Road to the Roses 2013: The Old Friends Trust League

And we're back.  Happy Derby Season everyone!  I was a little anxious there for a while that this year's Road to the Roses was not going to happen.  When they finally announced it I was initially frustrated about the shortened timeline.  However, after reading the setup I think it will be good.  Though I liked the old season as it kept me engaged with prep races for longer time, (I can only name 2-3 offhand this year) it was also a bit unwieldy.  There were so many horses to consider, supplemental drafts, power horses, etc.  By the time we made it to the big prep races there were numerous 'contenders' that had turned out to be pretenders and were never heard from again.  With this shortened season we'll be focusing only on the major and final prep races and have smaller stables to work with.  It should keep the casual fan engaged so they will know all the key horses and prep races while also providing a challenge in selecting horses for fantasy stable nerds.  

The Road to the Roses website will be updated and ready on Friday March 22nd and the first races will be on Saturday March 30th.  Our league information will soon be available in the top right corner of this blog (right after I set my winning stable).  I'll let you know when it's up. 

We will again be playing for charity.  Our dedicated charity is Old Friends Equine, a thoroughbred retirement farm in Kentucky.  Check out their website and make sure you submit your 'league fee'/donation of $10 via the widget on the right side of this blog.  It will take a couple minutes to donate and all proceeds go directly to Old Friends.  I will set up our definitive donation goal after we know how many people we have in our league.

If you know of other people who would like to join please pass the word.  More participants equals more fun (or something like that) and it all supports a good cause.  As always, feel free to chat it up via the comments on blog posts or through Twitter.  You can check out my Twitter feed on the left.  What, you aren't on Twitter yet?  Facebook is soooooo 2010. 

So get ready to set your stables, be on the look out for upcoming league info, make your donation, and let's get some chatter going about this Derby season. 

Happy Derby!