After winning 18 straight races this season, Bunny Lake is now resting at her winter home of Kentuckiana Farms in Lexington, Kentucky and will begin training back in mid-February with trainer-driver John Stark, Jr., in order to be ready for May qualifiers.
“Bunny had such a tremendous autumn, and did so well, in large part due to my husband’s planning. So we decided to quite with her early and let her have a rest,” Wendy stated.
What kind of filly wins 27 of 33 career starts, with four seconds and two thirds for a total of $1,427,474? “She’s not a mushy thing…you have to go easily with her and spend a little time with her,” Wendy explained. “In her stall, if you wait for her, she’ll come to you and eventually lower her head, and let you massage her face, which is something we do with all of our horses. Then, after she’s had enough, she’ll go back to her hay.”
Wendy credits the daughter of Precious Bunny-Lake Nona-Abercrombie with being extremely smart and with having the ability to take care of herself.
“Every afternoon she lays down for two to three hours to take a nap,” Wendy said. “Another thing which helps her is that she absolutely loves her groom Joe DiCarlo. .Joe spends a lot of time with Bunny, grassing her, which she loves. Our trainer John got her used to being turned out as a youngster and she loves it. Many times she’d have a whole week off in the field or she’d get grassed in between races. Even during the hot months, she’d have her turn out time in the evenings. Bunny was not a prima donna either, and would battle the bugs just like any other horse.”
Wendy explained that while Bunny Lake has a calm demeanor at their farm, once she arrives at the race track, her attitude changes.
“She is all business when she goes to the race track paddock,” Wendy said. “She is pretty nerved up; she might kick out and try to bite Joe, and she is pretty agitated until she jogs. Bunny only goes out once for a warm-up trip and jogs three miles without hobbles. She comes in and after her bath she settles down and stares off in the distance, and then is never nervous after that. She just kind of goes into this trance, as if she's waiting to get back out on the race track. When she goes to the post, you can see her start to quiver; she just has so much contained energy.”
