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Archive for 2006

Weekend News & Results

– Lost in the Fog is back. Last year’s champion sprinter ably won the Aristides at Churchill on Saturday by 1 1/4 lengths over Kelly’s Landing in a time of 1:08.52. “I’m relieved a little and very pleased because there were some people who had given up on him,” said trainer Greg Gilchrist after. “You win 10 in a row and then get beat, and people say you’re no good, but that’s human nature.” Skeptics probably won’t become converts after this one race, but Lost in the Fog’s performance on Saturday was reminiscent of his better races last year, and he did beat at least one good horse: Kelly’s Landing set a track record winning the 2005 Aristides and earned a Beyer speed figure of 112 for that effort.
– Also on Saturday: Wait a While won the Sand Points Stakes at Belmont, and Proposed scored a narrow victory over Star Parade in the Milady at Hollywood.
– Jockey John Velazquez, out with an injury since April, “made a triumphant return to the races,” winning the fourth at Belmont on Friday. “Just to come back and do what you love best is great,” Velazquez said. “To get the win is even better.”
– Sunday was Hot Dog Safari day at Suffolk Downs and thousands turned out for the event, a benefit for the Joey Fund. The day’s feature race was the Rise Jim Stakes for Mass-breds, which was won by Reprized Strike. The four-year-old ran down favorite Sprinkle of Gold in the stretch, finishing 1 1/4 lengths ahead. Storm Quest was third. On Saturday, Ask Queenie repeated in the Isadorable Stakes, winning the race by 5 1/3 lengths over Caller Sara Kate, with African Princess finishing third.

Posted in Races/Results on June 4, 2006

Epsom Results

– “Bargain-buy Sir Percy was delivered on the line to gain a famous victory in a pulsating finish to the 227th Vodafone Derby at Epsom.” The colt won the race by a head in one of the closest finishes seen in the Epsom Derby in years, with the top four all finishing within a head or nose of each other. The race was marred by the tragic breakdown of second favorite Horatio Nelson, who was pulled up in the stretch after fracturing his right front leg, an injury unfortunately foreshadowed before the race when jockey Kieren Fallon expressed concern that the colt wasn’t warming up well. Trainer Aidan O’Brien and racecourse vet Peter Webbon watched Horatio Nelson trot and determined that he was fit to run. “Thus was the equine Horatio Nelson killed in action, sharing the fate of his illustrious namesake, Lord Nelson, killed in action at Trafalgar.” Owner John Magnier, asked about the pre-race concerns, declined to lay blame on anyone for the accident. “If there was something, it was checked by the people down there and they passed it.”
– At Epsom on Friday, Alexandrova “ran away with the Oaks,” winning by six lengths under a handride from jockey Kieren Fallon. “She just took off with me,” Fallon said. “Any filly that wins in the Oaks is very special, and I’ve been lucky enough to win it three times before today, but I never thought until today that I’d get a feel from a filly in the Oaks like I did from Ouija Board two years ago.” In the Coronation Cup, Shirocco was briefly tested by Ouija Board, but then easily drew away to win by 1 3/4 lengths.

Posted in International on June 4, 2006

Barbaro Writes Back

Barbaro has received a lot of fan mail recently, and now, with a little help from his assistant Doreen Steinmetz, he’s taking the time to write back:

Dear Nancy,

Well, I appreciate your patience as I sift through these bags full of mail from all my supporters. Know that your letter meant a lot to me.

You know, I’m not exactly sure what life has in store for me now. Racing is all I’ve ever known, really. I guess I’ll just have to get used to taking it easy. One day at a time, etc. etc.

From all I’ve heard, though, retirement doesn’t sound so bad. The life of a stud is pretty sweet. And they’re setting me up with a Roth IRA, which should yield a solid annual return.

But don’t expect Barbaro to disappear into the sunset! I can command a pretty hefty speaker’s fee. I’m actually already in discussions to host a Dr. Phil-style talk show, and I’ve been invited to speak at the Women’s Health Forum at the Chicago Convention Center later this summer. But as for everything else, your guess is as good as mine.

I’m looking into some disability insurance, but frankly, I’m confused. Some days I don’t know what to do; I stare blankly at the medical forms. And other days I say, “Forget it. That stuff’s complicated and, I mean, after all: I am a horse.”

All my best, always,
Barbaro

—
More seriously: Over on Slate, Meghan O’Rourke tries to explain why people care so much about Barbaro:

Americans have historically become preoccupied with horseracing in times of national strain. The last time we saw this much interest in the sport, my father recently pointed out to me, was during the Watergate era, when two horses, Ruffian and Secretariat, seized the public imagination. Ruffian was the game front-running 3-year-old filly who broke down in a match race with Foolish Pleasure near the finish line and had to be put down. The year was 1975. Patty Hearst had been kidnapped the previous summer. The fall of Saigon took place in April. Only a few years earlier, the Watergate scandal had begun; America had pulled out of Vietnam; and Palestinian terrorists had attacked and killed 11 Israeli athletes at the Olympics in Munich.

Posted in Horses on June 1, 2006

Quiet, and Kind of Creepy

In other words, a typical weekday at the track:

I went out to Bay Meadows recently — my first visit to a track in years, I admit — and things were so sedate I thought I’d lost my hearing. Most bets are placed at electronic touch screens now, so there were no wishful last words or giddy collection scenes at the windows, no general clamor or charge. It was more like some horse-theme mall, with gift shops and ATMs. What I took to be Bay Meadows habitues were seated at long tables near a vacant bar in isolated cones of silence, like men at an old porno movie house, their glazed eyes trained on banks of television screens that relayed the labors of horses at distant tracks — Hollywood Park, Belmont, Churchill Downs.

Posted in Track Notes on May 31, 2006

Barbaro “Officially 51%”

It’s been more than a week since Barbaro had surgery on the hind leg he shattered in the Preakness and the colt couldn’t be doing better, Dr. Dean Richardson said this afternoon:

“He’s actually done far better than we could have ever hoped, so far … He’s perfectly comfortable and all his vital signs are normal. His blood work is good, and basically, at this moment, he could not look any better in terms of his medical condition. His prognosis is much better than it was, but he still has a long way to go.”

Richardson, who said the colt’s chances for recovery were 50-50 last week, felt good enough about Barbaro’s progress to joke today that his chances were “now officially 51%,” and said, “Seriously, every day that goes by is a big day.”
Jockey Edgar Prado paid a visit to Barbaro at the New Bolton Center today. “I’m still heartbroken, and I will be for a long time, but I definitely feel a lot better after seeing him,” Prado said after.
There has been no shortage of theories advanced to explain Barbaro’s injury, most centering on the gate incident, since the Preakness, but Pimlico officials think they know what really happened: After studying video of the race, at times frame-by-frame, track president Lou Raffetto said that he is 80% certain that Brother Derek’s right front foot hit Barbaro’s right hind foot only a few yards into the race, forcing Barbaro’s leg to twist. “It’s a timing thing,” Raffetto said. “It’s incredible that it should happen like that. But that’s what appears to have happened.”
Jockey Alex Solis, aboard Brother Derek, isn’t buying that explanation: “There’s no way he could have struck Barbaro; I would have felt it,” said Solis. “We were close behind him, but not that close. Getting that close to him and going that speed, if I had struck him I would have gone down.”

Posted in Horses on May 30, 2006

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