Galloping into spring

Skid’s back, now gelded and showing not much awareness that anything is different, which is good. Everybody else is training on, slowly edging toward a race. The season has started in the Paris area, with opening day at St. Cloud on Saturday and Auteuil getting under way last week, so I’m itching to have a runner. But the winter set training back, and it looks like I’ll have to be patient a while longer.

Turfani was entered for Deauville on Thursday, but her workout Sunday was a little less impressive than I wanted to see, so I’ll wait another couple of weeks with her. She will still probably be the first runner of spring, probably near the end of the month. Tommy is nearly ready, but doesn’t go on soft ground, so there’s no point in rushing. Hard Way thinks he’s ready but won’t be for a bit, probably mid-April. Tyke is coming along well, but he’s such a big horse it will still take more time to get him up to speed. I don’t think he’ll be ready until the end of April.

The nice part is that I can see progress, and April should be an interesting month.

A breath of fresh, Tampa air

I’m back from my quick field trip to the States, and for the first time left feeling encouraged about racing in America. I have two friends that train off the farm in the Winter Haven, Florida area, and while I was there they each had a runner at Tampa Bay Downs, which was one of the more horse-friendly backsides I’ve seen. The barns are nicely spaced and there is actually a fair amount of green around. Round pens are available for turnout.

The highlight of the trip had to be the race of a good old campaigner called Ide be O for Ten, who is actually two for 98. Ide is 10 years old, and his owner wants to retire him when he hits 100 starts, sound and medication-free. The day I was there, Ide ran a very credible third, and I’ll bet he manages to get up for a win when that 100th start comes around, which won’t be long. He’s trained by Janet DelCastillo, who wrote a book called “The Backyard Racehorse” that shows it is possible to succeed as a small trainer not stabled at the track. Ide was the only horse in the race not on Lasix (he wasn’t on anything else, either), and it was quite a thing to see old Ide barreling up the stretch.

Two days later, we got to see Ellie Crowder’s Major Parker running his second race back after a long layoff. Ellie bred Major and lost him in a claimer when he was five, already a two-time winner. The trainer who claimed him assumed he could do better than Ellie by pumping full of all the medications Ellie didn’t use. Instead, the horse burned out, bowed a tendon and dropped down to the ranks of $4,000 claimers, which is how Ellie got him back. Ellie game him two years off, then let her grandchildren ride him over the summer. I rode him two days before he raced, and he cantered up Janet’s sandy hill next to the orange groves like a happy, fit horse. He ran 7th last Saturday, but he got stuck in traffic on the rail. From where I sat, he should have finished third. He came back sound and content, and I have every confidence he’ll come back and win again, too.

While I was in the neighborhood, I took a tour of some of the breeding and training operations around Ocala, which were eye-poppingly beautiful. I was jealous of the weather and the turnout.  Plenty of trainers had private facilities that allowed them to stable off-track.

Janet and Ellie were the bests hostesses anyone could have, and I’m sure I’ll get back to Florida more often now that I see how things are done there. It was all very refreshing, and it makes me all the more resolved to keep pushing for a ban on race-day medication. Such a shame to waste such fantastic infrastructure by breaking down horses at the track with the drugs. It was great to see the resilience of trainers like Janet and Ellie, who do it their way. OK, so you’re not likely to see them on the Triple Crown trail anytime soon. But I did see some good-looking, healthy horses on their farms, and just keep an eye on old Ide. He’s sitting on a win.

Sun

I’m off to Tampa and Ocala, Florida, tomorrow for a few days of much-needed sun (I ordered it in advance, I have a confirmation number and I expect it to be there). I also vow to understand an American condition book, which, despite allegedly being written in my native language, could be in Swahili as far as I can understand it. The French one seems perfectly clear. Maybe I’ve been here too long.

The three Ts get moving

Tyke, Tommy and Turfani all got to stretch their legs this morning, and the boys were the stars of the show. In defense of Turfani, she worked on her own on the all-weather track, and since there was no company, she wasn’t motivated to put much effort into the proceedings. She has a nice, big stride, but needed to be niggled to accelerate to a decent speed. It was the first time I had galloped her, and I had expected a big more. I will work her in company from now on.

Tommy and Tyke galloped 1,600 meters on the sand track. Tommy served as the leader, and he worked like the professional he is, accelerating gradually, taking a nice breath just before the elbow, then re-accelerated coming out of the elbow for a nice finish. Tyke surprised me by sticking right with him and actually giving me quite a bit to hold onto to keep him behind. The big guy might have some seriously ugly knees, but it looks like he’s got an engine behind him that will compensate for quite a lot. About half way up the track, I said to myself, well, so this is what a 50,000 euro stud fee will get you – some pretty decent speed. (Although I see Cape Cross has since come down to a bargain 35,000 euros.) I’m trying not to get too optimistic over his first real workout of the year, but I was indeed pleasantly surprised.

Crusade fatigue

I don’t know why, but something about the latest Paulick Report post that turned (again) into a debate on the merits of drugging horses on race day has left me feeling defeated and fatigued. I can’t understand how an issue that seems so clear to me can be at best misunderstood and at worst defended by people who handle horses for a living. I realize that the racing industry in the United States has a multitude of problems (and yes, every racing jurisdiction has issues, including France), but I believe that banning all race-day medication in thoroughbreds would be a big step toward solving many of them. I realize that most people involved in American racing disagree with me. Usually, I don’t care, because I happily race in a country where medication is banned (and our breakdown rates are half of what they are in America).  But one of the comments in the latest debate made me lose all hope. Somebody said, basically, well, fine, you have no drugs in France, but where’s the proof that your system could work for American-style dirt racing? This smacks of so much ignorance and disrespect for the horse that I couldn’t even reply. Rather than considering changing the system to preserve the horse, this guy apparently wants trainers to inject whatever is necessary to adapt the animal to the system. And by the way, get rid of those stupid synthetic racing surfaces, too, that interfere with my timed workouts and Beyer speed figures. Who cares if a longshot breaks a leg? I just want to get my bet in.

Then there’s the veterinarian (yes, apparently a licensed vet) singing the praises of lasix. Really, it’s all too depressing. I’m actually going to America next week, where I plan to spend a day or two at Tampa Bay Downs. I’m a little afraid to go. I’m not sure what I will do when I encounter this mentality face-to-face.

Anyway, just had to vent. I’ve gone native tonight, with snails and a good Bordeaux for dinner. Somehow makes me feel more at home than the thought of a cheeseburger and a beer. Oh, and by the way, forgot to mention Chantal Sutherland. Apparently the mere mention of the sexy Santa Anita jockey will make your blog hits go through the roof. I don’t have the semi-nude photos that you can find on the Handride and Cangamble blogs, though, so you’ll have to go there next….

Anabaa and the gang

The Deauville sales went pretty much as expected: Horses being given away. The best market seemed to be for decent broodmares in foal to decent stallions, but even the best of those were going for less than 20,000 euros. The half-sister of Overdose sold for 16,000, which I thought was a stunningly low price. So did her owner, who was disappointed but needed the cash, so what can you do? Most yearlings went for 1,000 a pop (who’s gonna take the chance and have to wait in this market? Pinhooking is practically non-existant in France). I nearly bought a filly practically ready to run for 2,000 euros, but then realized my marriage might not survive yet another horse in my own name. She’s called Lady Cecilia, if anybody wants to follow up and see if my judgment was good or bad. She caught my eye because I was looking at a Country Reel yearling, and I was pointing out to Mark, my American friend, all the flaws in his legs. The filly was standing right behind him, and I said, “For comparison, look at her legs. They’re perfect.”  And you know, they were.

Anyway, we got a little bored, so we decided to pop over to see the stallions at the Haras du Quesnay, where Anabaa stands for 30,000 euros, making him one of the most expensive stallions in France. He spent a season in Kentucky, but there wasn’t much interest, so he came back to France, where there’s plenty of interest. Anabaa was the No. 2 stallion in France last year, and the sire of Goldikova among other champions. At 17, he looks fantastic, and the crew at Quesnay were happy to have him back. He is joined there by Bering (still active at 26) Gold Away (who seems to be a bargain at 5,000 euros), Kentucky Dynamite and Panis, who was a leading sire of two-year-olds last season. The stud itself is breathtaking. Acres of paddocks with post-and-rail fencing around a small chateau, a huge brood-mare yard and the stallion barn that is a restored old Norman structure. The stallion boxes are absolutely enormous, and all five of the stallions we saw were well-mannered and happy when led out, even though this is breeding season and it was dinner time on top of it. The market might be going to hell, but there was no sign of it at that place. The stallions’ dance cards are active and everybody (horses AND staff) seemed to be eating very well, thank you.

Deauville calls

We’re off to the Deauville February Mixed Sale tomorrow. The catalog isn’t all that interesting, but there are a few lots worth seeing: No. 44 is a half-sister to the crack sprinter Overdose. She is sold as out of training, which is a shame, so she must be injured and going as a brood mare prospect. Some others will be worth looking at, and it’s always interesting to see what the market will do these days. The sale is a mix of two- and three-year-olds, some raced but most untried (obviously all the 2YOs) a smattering of older horses in training and a good number of brood mares, in and out of foal. The highlight of the day is most likely to be a dinner of line-caught sea bass at Les Vapeurs. Since I’m not actually going up there with a horse to race, I get the luxury of staying for dinner!

Nicanor (the other one) update

I posted recently on the Nicanor that is NOT Barbaro’s brother, who was getting ready to return to racing after a nearly three-year layoff. He did just that on Saturday, making his steeplechasing debut in heavy going at Gowran Park in Ireland. He finished 4th of 17 runners in an effort judged “no more than satisfactory” by the Racing Post. The jockey opted for prudence rather than pushing the horse, which certainly seemed wise for a return after that kind of layoff.

Nicanor holds two entries for the Cheltenham Festival in March, both over fences. His trainer said Nicanor “got very tired in the gluey ground” on Saturday and might race again in Ireland rather than going to Cheltenham. He said he was very pleased with the horse’s jumping, though, in what was really a promising return.

Getting the word out

The folks at France Galop in charge of recruiting foreign owners have finally figured out I exist, and to make up for lost time, they’ve declared me “trainer of the week” in their newsletter and online:  http://www.frbc.net/

Mark, meanwhile, has been working tirelessly to get speaking/race days set up with the numerous expat groups around Paris, and we are making progress. We’re also off to the sales in Deauville next week. A big attraction for American owners, I think, is the chance to lease a horse rather than buy one. This gives all the benefits of ownership (name in the program, on-track access, prize money, win photos) without the responsibility of having to make arrangements for the horse if there are career-ending injuries or if the animal is just not good enough for the game.  If a leased horse can’t race, it goes back to the lease-holder. I’m working on putting together a few horses to offer on this program, and they will be added to my web site when they become available.

As for the current group of trainees, we’re making what progress we can given the weather. The high winds arrived as scheduled, and luckily moved on as scheduled, too, so we were able to get some training done around noon. Skid’s gelding went off without a hitch (perhaps not the best choice of words). In any case, he seems not to know anything is missing, and we should be able to bring him back home from Normandy in three weeks or so. Turfani will start galloping on the all-weather track tomorrow, and Tommy will start to go a little quicker, too. In another month, we should be racing, and that thought keeps us moving through this crappy winter.

More weather hell

OK, have I said this before? This global warming thing is just NOT working out for me. We had another blizzard today, it melted just enough to slush things up this afternoon, and now the whole sloppy mess is freezing overnight. All due to melt on Monday, just in time for the apocolyptic tempest that is due to arrive Tuesday, with winds gusting to 100 kilometers per hour. We got the horses out today before the worst of it hit, but tomorrow will probably be out of the question. Monday, yes, Tuesday, no way. Damn hard to train horses this way. One thing is sure: They will all be well-rested for the spring season, if spring ever comes.

On the home front, the toilet sprung a leak, which I didn’t notice until I went down to the wine cellar and began to wonder how it was that the wooden crate housing my Chateauneuf de Pape was wet. So Tim got to spend the evening replacing the guts of the toilet while I rearranged the cellar and opened a bottle of the Chateauneuf de Pape just to make sure it was still OK (it was). Cocoa the dobermann puppy helped with the toilet. Several wrenches are now missing. I’m sure they’ll turn up strategically buried around the house (or possibly the yard). Winter. Ugh.