May 13th, 2012 OK, so this is old news by now, but in our defense, we celebrated for three days, de-toxed for three days, then I had to go to Ireland to look at horses, then the breeze-up sales, then Longchamp, but now, finally, the story of the miraculous comeback of Hard Way!
Let’s not bury the lead too far here: Hard Way won easily at St. Cloud last Saturday, cruising past 19 other runners in the home stretch to win by nearly two lengths with plenty in hand. It was an expert ride by Christophe Lemaire, who had ridden a couple of nice races on Hard Way before, but it was so long ago that he completely forgot about it. Here’s the miraculous part: Hard Way was lucky to be alive two years ago, when we found that he had a crushed first vertabra. We have no idea how or when it happened, but the vets who did the scan were surprised that the horse was still standing, much less racing. Because they had never seen an injury like that, they had no idea what the prognosis was. Time, they said, and then see what happens.
I turned Hard Way out for three months, then did another MRI scan. The vertabra had fused into a bony mass, and the fragments that threatened to compromise his spinal cord healed into that mass. He was given the green light to resume training. Hard Way has always been a handful to ride, so I sent him back into pretraining so somebody else could do the work of getting him moving again. But after three weeks, he had a stiff neck. I took that as a warning and decided to retire him. He spent another eight months or so turned out in Normandy. But he was clearly unhappy in the herd of retirees; it was October, winter was coming and he was looking miserable. I brought him home.
I thought he would just be the stable pony, but he had other ideas. We tried to keep him relatively contained through winter. He hacked out daily in the national forest behind the training center, and we let him go fast on the track a couple of times a week just to burn the steam off and keep him ridable. By January, it was clear he would race again, but taking him south to Cagnes sur Mer was out of the question because he would be lethal to ride down there, where he would have to go onto the track every day. We waited, and on April 1 I took him out to a small country track to give him a run and see what would happen. He ran well, finishing 7th. I gave him another warmup at the same track, and he finished 5th. Then we brought him to St. Cloud where he basically annihilated the field.
Since he hadn’t run in so long, the handicappers were good to us. They dropped his rating to 25.5, which allowed us the perfect entry at St. Cloud. He has picked up three kilos now so stands at 28.5, and the prize money of 10,500 euros (which was inflated to more than 16,000 with the addtion of the French owners’ premium) priced him out of the market for the races I had planned to run next with him. No matter. I think he will easily run to a rating of 30 or 31 before we run into trouble. He may run again at the end of this week in Maisons-Laffitte. He seems to want to make up for lost time.
April 30th, 2012 Today could be an important day for U.S. racing. Joe Drape and company published the second part of the New York Times series on fatalities in racing, coinciding with a Congressional hearing on performance-enhancing drugs in horses. This article looks quite a bit more well-researched, and consequently quite a bit more damning, than the first article. It really paints a horrible picture of the claiming game in America. If you don’t read any other part of the article, have a look at the graphic of what was injected into a single horse in the week before a race that turned out to be the horse’s last. He broke down and was euthanized on the track. There must be at least $800 worth of pharmaceuticals here, and some counteract the effects of others. Hyaluronic acid, for example, is a regenerative product that mimics the fluid in the joints. Methylprednisolone is a corticosteroid, which offers dramatic relief from joint pain but tears down the cartilage in the process. Adequan helps stop that deterioration. Bute and flunixin are powerful anti-inflammatory drugs that can make a lame horse appear sound. Here is the most horrifying aspect of all of this: Every one of those drugs is considered a legal, “therapeutic” medicine in race horses in the United States, so therefore that horse wouldn’t even have failed a post-race dope test, if he were still alive to take one.
And still, a vocal majority of trainers and veterinarians in the States argue that it would be inhumane to do otherwise. We barbarians here in Europe and most of the rest of the world are abusing our horses by forcing them to run with absolutely no pharmaceuticals in their system on race day. Really. How could we? How could we possibly wait until our horses are sound without the aid of drugs to race them? We should be ashamed of ourselves.
Another common argument across the pond is that eliminating drugs would cut the “little guy” out of the sport. Horses that aren’t good enough to run stakes races, but must earn their living at the lower levels of racing couldn’t possibly do it without pharmaceutical help, they say. Here’s what I have to say: Bullshit. I’ve got a yard full of “little guys,” who are having plenty of fun racing horses at lower levels on hay, oats and water. Yes, they see an occasional vet bill. They will never, ever spend a fraction of what the “little guy” in America has to spend on vet bills alone, never mind the training fees.
I am very lucky to have owners who are in the sport for the right reason: to enjoy themselves in the company of the noble thoroughbred. I am doing my utmost to keep their horses in the money, and we all dream of hitting upon the Big Horse. But the reality is that we’re thrilled when a horse pays its way. Horses cost money. Keeping horses costs even more money. There is a reason it is called the Sport of Kings. If you are looking for a return on your investment, buy a bond and leave the poor horses alone.
April 30th, 2012 Deep Ocean went to Longchamp yesterday with just about everything against him: He had picked up four kilos in the handicap, which meant he had to run against open company rather than in a limited handicap; the track was very heavy, and Deep also would have to negotiate the famous “descente”, the downhill slope into the “false” stretch before turning into the final stretch and galloping all the way to the second post – about 600 meters. It was the second division of the big “Tierce” handicap on a Sunday at France’s premiere racecourse. All the good horses were there. But good old Deep showed us that he is a serious racehorse. He was well back in the field coming into the straight, because his jockey had to steady him up and slow him down on the downhill part of the course. On top of that, he was blocked in traffic. He looked like he had a bit in the tank, but couldn’t get out. Until he could. And then he started to fly past horses and made up enough ground to finish fourth, just stealing it at the post. He was well-beaten for the first two places, but only two lengths off third and leaving everyone else behind. It was an amazing showing, considering how poorly placed he was in the handicap here and how heavy the ground rode. I realize fourth isn’t a win, but it showed me he can win off this mark, which is important. He’ll have to wait a bit for another chance, because there are no decent entries coming up for him. He came back in great form and the manger was licked clean not five minutes after I’d put the food down.
Next up, the race many of us have been awaiting for quite awhile: Hard Way at St. Cloud, on Saturday. I think we’ll have a pretty good crowd of supporters on hand to cheer him on – it’s been a long road back for him.
April 23rd, 2012 Fifth place seems to be our spot for the moment. Hard Way went back to Lisieux on April 15th for a second warm-up gallop and snagged a tiny check in the process, finishing fifth. He seemed to have a good time, and certainly took our amateur jockey for a rodeo ride going down to the post. He was ridden by a “gentleman rider” who was making only his second start, and Hard Way made sure it was a memorable one, leaping through his usual routine when let loose on the track. He galloped along freely in third, then made his move on the final turn, taking the lead. By that point in the 2,600-meter race, our poor jockey was cooked, and couldn’t really push him to the finish. Hard Way, thinking he had already won the race on his own, merely galloped out and hung on to 5th place in the 14-runner field. He seems in fantastic shape, and I’m really looking forward to seeing him race at St. Cloud on May 5, his next target. This will be his first serious race since August of 2010.
Milly, meanwhile, also ran 5th, on Saturday in Argentan. The first two home were unbeatable, but I thought we might be third, and we might have been if the race had any pace. Instead, they crawled along for the first 2,000 meters of the 2,500-meter race and then sprinted for home. Milly ran with them decently, though, and hung on to a bit of cash in the process. She seems to take her racing very well and might possibly run back this coming Friday in Fontainebleau. I hadn’t planned to run both races, but she doesn’t have another decent entry until the end of May and she seems to have come back from Argentan in good shape. We still have 48 hours to commit, so we’ll see how she seems.
If not, our next runner is likely to be Deep Ocean at Longchamp on Sunday. He has picked up four kilos in the handicap because of his win in Lyon, so the task will not be easy. Plus the ground at Longchamp is sodden at the moment and the rain that has been pelting us for weeks shows no sign of stopping. I don’t think heavy ground will exactly been Deep Ocean’s preference. Somebody please turn on the sun lamp!
April 6th, 2012 Little Milly is a maiden no more; she won this past Sunday in Lisieux, battling to keep a neck in front of 13 other runners, all of whom considerably bigger than she is! Lisieux is a country track in Normandy, decently designed and with a tape start rather than starting gates. Milly (Surrey Storm) handled it like a pro and got a great ride from Tristan Normand, who sent her to the front at just the right time. She’s a tough little horse, and she pinned her ears back and held off two or three fast finishers.
It was an easy maiden, with most of the other runners fist-time starters, but there were some decent pedigrees there and time will tell just how easy it was. If we see the horses who finished behind her running in decent rates, that helps us. It was great to get the maiden win for the catalog page – Milly is by Montjeu out of a stakes-winning Dansili mare and she is a first foal, so she definitely added value to the family on Sunday. It was also really great to see her owners back in the winner’s circle. They have been wonderful faithful clients, but it’s been too long since they’ve won.
The other big news of the week is the return of Hard Way, who finished 7th of 14 runners in a little handicap in Lisieux. Hard Way is a special horse. I retired him more than a year ago after we discovered that he had a crushed first vertabra and was basically lucky to be alive. We have no idea how or when it heppened, and chances are he was already racing with the injury when he ran his last race for me, at Clairefontaine in August of 2010 (with Olivier Peslier up, no less!). He had six months off, a treatment of Tildren and then had another MRI scan, which showed that the damage had healed into a bony mass and that nothing was touching the spinal cord. (Oh, and by the way, he also has a slight case of wobbler’s syndrome, but that was secondary.) He was given the green light to resume training. I considered it, but decided to retire him instead. Hard Way had other ideas.
Hard Way was orphaned in the days after foaling, and was raised with a nurse mare, who was a draft horse. Consequently, he didn’t socialize with the other thoroughbreds in the field, and I’m pretty convinced he thinks he’s a draft horse, too, maybe just a little faster than your average Clydesdale. Over the winter, Hard Way actually grows so much hair he has feathering on his legs, and he could certainly pass for something ready to pull the milk cart. He was absolutely miserable turned out with the other retirees, and when I saw him last fall, he seemed pretty much begging me to take him back home. I did, and he strutted into the yard like he was ready to head back to Longchamp. By January, it was clear he would race again, and by last week, he seemed pretty ready. The race in Lisieux was too short for him, but I didn’t want to over-extend him his first time out. He ran very well, and was passing horses charging toward the finishing post. He’s come back in great nick, and he will head out to the same racecourse on April 15 for another easy spin, this one longer, and I think he’ll be ready to get serious and take on the big tracks starting in May.
It’s great to have him back. He’s always been sort of the yard mascot, and we’re all looking forward to seeing what happens this year. He gets to decide where and when he wants to race. We’re just along for the ride.
March 27th, 2012 I have had my differences over the years with the New York Times, my former employer via the International Herald Tribune, but there are some things they still do well. While the old gray lady seems to prefer to spend money on lavish executive bonuses rather than gathering and reporting the news, they still have . . . → Read More: A big bad spotlight on U.S. racing
March 21st, 2012 Deep Ocean won easily in Lyon yesterday, paying an incomprehensible 26-1. I had thought he would have a good chance, but all of the handicappers in the media put us in the “outsider” category. No matter; people who know the horse (or read my blog) had themselves a nice bet.
Deep had everything going for . . . → Read More: Deep comes through!
March 18th, 2012 It seems I’ve had my head down shoveling lots of things since Cagnes, settling back in and getting ready for spring. We’ve had a bit of racing, but nothing too exciting yet. Elbow Beach ran 5th in Deauville, and is now having a bit of an easy recovery time because she worked hard through Cagnes . . . → Read More: Shoveling
February 25th, 2012 I left the sun behind and headed back to Maisons-Laffitte yesterday, finishing up racing in Cagnes on Wednesday with a nice third from Droit Devant. I didn’t get a win down there, unfortunately, but so far this year I have eight places from 16 runners, which is a decent percentage. Hopefully the win column will . . . → Read More: Closing Cagnes
February 13th, 2012 We’re turning into the home stretch here, with some horses running their final races this week. The last few runs have been disappointing, but there have been some good reasons. Deep Ocean ran a handicap on Saturday in which he should have had every chance to win, but it was on the turf, which . . . → Read More: Cagnes: Week 4
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