Muskrat Sammy by Vice Regent out of Muskrat Love went out October 20th to capture the $150,000 Cup & Saucer Stake race. Muskrat Sammy is owned by Richard Lister's Cinnamont Stable & Associates.

DATE	STAKE	AGE	DISTANCE
06/11	STEADY GROWTH	3YO &UP C&G	1 1/16
06/18	BOLD RUCKUS	3YO C&G	6 F-TURF
06/25	BALLADE	3YO & UP F	6 F
07/02	FLAMING PAGE	3YO F	1 1/16
07/16	VICE REGENT	3YO C&G	1 M-TURF
07/23	PASSING MOOD	3YO F	7 F-TURF
08/06	VICTORIAN QUEEN	2YO F	6.5 F-TURF
09/17	OVERSCATE	3YO &UP C&G	7 F
10/08	DEPUTY MINISTER	3YO C&G	7 F
10/15	CLASSY'N SMART	3YO & UP F	1 1/16
10/22	FROST KING	2 YO C&G	7 F
11/05	SOUTH OCEAN	2 YO F	1 1/16

With the addition of winter training in Florida, the stable is positioned better than ever to win in 1997.

I am very pleased with the condition of the horses upon their return to Woodbine. Every Florida trained horse who has raced this spring at Woodbine, has won. Winter training in Florida does make a difference!! and it is a regular part of my training schedule. Another big change this year is the move from Barn 12 and 12A, to the new Barn 21. Although it feels a little bit like a new sub-division, in time it will be a stand out. Your horses deserve the best.

I cannot emphasize strongly enough, how important it is to purchase yearlings and two-year olds at this stage of the game. If you have any colleagues who would like to get into racing I would be happy to meet with them to discuss how they can get involved. I'd like to extend a warm welcome to all new owners to the stable, and wish everyone of you a prosperous and fun year.

This year, the Queen's Plate Stake will likely be run with a 14 horse field. This is out of 2,580 registered foals in 1994. With only 926 registered thoroughbred foals last year, can you imagine what the size of the field for the 1999 Queen's Plate will be? Even if the size of the field remains the same, what about the possibility of an absence of stiff competition? The Queen's Plate Stake is only one example of the more than 3 million dollars available in purses annually, for Canadian-bred horses.

Starts        205
1st           34
2nd           20
3rd           30
Money Won     $740,000
Win %         16.5
WPS %         40.9
(From the 1997 Media Guide)

1. Your horse Muskrat Sammy won the prestigious Cup & Saucer Stake race for two-year-olds. Describe the experience from your perspective.
   I wasn't as surprised as most others were because Sammy is out if a graded stakes placed mare who could run only on the turf. I wasn't there for his prior turf race but friends and associates who saw it, indicated that he seemed to like the turf once he understood what it was all about. In spite of the fact that he was an outsider on the tote board, I thought we belonged in that race---1 1/16 mile on the turf ---the further, the wetter and the greener it is, I think the happier he is. However, it is a delight to win any race, particularly with a homebred and to win this one - well, a double treat. I would hope that he is able to repeat this sometime in the near future.

2. How long have you owned horses, and what attracted you to the sport?
   The partner in the original Cinnamont Stable is Patricia Trapnell. Patricia and I bought our first horse in 1978. It was a daughter of Halo out of a Winfields mare, Victorian Answer. She was really purchased as a broodmare prospect. She broke her maiden as a two year old and we bred her as a three year old.

3. How long have you had Reade as your trainer and what do you look for when choosing a trainer?
   I think Reade formed his public stable in 1993, and in 1994, he was at the Keeneland January sale which included the disbursal of Sheehan Farm's horses. At that sale, I purchased a three year old daughter of Halo named Sea Halo; Reade was enthusiastic about her. I said that if he wanted to, he could train the horse and purchase half at any time he could, and he did. That was the start of the relationship. Reade is what I call a very heady trainer -- he looks ahead rather than in the past. He is a very knowledgeable horseman and I expect will be the leading trainer in Canada very shortly.

4. 4. Describe your most exciting, and your most disappointing moments in racing.
   Probably the most exciting race that I had been involved with was my first stakes win by a filly named Etherial Princess. She was entered in the Natalma Stakes and John Cardella, who was her trainer, was ebullent about the fact that the race might have to be taken off the turf. It poured, it was muddy, and as John predicted, Etherial (who had very small feet and some early speed) absoutely loved the mud and went to the front. Richard Dos Ramos rode a masterful race as he kept her out in front, slowed the pace and conserved her all the way through the race. I can remember on the far turn thinking that she is leading by five, and if she could only hold on to be third, I would be delighted. The even money favourite in that race was Stars in My Pocket who was a very big and talented filly and was having a lot of trouble handling the track. I can remember as Etherial Princess turned into the stretch still ahead by five, Stars in My Pocket started to range up on the outside but just couldn't handle the off-going. Etherial Princess won the race as the longest price on the tote by what seemed to be fifteen lengths, never in doubt, although in the eyes of the owner it is always in doubt until the finish line is passed. This was my biggest thrill. I think my worst disappointment was probably the loss of my first horse. She was a gallant little filly, that Halo filly discussed above, and from a very good family.

5. What advice would you give to a person looking to get involved in thoroughbred ownership for the first time?
   I am a great believer that the thoroughbred business is a most difficult enterprise and should only be contemplated by those who love the thrill of it all--the highs are very high, the lows are very low, and it is so easy to make a great number of mistakes. My advise to new owners or people seeking ownership for the first time is to find a good trainer. If you decide to be a claiming owner, try to limit your risk by forming a group of individuals who have the same motives as you do, and commit to a set amount of money you are willing to lose.

If this seems an odd way to begin a horse-racing discussion on the bounce theory then it shouldn't. Many have been skeptical about the now-vogue line of reasoning that claims a racehorse is likely to fare relatively poorly, to bounce, after a race that is among the best of its career. Really, there's nothing revolutionary about this school of thought. Whether its the golfer who has worked for months to a mental peak of the Olympic sprinter who has trained for years to attain the perfect physical edge, athletes have long slumped after reaching the summit.

The word bounce entered the lexicon of racetrack handicappers thanks to a New Yorker named Len Ragozin, a Harvard-educated journalist who left the craft in 1950s to concentrate on owning and analyzing horses. His speed figures - numbers assigned to reflect the quality of every race run by every horse - were plotted on sheers of graph paper. (The Sheets, now a trademark, have become another popular term in the racing dictionary). Ragozin realised that there were certain universal patterns in how horses ran, and the graph paper made those patterns easier to recognize. One was that a horse often bounced after an exceptional race.

For years, the results spawned by the immense research were known only to Ragozin and a few faithful clients. But in the mid 1980s, as the handicapping-information revolution hit full stride, The Sheets and their theories were gaining widespread acceptance. Sheets players in New York were cutting horses' odds in half and the fever spread to other major racing centres. Several successful horse players spend more than $35.00 U.S. per day to buy the Woodbine Sheets. A few horsemen, including Reade Baker, are also subscribers.

Most prefer the cheaper option of attempting to interpret the Beyer speed figures provided in the Daily Racing Form. The Beyer figures are not as sophisticated and only the past 10 races are provided instead of the career's worth that are plotted on The Sheets.

Andrew Beyer, the Washington Post columnist who popularized the use of basic speed figures, admitted in his book Beyer On Speed, that he used to snicker at the bounce theory. But thanks to the Daily Racing Form's database, Beyer changed his mind somewhat. One of the experiments he conducted was to ask the computer how a horse fared after running three consecutive improving speed figures. Seventy-one per cent, a stunning number, ran a poorer race.

Of course, the setback usually doesn't last forever. Often, the bounce is just a brief respite before the horse goes on slowly up the ladder again to bigger and better things.

So, the next time your horse runs poorly just when you thought it was a cinch, don't fret. Think about those four days when you yourself worked harder than you ever had before and how on the fifth day you could barely think straight. Bouncing can happen to the best of us.