A lot happens in a month and since our last installment of PRINCESS DIARIES, our girl A PIC BY MRWILL (aka “Princess“) has continued to amaze us! She keeps-up with her weekly workout regimen under jockey Sheena Ryan at Woodbine like a true professional. Her Owner/Trainer John Ross and Cathy Wong, along with the team, are doing an amazing job getting her in top shape for her forthcoming first race.
Princess just keeps growing and growing and growing. I quite literally have to reach-up for those kisses now and never have I felt shorter!
Can we brag for a moment that she along with her two stablemates Saturday Dancer and Raglan Road – also just babies – shared the fastest workout of the day last Wednesday for three furlongs? We were floored! In fact, we want to frame this! I’d equate the feeling to a parent seeing straight As on their child’s Report Card. Yeah, I know it’s easy to get carried away as we know workouts many a time can be a false-positive to how a horse performs on race day, but we just can’t mask our excitement!
Although I had my doubts that Princess was sold on me, we finally had that one bonding moment. She is quite the carrot connoisseur – baby carrots to be exact. Peppermints? Meh. Please don’t tell anyone she ate a whole small bag of mini carrots by herself last week!!! We like to play our own little game where I tickle her lips, which really gets her going! After a bit of playtime, it was time to go and I got my confirmation that our love was mutual when she tried picking the lock on her stall when I told her ‘goodbye’. I turned into a pile of mush, all verklempt leaving the barn, pretending to yawn so that those tears wouldn’t be so obvious to passersby.
Princess‘ lip is a bit sore right now, so we didn’t play our game this weekend as she just got her official lip tattoo and according to Cathy, this now makes her a legit racehorse!
Those of us who follow Woodbine on Social Media know and love our feline friend Gator Kitten (@gatorkitten), whose sassy Tweets are voiced by his mom (and our dear friend) Sarah Ritchie. She is the assistant to three-time champion trainer Mark Frostad. After a winter in Florida, we were thrilled to see Gator and his mom on the backstretch again and we even threw a little party to celebrate Gator‘s homecoming and Princess‘ bullet workout! We coined it #GATORPRINCESSDAY and it was amazing to see Princess so smitten with the kitten.
The wonderful day was capped-off with her stablemate R U Watchingbud‘s huge score in the $125k New Providence Stakes at large odds under #emmazing Emma-Jayne Wilson! One day prior, Brooklynsway, who used to occupy Princess‘ stall, ran huge to win the Grade III Doubledogdare Stakes at Keeneland against some top U.S. fillies! Never underestimate a John Ross trainee.
There is a new Team Ross member here for the summer, a student named Emily (below, in purple), who is taking great care of Princess. She got a nice trim on the bangs from Emily, plus some braids, giving her that Cleopatra look. Love it!
See our Princess Video Diary for April 2016:
Princess Moments.
#GATORPRINCESSDAY
Princess + I support ONE LAST RACE, for the dignified retirement of racehorses. Donate here. Many celebrity racehorses like Lady Eli (whom we’re meeting next week!) and California Chrome also have joined the cause! Why don’t you?
Princess + Anna who was visiting from Lexington, Kentucky. She handles champion and soon-to-be millionairess Leigh Court for trainer Michael Stidham! We can only dream one day Princess will be anywhere near Leigh‘s level!
Princess (turquoise, under Sheena Ryan) and stablemate Saturday Dancer at work.
If you aren’t following Princess on Social Media yet, you may do so here:
A PIC BY MRWILL on Twitter
A PIC BY MRWILL on Instagram
See you back in May, PICsies!
Will you be there to cheer Princess on at Woodbine when she debuts later this year?
(Photo/video credit: Mr. Will Wong)
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