Category: Updates from the yard

Where do I start? I will try to write this omitting the stream of obscenities I spouted after Hard Way’s race on Saturday, when Stephane Pasquier single-handedly flushed a year and a half of patience down the toilet by allowing Hard Way to bolt along out front, serving as the leader for the field and then practically crossing the finish line at a trot. We were supposed to have Christophe Lemaire in the saddle again, but at the very last minute, his agent pulled him off to ride for a bigger trainer. I was stuck without a pilot and all my usual suspects were already taken. With a 20-horse field, that happens. Of course, when Lemaire’s agent said he could ride, there was absolutely no doubt, so I didn’t bother looking for a backup. So there we were, screwed, and Pasquier was available. I was actually thinking about scratching, because I’d never used Pasquier before and he appeared to be the kind of jockey I try to avoid: One who can ride a fantastic race if he is so inspired, but who seems not to give a shit if he’s not so inspired. Oh don’t you worry, madame, his agent said, he’ll give you a good ride. Ah, words. He rode like a bad apprentice, setting a nice pace for his buddies behind him. Turning into the stretch, he dropped his hands and let the horse hack home (which was probably the least offensive thing he did at that point, because Hard Way had set a blistering pace and probably wouldn’t have had much left to give).

I usually hold my tongue with jockeys, because I never know if I might one day need them again. This was not the case on Saturday, and I made it clear that I was extremely unhappy. Angry. Furious, really. It’s quite probable that not only did Pasquier get the message, but most of Maisons-Laffitte did, too. Ah, well. Two British owners of another trainer overheard my diatribe and quickly got interested. “Do you always swear like that,” they asked? “It happens,” I replied. They took my business card.

Hard Way came back fine, if perhaps somewhat confused. He had never raced in Maisons-Laffitte before so he was surprised to find a racecourse at the end of our walk over. He was allowed to do as he pleased during the race, and then he had plenty of grass on the way home, so I’m hoping he didn’t come away with too bad a lesson. The handicappers didn’t see fit to take off a single ounce after our performance, probably because the ride was so bad they assumed I was trying to lose. That leaves our target still Longchamp on June 11, but we will most certainly have a change of jockey. Again.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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 a reserve for funding investigative reporting, and they recently threw a packet at a series looking at the U.S. racing industry. The first installment (of how many, I’m not sure) was released over the weekend, and it has caused quite a stir. I’m only worried it isn’t causing enough of one. There were about 100 comments on the Times’ web site in the first hours after publication, and there are about 480 now. The pace has slowed dramatically in the past few days.

My friends at the Paulick Report are following it pretty closely, and there is a good debate going on over there, but one would expect that since the site is a gathering place for people either connected to the industry or dedicated fans and gamblers (a dying breed, to be sure).

The first article was pretty sensational, but it had to be to get the point across: Fatal accidents are rife in American racing, much moreso than elsewhere in the racing world, and the major difference between the United States and the rest of the world is the allowance of various medications to be in a horse’s system on race day. I have been crusading against race-day medication in America pretty much since I learned about racing as a journalist and certainly since I became a trainer. I remember very well a few long conversations with Joe Drape on the subject when we met up at the Dubai World Cup in 2007. He had never really thought much about the prevalence of Lasix use or the fact that most other jurisdictions banned such drugs. I expounded that I didn’t think it was right that most horses racing in America had two or three injections for breakfast on race day. That planted the seed.

A few high-profile accidents (Eight Belles or Barbaro, anyone?) and one Big Brown later, and people started to wake up to the difference. When the unfortunate Barbaro was put down, I was asked to write a European perspective for the Times, which I did. At the time, I didn’t feel I could hit the subject as hard as Joe and his team have now done, but if you read my story, all of the same issues are raised. And therein lies the problem. There has been endless talk of the problems plaguing U.S. racing and plenty of pledges to do better. But nothing has changed.

I applaud the new Times series, and I hope – yet again – that something can change. But given the track record of those in charge of the sport, I’m not optimistic. Still, I add my voice, yet again, to those who know that racing CAN truly be the sport of kings, with thoroughbreds from age-old bloodlines competing on their merits, rather than on those of their veterinarian.

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 him: The entry was good, it was a right-handed track where he had performed well in the past, and he was coming off a month’s rest after Cagnes-sur-Mer. We had a nice outside draw, and Deep settled in the rear third of the pack and galloped relaxed through the opening quarters. He started to move up in the final turn, moved out of the pack at the head of the stretch and never looked back. He won by four lengths, which is a beautiful thing to see, except that it was a handicap, and those four lengths will now cost us at least three kilos in weight next time out. If he had won a little less decisively, we might have gotten away with two. But winning well is better than not winning at all, and everybody’s happy.

He came home a bit sore, which is normal considering the amount of arthritis in his hocks, but he had an aspirin with dinner last night and was walking fine today. He’ll be ridden out tomorrow and we’ll take it relatively easy for a bit. It won’t be too easy to find his next race, because I need a 2,000-meter right-handed race on the fibersand or on perfect, good-to-soft turf. Unfortunately, nothing is jumping out of the calendar at the moment. In any case, he’ll tell me when he’s ready for another run.

Elbow Beach has the next entry, in Fontainebleau on March 30, but I’m unlikely to run there. She’s still not quite where I want her in her form at home, so we’ll probably wait for Maisons-Laffitte in April. The next runners are likely to be Hard Way and Milly on April 1 in Lisieux, which should be quite an event if it happens, because Hard Way hasn’t raced since August of 2010 and a growing fan club can’t wait to see him back. Milly is looking better and better, too, and an easy race in the country should be just what she needs to give her a bit of confidence.

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 and needs to digest it all a bit. The three races in short succession triggered a bit of a growth spurt (she’s only just turned three), but now she seems to be coming back to herself and will either run at the end of the month or early April.

Milly had a crack at Fontainebleau, the first time on the grass and the first time at a longer distance of 2,200 meters. She got a horrible trip, trapped on the rail, which is not a good place to be for a tiny horse like her. She finished out of the money, but actually ran decently and handled the surface and distance with no trouble at all. She’s brightening up in her coat and seems quite well, so she’ll either run in Amiens on March 28 or we’ll take her out to the country on April 1, where she can share a truck with Hard Way, who is likely to finally make his racecourse comeback after a year and a half off! There’s a tiny handicap for him at Lisieux on April 1, and I think he’ll give it a go.

Strictly Rhythm has basically thrown in the towel, so we’re looking for brood mare solutions for her. She ran a good three-year-old season, and she was very unlucky not to win (finishing placed just behind group and listed horses). But she’s not training on as a four-year-old, so she should find other options. Her paper is quite good, and she’s a lovely big horse, so she’ll do well as a mom, I think.

We have two unraced three-year-olds in the yard, Triple Tonic and It’s Only Money. Both have had various issues that stopped us from getting them to the track last year, so I hope we’re on track now working toward a debut. I don’t know when that will happen for either of them yet, but hopefully this spring.

And the fun horse in the yard, Deep Ocean, should have a very good chance to win one in Lyon on Tuesday. He’s doing very well and will be back racing right-handed, which is his preferred direction, and against less-than-stellar company, just like we like it!

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 start to fill in soon. It was a successful meeting, with good contacts made and horses that have come home fit and healthy. The weather was spectacular, and I hope to be there again next year.

We’ll move right on with the Paris-area racing starting back up, and Elbow Beach is likely to head to Deauville on Friday for a 1,300-meter maiden on the fibersand. We’re racing her on a bit of a tight schedule, but it is the best entry coming up and she’s only here for a limited time, so I’d like to see if we can win one. Strictly Rhythm also will have another run soon. She is probably on her way to retirement soon, but she did run well last time out, so she’ll have another chance while the owners decide whether she will be bred this year.

Milly picked up very well between her two last races, and was only beaten a short way when she finished fifth in Cagnes. She has a maiden over 2,200 meters in Fontainebleau on March 7. I’m eager to get her on the turf and I think the distance should suit her. She’s still tiny, but she seems to be coming on. Deep Ocean doesn’t have a great choice of entries coming up, but I hope to find something on the fibersand, either in Deauville or on the new track in Chantilly, soon. Both of those are right-handed, so he should be happier there.

Droit Devant is back with her previous trainer, as had been planned at the start of the meeting. I would have liked to have kept her, because I think she is making progress, but it wasn’t possible.

Meanwhile, Hard Way and Triple Tonic are getting ready to race. Both stayed home from Cagnes because Triple was recovering from her nasty cough and Hard Way would have been lethal down there, where he would have had to be ridden on the racecourse every day. Both will have gallops tomorrow, and we’ll see how much work needs to be done before starting to look at entries. We also have to bring in It’s Only Money, a three-year-old filly who has been in pretraining and hasn’t yet raced, and King needs to get started back to work after his winter off and gelding.

I’m trying to get used to the loss of the sun, but hopefully it won’t be for long, since the weather is forecast to get better next week. On the drive north from Cagnes, the autoroute passes the “Porte du Soleil,” and that’s just about where the sunlight ends and the clouds begin. Spring is in the air just the same, so we’re moving forward.