JC / Railbird - Thoroughbred racing news and notes

I met Marc Subia today and he told me the story of his amazing autograph jacket. "It's my most prized possession." Marc started coming to Del Mar with his dad in the 1970s. It's his home track. And he's been collecting jockey autographs for decades ...

Grand Jete keeping an eye on me as I take a picture of Rushing Fall's #BC17 garland. #thoroughbred #horseracing #delmar

Another #treasurefromthearchive — this UPI collage for Secretariat vs. Sham. #inthearchives #thoroughbred #horseracing

Thanks, Arlington. Let's do this again next year. #Million35

That's a helmet. #BC16 #thoroughbred #horseracing #jockeys

Lady Eli on the muscle. #BC16 @santaanitapark #breederscup #thoroughbred #horseracing

What the Future Holds

“If slots haven’t made it to the track by this time next fall, said Christian Teja, spokesman for Suffolk Downs, it will likely close the doors on its 70-year history.”
Related: “[Suffolk Downs] has been here since the 1930s, and I would hate to see it go. I hope it’s not turned into more airport parking.”

Posted by JC in Suffolk Downs on 12/04/2005 @ 8:00 am / Follow @railbird on Twitter

More on Alex’s Retirement

Trainer Tim Ritchey believes Afleet Alex’s stumble in the Preakness could have caused the injury that led to his retirement on Thursday:

“I was always amazed that he showed absolutely no problems after the Preakness,” Ritchey said. “Even though he appeared sound and never took a bad step, he probably bruised something in the Preakness. If that’s the case, and it makes sense to me that it is, that was probably the cause of the hairline fracture of the cannon bone.”

Dick Jerardi allows that as one possibility, but also wonders:

Was it there all along and just not detected? Did the postoperative training cause it?… Was it inevitable because of the stress of racing?

Bob Ford argues the fault lies with the last.
More from me on this story later in the week …

Posted by JC in Horses on 12/03/2005 @ 12:00 pm / Follow @railbird on Twitter

Guild Meets With Track Execs

The Jockeys’ Guild met with racetrack executives in a five hour meeting at Churchill Downs on Thursday. “It was an opportunity to sit down with the new guild leadership and representatives and to get together face-to-face and talk about some things,” said Churchill spokesman John Asher. No further details of the meeting were released. Another is planned for sometime in January 2006.
The Guild almost moved offices this week, in an effort to cut any remaining ties to fired president Wayne Gertmenian’s consulting company, Matrix Capital Associates. “Among the many self-serving things that Dr. Gertmenian did is negotiate an agreement that the Jockeys’ Guild would not only rent the space they occupied, but rent a separate space that Matrix occupied,” said Guild attorney Barry Broad. Rent on the old offices were $4,000 per month. The new offices are $1,706 plus utilities.
The recent shakeup at the Guild has left a lot of questions: How will the organization rebuild? What’s next for the Guild? Ask interim president Darrell Haire.

Posted by JC in Jockeys' Insurance on 12/02/2005 @ 10:35 am / Follow @railbird on Twitter

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