Saturday: $1 Million Haskell Invitational & CVFC Southern Round-Up

Saturday, 20 July, will see the running of the $1 million Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park.  The race is over a distance of 1 1/8 miles (9 furlongs), and the post time is 5:45.  There are seven entries, with Maximum Security chosen as the morning-line betting favorite at odds of 8 to 5.   Here are the post positions, the names of the entries, and the betting odds:
 1.   King for a Day       5 to 2
 2.   Joevia                   10 to 1
 3.   Spun to Run          15 to 1
 4.   Bethlehem Road   20 to 1
 5.   Mucho Gusto          2 to 1
 6.   Everfast                  10 to1
 7.   Maximum Security    8 to 5

Maximum Security, morning line betting favorite for the Haskell

At 7 a.m., the Saltwater Cowboys will convene at the main corrals on Beach Road in the Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on Assateague Island, Virginia.  The southern herd round-up is usually conducted in the afternoon, but this year, with the heat index projected to be 115° in the afternoon, the herd-gathering will take place before the heat of the day strikes.   The souhern herds consist of three groups - one led by Surfer's Riptide, one led by the Don Leonard Stud II (DLS2), and the 2018s (last year's group of Buy Back foals).  The northern herds will be rounded up Sunday morning.

Stallion Surfer's Riptide

Stallion DLS2

Four of the 2018 yearlings

Chincoteague Pony Round-Up Begins Today

At the time that Marguerite Henry wrote and published Misty of Chincoteague, the Pony Penning round-up happened the morning of the Pony Swim - these days, with all of the checks by the veterinarians and farriers, the actual round-up begins on the Saturday before the Swim.  Most people will tell you that "Pony Penning" encompasses two, or possibly three, days.  The two "main days" of Pony Penning are on the last Wednesday and Thursday in July - this year, those are 30 and 31 July - if Thursday is 1 August, then Pony Penning happens the week before...  The folks who say Pony Penning is three days long are counting the following Friday (1 August, this year), when the ponies will swim back to Assateague.  I think we should refer to Pony Penning Week, just because the Saltwater Cowboys start working on the Saturday before the Swim, and work through the following Friday.
   I did give wrong, or inaccurate, information in an earlier blog.  I wrote that the ponies on the northern side of the Virginia section of Assateague would be rounded-up today, Saturday.  That is wrong.  The ponies on the southern end of Assateague will be brought in to the Holding Pens by Tom's Cove today; the northern herds will be gathered tomorrow, Sunday.  I apologize for the mistake.
  Currently, the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company owns the wild ponies that wander over the Virginia section of Assateague Island.  Assateague is owned by the United States government, and the Virginia part of the island is run by three US agencies - the National Park Service, the US Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Department of Natural Resources.  The CVFC has a contract, negotiated with all three agencies, to keep the ponies on the Virginia end of Assateague.  This contract limits the number of ponies on the island, and calls for strict guidelines regarding the ponies' care - including veterinarian care, vaccinations, hoof care, emergency care, extra feed in times of grazing hardship, and a routine daily visual check of the herd members.
   All of the ponies have had standard blood tests run - including the foals. Most of the foals have already been "matched" with their mothers - notes are taken when they appear, and which mare had what foal.  This information will be carefully checked, and double-checked, so that dam and sire are recorded by the CVFC; their vaccination and blood records are available, and then - most importantly - the blood test results for the new foals are logged and recorded. If you visit Chincoteague for the express purpose of buying a pony and taking it home with you, having the foal's blood test records and vaccination records are extremely important.  You must produce these records at every state line that you cross, or your foal will be impounded.  If you don't bring a horse trailer of your own, you will either (a) need to rent one, or (b) be prepared to pay others to transport your foal to it's new home (the amount is usually charged per mile).
  If you buy a foal, please realize that it has not been handled daily, as a domesticated farm-raised foal would have been.  You will have to gentle the foal - gain it's trust, and make it want to be near you.  You will need to spend a lot of hours with the foal each day, to begin with. You will need to teach it it's name, to happily place it's head in the halter, to stand still and steady, to allow you to groom every inch of it, and to handle it's feet.
   And, I can happily assure you that ponies that are purchased and removed form the salt marsh diet of Assateague do not become ponies with sagging backs and huge bellies.  With a proper diet of grass, grain, and hay, these ponies will turn out to be one of the best-looking equines you've ever seen.  Feed them well, groom them well, and exercise them well, and you will have an outstanding pony to ride or drive!

Chincoteague Island - News, Happenings, Approximate Swim Time

You can't tell that I love my Mother's hometown, can you?  How can you find a better place?  It's an island; the local seafood and locally grown food is totally fresh; there is the National Seashore on the next island; there is a National Wildlife Refuge on the next island; one can easily use a bicycle to travel all over both islands, Chincoteague and Assateague;  there are museums, a library, bookstores and wonderful shops available; one can rent a bike, a boat, a kayak, a canoe, or a moped to get around; the island trolley service is available; one can bird-watch, pony-watch, or people-watch; one can camp out, or rent a house, condo, motel or hotel room, or stay at a bed and breakfast; swim at the beach, or at your motel/hotel....  read in the shade or the sun; listen to the waves or lap of water against a bulkhead and hear the cries of the seabirds; catch your own supper; eat in or eat out....  Your choices are endless.
   Besides being named the "Happiest Seaside Town" by Trip Advisor.com, Chincoteague can also claim, as of yesterday, to be the home of the Best Ice Cream in the United States - Kelly Conklin's Island Creamery has been named as having the best ice cream, again by TripAdvisor.com.  Of course, I highly recommend several businesses on the island, besides the Island Creamery...  The Horse With No Name Studio and Gallery on Main Street, The Purple Pony, each and every established restaurant, Captain Barry's Back Bay Tours (and Sunset Cruises), Pony Tails Salt Water Taffy, and Sundial Books, to name a few.  I usually stay with relatives, when I'm on the island, but having stayed at two establishments, I can highly recommend the Refuge Inn and Dove Winds.
  The Pony Auction will begin at 8 a.m. on Thursday, a week from today.  Consulting the tide charts, the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company and the US Coast Guard are advising visitors that slack tide, the only time it's safe for the ponies to swim the Assateague Channel, will occur between 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Wednesday, 30 July. That means a long wait in hot sun and high humidity for those waiting on the Chincoteague shore to see the Pony Swim.  If you decide to go early to get a good viewpoint, please remember to take plenty of sunscreen, mosquito and/or fly repellent, a shady hat, sun glasses, and plenty of water and/or Gatorade (or an equivalent) - drink frequently, and hopefully you won't need an ambulance ride due to heat exhaustion.
   The 27th Annual Chincoteague Blueberry Festival will begin tomorrow, 25 July, and will continue until Sunday evening.  Admission is $5 per day for adults, $8 for a two-day pass, or $10 for a three-day pass.  Children under 12 have an admission fee of $1.  Any thing and everything you can imagine that can be prepared and cooked with blueberries will be available.  There are also more than 100 artists who will be displaying their arts and crafts for sale, as well as day-long musical entertainment and the wandering Jamel the Magician.  The Festival is open from 9 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. and is held at the Chincoteague Community Center.
   With Pony Penning happening on July 30, 31 and August 1, the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company's Carnival will be open every evening (except Sunday) from Friday, 25 July,  through Saturday, 2 August.  Most folk call our Carnival "quaint" - there are lots of  food booths (fries, hamburgers, clam and oyster fritters, pizza, hotdogs, pies, fried softcrab sandwiches) - and lots of booths with skill and chance games, there's a Bingo area, and the Carnival rides - a Ferris wheel, The Whip, a carousel, and many others.  There are also a lot of raffle items up for grabs - a quilt, a Chincoteague pony, usually a boat, motor and trailer, a motorcycle, riding lawn  mower, and more.  For many years, the Carnival was where cousins held reunions and caught up on family news, because it was regarded as "Homecoming Week."
  (Can you tell that I want to be there?)