Messages

Yes, Ish..that's the horse. Does anyone know his condition?

The chart says she walked off.

I wonder if she may have had some subpar workouts and the decision was made to retire her. If anyone follows her please fill us in.

She had not worked since before the Mother Goose.
I don't think she tailed off this year.  She beat Carina Mia and Cathryn Sophia in the Ashland, however she didn't win the race.  I think she needs more time between starts and they rushed to get her in the Kentucky Oaks.  I also think 8.5f was the max distance she was going to succeed at.  She would have probably benefited from a confidence booster, in Allowance company, but no one does that anymore.  Kudos to Stonestreet for racing her, I believe some owners wouldn't have because of the circumstances with her dam.

Anyway, I wish her a happy retirement.

They are trying to find the owners of the 43 abandoned horses.  They have identified them as best they can:
http://www.kyagr.com/statevet/strayhorse/

Dutchessa was put down following the 2nd race after breaking down after the wire.

[Bitumen]

Bitumen (Mineshaft - Kobla Cat, by Tale of the Cat) just took the Sanford S.(G3) at Saratoga.  He is a half-brother to SW/G3Sp Meshell.  His dam is a half-sister to Quality Road.

The American Graded Stakes Committee has voted to allow the Pegasus World Cup Invitational to carry a G1 status in its first running, in my opinion, only because Stronach said this is the new name of the Donn H.

However they will review the race, at their annual meeting in April, after its first running to see if it deserves to keep G1 status for future renewals.
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/213513/pegasus-world-cup-to-carry-grade-i-status

Condolences also on the loss of "The Chili Man" at Emerald, another promising two year old.

Sorry he didn't make it.

They believe his trainer, Monique Snowden, committed suicide Sunday evening after being very distraught of his death.

http://www.drf.com/news/emerald-downs-trainer-snowden-dies-apparent-suicide
http://www.paulickreport.com/news/people/body-found-river-believed-emerald-downs-trainer-monique-snowden/

To my understanding while races in Dubai are considered, races in Europe are not, for year-end North American honors. Usually it's not an issue because not too many horses have gone to Europe and won and she's the only one of note. To me, since you want to play what if, if either Chromie or Beholder wins the Pacific Classic and the BC Classic, it's fait accompli. Or the same if Nyquist wins the Haskell and the BC Classic. Yeah, Tepin and Songbird could make the ballot but really, so what?  Last year no one but Pharoah should have been on the ballot but for some reason others were but judging by the final vote it was a waste of pixels and ink.

I think the only rule for Eclipse Awards is the horse has to start in North America once.  The voters are left to their own devices on what they choose to use as criteria.  If they want to use Tepin's race they can, there are no written rules.

Am I the only one who thinks that it's a little disrespectful to name a horse after somone really revered?  Galileo is okay, but Churchill makes me squirm a bit.  And George Washington. . .now, no one minds if you name an English bulldog Winston; but the horse Churchill bothers me.  And naming a horse John F. Kennedy. . .nope for me.

"5. The name of a public person, without that person's or their family's permission, or in the opinion of the British Horseracing Authority,
names of commercial significance without the appropriate permission" (from Wetherby's naming rules)

Does Coolmore have a person whose only job is to just contact families to try and use a famous person's name?  It seems like a lot of hassle to name a horse.  Does this mean they contacted whomever owns the rights to Gone With The Wind to ask if they could use the Rhett Butler name a few years back?

Churchill doesn't bother me, it could be the name of a town.
I think its weird to name a horse the full given name of someone, like John F. Kennedy, George Washington, Sir Isaac Newton or Winston Churchill(there was one in Ireland in 2006).

  TVG showed her workout this morning and she looked fabulous...as usual. 
  The hosts had some discussion about the choice for the Three-Year-Old Filly award at the end of the year if Catch a Glimpse and Songbird continue their dominance in their respective categories.
   I wasn't surprised that they were leaning toward the top dirt filly, although someone did point out that Carina Mia could be a danger to Songbird's unbeaten streak. I happen to favor CAG ATM, mainly because she's had more races and has also been facing what could be argued is stronger competition.
   We have loads of good fillies and mares this year, so trying to choose who's better is a nice problem to have. 

An unbeaten dirt filly is always going to have the advantage of being Champion.  I think the only way for Catch A Glimpse to have a chance at a Championship is to go after Tepin and I doubt they want to do that.  I do agree with you that Catch A Glimpse should be considered the leader at this point, but I just don't think that is how voters chose.

   How sad.
   I see that Sky Jack was a grey. I wonder how frequently greys are diagnosed with forms of skin cancer. 

I read that once a grey horse is over 15, the rate of melanoma is 80% or higher.

Fox Hill Farm posted this on Facebook, ugh I don't even want to think about the possibility of these horses going back to those people.

https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1085189428195295&id=149399288440985

"The Borell Horses: Going Forward

The Borell horse situation shined a light on the best and the worst of the racing industry. The worst were the owners who abandoned horses, leaving them without the resources for proper food, veterinary, and farrier care, resulting in over forty abused horses. The best was the response of the racing community. The donations and offers for care were overwhelming..
It appears that the Borell horses are on the path to good health. Less certain is that they will ultimately go to new and loving homes. What could prevent this from happening are the current laws in Kentucky regarding animal welfare.

Sheriff Kelty told us the story of another recent case of equine abuse. Of the three horses in this case, one was dead and two had to be picked up to be taken away. They were too weak to stand.
The owner of the horses was prosecuted and quickly found guilty. She was sentenced to a jail term. Upon her release, she called the sheriff demanding the return of the two surviving horses.
Sheriff Kelty's response was "over my dead body," yet a short time later he was ordered to return the horses. The woman who was convicted of animal cruelty was actually allowed the return of the horses that she had so cruelly abused.

Unfortunately, there are other similar stories which demonstrate that the laws in Kentucky don't adequately protect our horses. From our initial inquiries, it appears that the possibility exists that the Borells may not lose ownership rights to some of these horses.

We believe the way we can be most useful going forward is to work to ensure that the Borells and others who abuse animals are not allowed to retain or regain possession of the animals they abused. We also want to see officials be able to act more swiftly in cases of abuse.

To this end, we have hired Lexington attorney John Roach. We will work to see that the Borells don't victimize these horses again. We will work to strengthen Kentucky's laws to protect defenseless animals. We also plan to look within the industry to areas such as licensing and registration that could provide solutions. We may decide to set this up as a nonprofit as this could be an ongoing effort indefinitely.

We thank everyone who stepped up and played a part in the Borell horses being properly cared for. You made us proud to be part of the racing community."

His arrogance level is amazing.  He went there today to take the horses that were still at the farm but the authorities had locked the gate because HE TOLD THEM he was going to get them.

The Jockey Club doesn't take kindly to stuff like this.  They handed down lifetime bans to people in the past and that is what I think will happen here.  Of course they shouldn't be allowed to have horses, or any animals, but you and I both know they will get more because people like this always do.

Having this meet extend into July is inane. As we saw last weekend, it's too doggone hot. Why not run some of these races at LosAl?

When dates came out last year, Los Alamitos requested April dates.  So the CHRB gave them April dates, however they lost July because of it.  Los Alamitos was thinking about stopping Thoroughbred racing completely.

Some articles from last year:
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/105516/chrb-approves-2016-california-race-dates
http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/news/2015/mar/18/horse-racing-los-alamitos-allred/

His named was changed to Rhett Butler.  He ran once in September but finished 10th of 11.
Rhett Butler

It is also noted that he was sold to Serbia on Pedigree Query, though who knows if that is true.

He is a G1 winner in Serbia.  Not that I think it really means anything on the international stage.  But here he is winning the Kup Princa Pavla (Gr-1) 3+g. 2400m.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZT6MfxuYRs