JC / Railbird

Racing Archive

Looking Outward

Santa Anita’s willingness to guarantee a Lasix-free Breeders’ Cup in 2013 was a major factor in the decision to return to Arcadia:

“It is very important to us,” said Christian, speaking in Baden-Baden before Sunday’s Grosser Preis von Baden, which is now part of the Breeders’ Cup ‘Win and You’re In’ Challenge series.

“We consider ourselves [an] international event, not an American event — and when you’re an international event you have to adhere to international standards.”

Posted in Racing on September 2, 2012 / Tagged Breeders' Cup, Drugs in Racing, International, Lasix, Raceday Medications, Santa Anita

Odds and Ends

“IHA lives a life of comfort.” The Kentucky Derby winner at Big Red Farm (via).

Azeri, Ginger Punch, Lethal Heat, Moscow Burning, Stardom Bound … Kate Hunter on the Yoshida brothers’ starry broodmare band (PDF).

But the horse will tell us what he wants to do. “It’s an absolute crock. Frankel has been saying all year I can do what YOU want me to” (via).

It’s not about the surface. What Dullahan really wants is distance. Given his one-run style, this makes sense. It doesn’t raise his prospects in any of the three Breeders’ Cup races he might enter, though.

East vs. West, Sid Fernando, March 2012: “… it’s striking that even cheaper dirt tracks in the East have lower overall rates than most anything out West.” Hm.

Posted in Racing on September 1, 2012 / Tagged Breeding, Dullahan, Frankel, I'll Have Another, International, Japan, Track Surfaces, UK

Frankel to Champion Stakes

It’s odd, how the most likely news can be the most underwhelming.

This Frankel development feels a bit like the Mosses announcing Zenyatta would race in 2010, after she was given a retirement party post-Breeders’ Cup Classic win … and then outlining the same campaign she’d run in 2009.

Addendum: Speaking of Frankel, Zenyatta and what-could-have, Marcus Hersh tweets, “Paris would’ve been biggest racing moment since Zenyatta’s 2nd BC Classic.” Ascot is now wondering where everyone who wants tickets will sit.

Posted in Racing on August 31, 2012 / Tagged Champion Stakes, Champions Day, Frankel, International, UK