi. dirt, track fast. Purse $11,000. Terry Stanton up.
Sent to Houston with trainer Gilbert Ciavaglia to try and get some turf
races in over the winter, Nat once again ran into that old bugaboo of
turf horses, the race taken off, and we weren't too sure she'd do all
that well. But she was the only real speed horse in the race, and jockey
Stanton got her out to a quick lead and relaxed down the backstretch. She
managed to hold on for the win by open lengths, despite getting a little
tired down the stretch. Nice effort, Nat, and Terry, and Gilbert!
Dance Naturally's running line: 9-7-1-1-1-1-1, times 23.76, 48.53, 1:14.49, 1:41.06, 1:47.86
Race 12 - Winner's Circle!