JC / Railbird

Get Used to It

Mike Repole, owner of Uncle Mo and Stay Thirsty, on prepping for the Derby:

“Many of you guys are questioning ‘two Derby preps. Two Derby preps.’ I do my history: (the last four) Derby winners have had two Derby preps. I think that’s going to be the trend from now on.”

It’s the way of the future, in which trainers don’t feel constrained by the past.

Posted by JC in Racing on 03/09/2011 @ 10:25 am / Tagged Derby Preps, Derby Prospects, Kentucky Derby, Prep Schedules, Uncle Mo / Follow @railbird on Twitter

Azeri’s Daughter

Arienza is off to a promising start after winning her debut following a strong gate work at Oaklawn. “Well, she looked like her mother this morning.”

Posted by JC in Racing on 03/08/2011 @ 7:29 am / Tagged Arienza, Azeri, Breeding, Debuts, Distaffers, High Hopes, Horse of the Year / Follow @railbird on Twitter

The Toll

Somewhat overshadowed by the Big ‘Cap controversy is that there were two fatalities at Santa Anita on Saturday, one on the new dirt, one on turf:

According to Dr. Rick Arthur, equine medical director for the California Horse Racing Board, Saturday’s double fatality brought the thoroughbred death totals since the Dec. 26 start of the Santa Anita meeting to 16 — six in racing and six in training on the new dirt track and four on the grass course. Last year, for the entire meeting, and on the synthetic track that brought much anger and whining from horsemen and resulted in owner Frank Stronach replacing it with traditional dirt, there were a total of 17 deaths — six on the main track, five on the training track and six on the grass.

Live racing ends on April 17. With fewer total races carded this year over last, Santa Anita is on track for approximately 26 total fatalities during the meet.

3/9/11 Addendum: More context from Jeff Scott regarding the fatalities on the Santa Anita dirt: “The death of Redemsky brings the total to at least 12, a number that rivals the worst years on the old Santa Anita dirt before the first synthetic surface was installed in 2007.” Where’s the press on this reversion?

Posted by JC in Racing on 03/07/2011 @ 7:59 am / Tagged California, Dirt, Equine Safety, Fatalities, Statistics, Synthetics, Track Surfaces, Turf / Follow @railbird on Twitter