Stranger things have happened, Foal Born at LaD

This morning when we arrived at the track for training a rumor was floating around about a foal born on the backside in the middle of the night. By 6 am it was confirmed, a 2 year old filly gave birth to a filly during the night in the Pat Mouton Stable at Louisiana Downs. Now I know for sure the filly was born but the rest of the details may or may not be totally factual so take them with a grain of salt, (although they came from a pretty good source). Rumor has it this filly had been in training with Mouton for a while and was being kept at a nearby training facility. She was brought to Louisiana Downs sometime before Sunday morning where she worked 3 furlongs in 36 and change. She has been in the Mouton's regular barn on the backside since then. Boy, I wish I would have seen the look on the grooms face this morning when he arrived at her stall.
I heard one trainer mention that he noticed the mare waxing and dripping milk while coming of the track yesterday morning. I have heard others say she didn't have a bag formed but was an 'easy keeper' so to speak and was a little over weight. Who knows...
What I do know is that someone should have noticed something wasn't right with this filly. Whether it was her weight problem, her enlarged bag, her absence of a cycle, something, someone needs to be responsible. This filly could have caused serious danger to herself, her foal, and her exercise rider on Sunday or any day prior to that while she was in race training. Ultimately I guess the trainer responsibility rule is in effect here but then again, he surely wasn't the one who left her out with the colts too long.
Breeders and owners alike and not to mention trainers should learn 2 valuable lessons here.
1. Don't leave fillies and colts together, even when you think they are too young to breed.
2. If you have a filly in training that is gaining weight and looking and little thick through the flank spend the twenty bucks and palpate them.

Looking for Partners for Four 2 year old fillies and geldings

We have 4 two year old thoroughbreds for sale at out farm that are currently in training and almost ready for the racetrack. We had originally decided to keep them and try to prove our new stallions but with Dallas breaking his hand this summer and a few other set backs we decided to sell them either in a package or individually in partnerships. We would still like to keep an interest in all of them if possible. Please email us at dallaskeen@hotmail.com if you have any questions on how we do partnerships.
The first is La Oro Diva, a gray Texas Bred filly by Oro Negra and out of Open Fairway, by Open Forum. She is a January foal and is very mature. She should be ready to start by the end of the summer. La Oro Diva is 15.2 hands, correct and very feisty.
Second is Clearly Persuaded, a bay Texas Bred filly by Oro Negra and out of Auntie Adele, by Carborundum. Auntie Adele had earnings in excess of $97,000 and Clearly Persuaded is her third foal, with one winner from two starters. Clearly Persuaded stands 16.2 hands tall and has correct conformation. She is currently in training at our farm.
Next is Diamante De Oro. He is a 2 year old Texas Bred brown gelding by Oro Negra out of Diazo Sport, by Diazo. He is a second foal, the first foal out of this mare broke his maiden at Lone Star Park this meet by 8 lengths. Diamante De Oro is currently in training at our farm.
Last is Texas Treat. Texas Treat is a 2 year old bay Texas Bred gelding by Oro Negra and out of Storm In Texas, by Storm Boot. We are very fond of this colt for several reasons. He is a first foal and his mother died having her second. The foal suffered from a one in a million birth defect that causes the unborn foals joints to form as solid bones. Somehow she carried to full term but we but her down when attempts to remove the foal failed. She was our favorite mare. Storm In Texas' second dam earned over a million dollars. We had high hopes for her as a broodmare even though she didn't make it on the track due to an ankle injury. To make a long story short we would like to keep at least 50% of this colt. He is an outstanding individual.
If you are interested in any one or making a package deal on these 2 year olds please contact me or Dallas directly by phone, or email at dallaskeen@hotmail.com and go to our website at http://www.teamkeen.com/ . We would like to have all of these guys ready and running by the end of the summer.

Too Funny Not To Share

Big Brown Seen Leaving Belmont Carrying Large Sacks Of Cash
June 12, 2008 Onion Sports
http://www.theonion.com/content/news_briefs/big_brown_seen_leaving?utm_source=slate_rss_1
NEW YORK—Shortly after finishing in last place in the Belmont Stakes Saturday, Big Brown was reportedly seen leaving through the back exit of the Belmont stable locker rooms carrying several shopping bags stuffed with cash, which the 3-year-old colt placed into the back seat of his Rolls Royce Phantom Coupe. "I could hardly tell it was him because he was wearing sunglasses, a baseball cap pulled down low over his eyes, and a long trench coat, but I remember thinking he was so tall he had to be one of the athletes," said horseracing fan Jason Larson. "Still, I didn't figure it out until I saw the 'Big B' vanity plates on his car." According to numerous witnesses, Brown spent five minutes urinating on the windshield of trainer Rick Dutrow's car before driving off erratically at high speed.

Foaling time is over, now the real work begins

Everyone looks forward to the new foals each year and thanks to technology it is easier to ever to watch mares as they get close to foaling time. After years of getting up every hour or sleeping on cots in barns just to miss the wonderful event as you try to catch a nap or run a quick errand, we now have foaling down to a science.

Three years ago we invested in foal cams and a foaling alert system. Now we sleep through the night and don't feel as if we are chained to the barn. We can carry on as usual until the phone rings to alert us of mare laying down and then we log on to the computer to watch the mare in case assistance is required. Isn't technology great?

This year we had a small crop, only 4 foals. All but one were incredibly healthy. The other needed a little help. His mother had dripped milk for over two weeks and didn't provide her foal with adequate colostrum. The foal responded fine and would get up and visit with us each time we went into the stall but as we monitored his behavior from the computer we noticed he was not as active as a normal foal and spent a lot of time laying down. We called the vet early the next morning and as expected he was in need of plasma. Almost immediately the colt recovered and is now doing wonderful. Without the monitoring system we may not have noticed the lethargic behavior as quickly and been able to take the action needed in as timely of manner.

I recommend anyone with mares and foals get a foal cam and a foaling alert system. If you save one foal you will repay yourself hundreds of times over. Anyone interested in the system can contact us or go to our website and see our cameras at the farm. We also have a camera system at the racetrack where owners can log in to see their horses anytime during the day.

Incidentally one of my little boogers kicked the snot out of me a couple of days after he was born. Got to love them though... Now all four are halter broke, picking up there feet and on their way to a good start as being racehorses.

Elliecat wins the Chou Croute Handicap, Lemony Cricket wins too!

What a great day it was when mean old Elliecat won the Chou Croute Handicap Saturday at the Fair Grounds. We have had Elliecat in our barn since April of 2007. Since then she has done very well with 3 wins and 3 seconds from 8 starts. At least she looks good in the form. Her bedside manner is not so good. During our 10 months with this filly she has earned the barn nickname, "EllieGATOR", attempting to savage grooms, hotwalkers, pony people, and yes, even me. She keeps us on our toes for sure. This mare is so wild she jumped on top of a hotwalker and actually scissor locked her front legs around the womans neck while biting her on the head all the way to the ground. Fortunately the hotwalker scrambled away from her into our office. We caught the whole attack on tape. Just recently she jumped on her groom in the shed row, again caught on tape and again without injury to the groom. In November she got me while I was on my pony and now 5 months later I still have top and bottom teeth mark scars on my shin.

Well putting up with all of her meanness paid off Saturday when her mean streak carried her wire to wire in the Chou Croute Handicap. Setting all the fractions and drawing off down the lane to hold on at the wire by a neck, Elliecat paid $159 bucks on a two dollar bet. The second biggest payout of the meet. Lonnie Meche happened to bring in both of them with his front running strategy.

Congratulations to James and Ywachetta Driver ! We love you guys and hope we have many great years together! (and if you can't find a place for that big trophy let me know).

On another good note our filly Lemony Cricket won the 7th race of the day, a $50,000 claiming race for fillies and mares, by 5 lengths, drawing off down the lane. That brought her up to 2 wins, 2 seconds and 3 thirds in 9 starts since Dallas Keen took over her training in May of 2007.

Lemony Cricket was purchased from a sale by the thoroughbred partnership of Ace Thoroughbreds, LLC and now has become the teams leading money earner with close to $80,000 in earnings.

Thoroughbred Partnerships, Join Team Keen

Thoroughbred partnerships can minimize the risk of loss and maximize the potential for earnings. With the financial help of a group we can provide you with a better horse for a smaller investment. This gives people who normally couldn't afford a stakes quality horse the chance to own a piece of one while being a big part of the fun and excitement in the winners circle.

The difference between the way we do things and other thoroughbred partnerships starts with your initial investment and ends with the return of your portion of the purse. There are no hidden costs, no gimmicks, and no wondering where you money is truly being spent. All costs are itemized from vet bills to training fees and are billed directly to you monthly for your exact percentage owned. With Team Keen there are no extra partnership fees and all earnings are paid back to owners as soon as money clears the horseman's account at the track. You pay only what you owe when you owe it, not in advance but as charges occur.

There are several ways to start a partnership all depending on your preference. We attend many yearling and two year old sales during the year as well as locate racing prospects privately. We also claim horses starting at $5000 up to $50,000.

You may already have a group of friends interested in a partnership or you may want to be a part of a group already forming. Either way we will answer all of you questions about thoroughbred ownership and partnerships and be glad to start you in the right direction when you contact us.

Join the fun, come to the track, and be a part of a winning team.



Team Keen

Starting Two Year Old Thoroughbreds

Well, its that time of year again. Two year olds will be racing as early as April and we have started breaking babies at the farm. This year we have a new addition to our staff at Keen Farms. Chris and Carrie Loelhein have joined our team and will be working with the young horses as they prepare for their future at the race track.
Chris and Carrie have relocated here from Florida and have been in the horse boarding, breeding and training business for many years. They will a valuable addition to Team Keen and we are looking forward to a very successful year with them.
In addition to overseeing the farm, Carrie will be in charge of our Thoroughbred Relocation Program where we rehabilitate and retrain thoroughbred horses after their racing careers are over. We sell the sound, retrained riding horses and broodmares and the profit from their sales help to pay the expenses on horses with major problems that take an extended period of time to heal before they may be relocated or adopted. We except horses from all over the country and will provide rehabilitation and placement for free, we just ask that you get them here to our farm in Burleson, Texas as we do not have the resources to go pick them up.
Dallas and Donna Keen are currently excepting two year olds for breaking and training at their farm and will be moving the entire racing stable from The Fair Grounds Race Course and Sam Houston Race Park to Lone Star Park in late March.
This April we will be racing at Lone Star Park where the 2 year olds of 2008 will be making their first appearances. We hope to have a few early runners this year and make ourselves known in some of the early 2 year old stake races.
Any questions about starting 2 year olds or placing retired racehorses please contact Dallas or Donna Keen and visit our website at www.dallaskeen.com .