Category: Updates from the yard

The past two weeks have been so busy I didn’t realize I’ve neglected to say what’s been going on! Backtracking to Deep Ocean’s race, which is where I left off: He finished only 5th, and I had expected better. Unfortunately I had to shoe him a few days before the race, and he has rather delicate feet. My farrier back home does a wonderful job, but the guys down here are, quite frankly, not as good. He got a too-tight trim, and I think he was slightly bothered during the race. In any case, he still tried hard, as he always does, and left his reputation as an equine ATM machine intact by taking a small check, anyway. He will run again next Saturday, and he seems in fine form. The foot has cooled out and I’m being very careful to avoid walking around on any roads because I don’t want him to need new shoes again down here.

We got a nice surprise last Thursday, when Elbow Beach ran fourth in a decent maiden race. She was very short of work, and I really had expected her to need the race as a warmup before doing anything serious. But she showed she’s got heart and ran very well. I’m not sure if she was helped or hurt by her pre-race performance: She dumped her jockey as soon as she was let loose on the track so she did a warm-up lap alone. Luckily, she was pretty cool about it and didn’t bolt off like an idiot, so she was able to line up to take her chance. She didn’t care much for the starting gate, either, and had to be really dragged in by the gate crew. But she ran well and came back well, so she’ll have another go on the 18th, this time on the turf. I don’t really care for the turf track down here, but she has pretty big, sturdy feet, so she’ll probably be fine.

The big disappointment of the week was Strictly Rhythm, who ran another clunker yesterday. I had expected her to come in the money. She looks fantastic, has a great coat, lots of muscle, veins popping out all over the place and has been galloping well. She spent three-quarters of the race galloping along with beautiful action on the rail just behind the leader, but when things got serious in the home stretch, she showed no interest in participating. I can’t find anything physically wrong with her, so I’m going to try to shake her up with a one-mile handicap and a proper set of blinkers next time out. I think she needs a tough race to wake her up a bit – she’s been enjoying the sunshine a little too much down here.

Milly, on the other hand, needs an easy training gallop to get her on track, and she’ll get one on Wednesday. I’m running her in a 2,000-meter maiden with Carla, who has been riding her in training, up. We need her to have a good, confidence-building lesson, and Carla will give it to her. If it so happens that she ends up running well and in the money, fine, but more importantly I just want her to learn.

Droit Devant, who has joined my team just for the meeting, also will have another run on Wednesday. She won on opening day, and seems to be in decent form.

I’ve had a string of visitors, and in all the commotion I can’t believe three weeks of the meeting have already slipped away. We have three places from six runners (Droit Devant doesn’t count, unfortunately, because she ran for her previous trainer on opening day), which is decent, but I’m still looking for a win or two. I don’t think it will happen this week, but Deep might come through for us on Saturday.

I’m very happy to be down here, because even though it has turned cold, it’s nothing compared to what the rest of the country is suffering. I understand there is quite a bit of snow back in Maisons-Laffitte, so it’s a good thing most of the horses are here. Hard Way and Triple Tonic have been doing very limited work. But at least Hard Way has been keeping fit by a bit of dancing in his box.

It all started much more calmly than last year, but Cagnes sur Mer still has all the ingredients of a frat party for grown-ups (and the not-so-grownups). Sun, sea, alcohol and horse racing. If there’s a better combination than this, I don’t know it.

I came down last Sunday with Satwa Sunrise, and Deep Ocean, Strictly Rhythm and Surrey Storm followed two days later. But four quickly became three, unfortunately, because Sunrise was claimed on opening day, Monday, after finishing fifth. Her owner was devastated, and I, too, was very sorry to see her go, because she is a lovely big filly and will certainly win down here. We have to look on the bright side: We bought this filly for 2,000 euros less than three months ago and she was claimed for 21,000 and change. On top of that, she had already earned 6,500 in prize money. That is a tremendous showing for a filly that the previous trainer said had little talent and was probably a bleeder. I would have loved to hang onto her longer, but I’m pleased with my work and have to be content with that.

I tried to get her owner to claim another horse on Friday, but she was still licking her wounds from losing Sunrise and wasn’t interested. But for anybody reading this who bets, follow a horse called Splinter Cell. He’s a lovely old colt who is always in the money – much like Deep Ocean. He was brought in from Italy because they have no racing there at the moment, and he was claimed for just over 13,000 euros, which I think is quite a deal.

Surrey Storm debuted for me on Friday, and it didn’t go well, unfortunately. She is only a tiny filly, and I think she took the trip down here quite hard. She had the worst spot on the transport – at the back of the double-hitch semi trailer. When I opened the back to unload her, it looked like she had shrunk in the dryer. And she isn’t a horse that has room to shrink. I went ahead with the race because she seemed to be settling in and was eating very well, but she never got ahold of the fibersand track and struggled from beginning to end. It’s a race to throw out, though, because she is capable of much better. Her pedigree is stunning, and she just needs a little more time to get back to racing. Both she and Strictly Rhythm seemed to come into season immediately upon getting into the sun down here, so after a week or so she’ll be back on track. She’s still eating well and her eye is good, so we’ll see how she adjusts and find a longer race for her next time out. I’d really rather run her on the turf – the race Friday was her first time on the fiber and she really seemed to struggle with it. But there’s nothing for her on the turf for now, so she’ll probably be back on the polytrack next time out, too.

Strictly raced on Saturday, in an amateur lady rider’s race just to give her an easy gallop. She hadn’t raced since early October and was coming back from a few weeks of turnout in Normandy, so I wasn’t expecting her to do anything Saturday. She was outclassed in any case, and it was really just to get her moving again. We did the same thing with Hi Shinko last year and he came back to win next time out, so I’m hoping to repeat the pattern. She handled everything fine and came back looking for dinner, so she’s ready to crack on now. The starting gate crew remembered her from last year, though, and they asked if she was still as much trouble. They were relieved to find out that her gate manners had improved dramatically.

Our next runner is Deep Ocean on Thursday, in a handicap he should have every chance to win. He seems to have handled the trip down very well, and the big question is whether he can run left-handed or not. He hasn’t done so well at that direction so far, but we’ve treated his hock and he seems much straighter now, so I think he’ll be fine. He is passing his days sunbathing and watching the trotters, who are in paddocks not far from his box. He has become absolutely fascinated with the sulkies we have to pass in the morning, and he keeps telling me he’d like to give it a try. I have explained to him that that is not happening.

The atmosphere down here is the same as last year: It’s sort of like a college campus. Everyone is here temporarily and there is a mix of old hands, new people and – unlike college – a huge range of ages. There’s a rhythm to the place. Work starts relatively early, because all the horses have to be exercised before the track closes for racing. By mid-morning, people start to congregate at the Cantine. Some leave after coffee, but some head directly into the pastis, then beer, then lunch. On race days, it’s back to work to lead up, tack up and run, then back to the barns for night stable. Then back, of course, to the Cantine, where it’s cocktail hour until everyone decides what to do for dinner.

I’m lucky enough to live “on campus” this year. I have a studio above the racecourse offices, which puts me conveniently close to my horses. And, of course, to the dreaded Cantine. There are fewer English trainers here this year, which means my daily alcohol consumption is slightly below what it was last year. But only slightly. I’ve been wise enough to head back home before any of the rough stuff starts. So far…

 

Five water buckets, five mangers, 10 rugs, two saddles, pads, bridles and a partridge in a pear tree. We’re packing for Cagnes. As I suspected last year, it’s come around again before I could blink. I can’t believe we’re making the expedition south again.

I feel better prepared this year, since I know what I’m in for. We’re taking the right horses, for the most part, I think. Satwa Sunrise is already on the road; she left tonight at 5, and will be there at 5 a.m. Florence went on ahead as a scout – she’ll make sure Sunrise gets there OK and has a proper bed and blanket when she arrives. I’m leaving tomorrow, and Deep, Milly and Strictly will follow me down on Monday night, arriving Tuesday morning. Elbow Beach, our newest arrival from England, will have another two weeks in Maisons-Laffitte before she joins us.

With the exception of Elbow (not sure what, exactly, to call her yet), they are all ready to run. Deep just finished 4th at Deauville, beaten just half a length. The horse is practically an ATM machine – he’s always up there. He usually runs right-handed, and he’ll have to go the opposite way in Cagnes, but it’s certainly with a try. He seems in fine form, and in racing, one has to strike while the iron is hot. Sunrise is also coming off a place in Deauville, and she will race on Monday, opening day. I am not expecting her to win yet – it’s a claimer, so I’d rather she didn’t, actually. The race will qualify her for handicaps later in the meeting.

Milly will run a maiden race next Friday. This is a complete unknown. She’s a tiny, scrappy horse with a great paper (by Montjeu out of a black-type Dansili mare ), and she ran three places as a two-year-old in England. We will be up against the usual future stakes horses from Rouget, so we’ll see what happens.

Strictly Rhythm is coming back to get the victory that escaped her last year. She is working well, and will have a prep race with an amateur jockey next weekend before getting serious in the four-year-old handicaps. Elbow Beach is the big question mark; she seems to be a very nice filly but is a bit short of work. I’m really hoping she comes to hand quickly, because we only have her for a short time and it would be nice to win one with her.

But before all that comes the Big Move, which is always an adventure. If all goes well, we’ll end up at the Concorde tomorrow night; let’s see if the jockeys get into a scrap again this year. Nothing like a good old-fashioned bar fight to start the meeting off right!

Deep Ocean heads back to Deauville tomorrow for another handicap, this time at a slightly shorter distance of 1,900 meters. He ran a nice third last time out at 2,400 meters, but I had the impression, shared by the jockey, that a little shorter would be better. Tomorrow, we shall see. He seems healthy and in fine form since his last race (if you remember, he had a fever and a cough before that, like many of our horses who struggled with a mystery virus).

If tomorrow goes OK, Deep will join the team heading for Cagnes on Sunday. Satwa Sunrise is likely to kick off the festivities down there with another run in a claimer on Monday, Jan. 16. I’d rather wait another week for her, but we don’t have a lot of choices for her, so I think we’ll have to take this one. Waiting would mean putting her in for a cheaper claiming price than we’d like; after her nice run last time, she just might get bought for anything less than 15,000. She will run for a tag of 20,000 on Monday, which should be high enough to keep buyers at bay. She needs a third run to qualify for handicaps, so I’m not bothered if she takes a check.

Our new arrival, Elbow Beach, also is on the slate for Cagnes, but she will probably need a week or two of fittening here in Maisons-Laffitte before she joins us down south. Horses need to hit the ground running, so to speak, in Cagnes, because the facilities really don’t lend themselves to speed work in the morning. You want to bring horses that just need to keep ticking over, and race every two weeks or so.

Magical Flower’s injury still leaves me one short on the Cagnes team; I’m hoping a solution will present itself before the week is out!

Satwa Sunrise ran a game second of 16 runners in Deauville today, starting our year off right. She couldn’t quite catch the winner, but she showed great turn of foot in the straight and lots of promise for Cagnes sur Mer. Best of all, she came back great, again hardly blowing, and no coughs or any other sign of respiratory distress. For those of you who hadn’t been following the story: Sunrise was trained on Lasix in England. I picked her up for about 2,000 euros at the Tattersall’s autumn sale, and she has shown no signs of bleeding during the two months I’ve been training her. Her closing speed today shows me that this is not an issue for her, and she is probably pleasantly surprised to find out she can go at top speed without the hindrance of being dehydrated by Lasix.

The pre-race routine was the same as it always is for my horses: She ate a slightly bigger-than-normal breakfast (three liters of feed instead of two) around 7 a.m. She got a second feeding of two liters, some apples, carrots and a syringe of Vitamin B12 orally around 9:40. She got on the truck for Deauville at 10:15, and post time was 3:05 p.m. She was offered free access to water up until 2 p.m. She had been getting Vitamin C in her feed in the days leading up to the race; a few of my horses have been coughing, so almost everyone is getting Vitamin C to keep their defenses up. Other than that, she had no vet attention whatsoever.

She picked up about 5,200 euros for the second place (she gets the French owners’ premiums, which add 48 percent to the prize money).

Her nice run follows up on a third place on Friday for Deep Ocean. He had a great run, and seems to have come back well, so let’s hope he has put his sniffles behind him. If he continues to be healthy, he’ll have another shot on Jan. 10.

Deep Ocean is going to finally get a run for us on Friday. Deep is a very nice four-year-old Sinndar colt who came to me from a trainer in Marseille, and I have to say he’s been a bit of a challenge since he arrived in early November. Not surprisingly, November is probably not the best month to ship a horse north. Deep had never been out of Marseille, and let’s just say he found the climate in Maisons-Laffitte not exactly to his liking. First there was colic (he must have been bedded on shavings down south, because he  ate most of his straw bed every night here, hence the colic; he’s now on shavings so THAT problem is solved). Then he got sick. He went out in the rain one day and the next day he was down (literally, laying there groaning like a typical case of man-flu) with a fever and a cough. It lasted four days and then left almost as quick as it came. But then it came back. Twice. He seems to be well now, so let’s hope for the best on Friday. He’ll be a little short of work, and the company will be a bit tougher than he usually faces. But he certainly seems to have the morale and his last work went nicely, so let’s hope.

Satwa Sunrise, meanwhile, might get another run on Monday. We have her in a claimer and I’ll know in two days whether she is eliminated or not. She bounced back very well from her last race and had a gallop yesterday (with Deep).

And in the bad luck department (is this year over yet?) Magical Flower was feeling so good after her work Monday that she had a good roll, got up with a squeal and a buck, kicked the wall – and broke her foot. She is feeling mighty stupid and sorry for herself just now, and I’m feeling even worse, because she was on our list to go to Cagnes and seemed to be really working well. She has a non-displaced fracture of the coffin bone in her near hind foot, so no surgery is necessary and the prognosis is very good, but it means three or four months of box rest before she can resume training. She got her orthopedic glue-on shoe today, and I’m hoping that in a month, she’ll be well enough to transport out to the country for convalescence.

 

Satwa Sunrise finished 9th in Deauville yesterday, but ran very well and passed a very big test: She had absolutely no trouble breathing and clearly is NOT having any bleeding issues. She broke very well – too well, really – and Fabien had to fight with her a bit at the beginning to get her to rate. In the end, she settled a bit, but not soon enough to leave us three wide with no cover, which is a shame. In the stretch, the entire field spread across the track, which was one of the messiest finishes I’ve seen, and coming out of the turn, everyone had a chance. Sunrise didn’t accelerate quite quick enough and then got blocked, and Fabien had to check her badly. But she came again and showed a nice acceleration to finish and was still passing horses at the post.

She recovered very quickly and didn’t even give us one cough walking out. We may try longer next time out, which I hope will be Jan. 2. Our pre-race routine with her was the same as with any of our horses: Normal breakfast, light lunch and access to water until one hour before post time.

Our friend Jackie took some fabulous photos at the track, and we’re all pleased with this run, which was her first race since Oct. 15. Next up, meanwhile, should be Magical Flower next week.

Our yard is split between two trainers. We are not friends, but we each do our work and generally don’t get in each other’s way. We do, however, have to share the fumier – the big pit behind the south wall where the droppings are dumped. The fumier is a cement-lined enclosure, about three meters wide and 10 meters long, sloping down to a depth of about three meters in the back. When it is full, a truck with a clam comes and empties it. Simple enough system, but sometimes the truck doesn’t come around as often as one would like, and since we have to pay for removal, we try to cram as much into the fumier as possible so that when he comes, it’s worth it.

Needless to say, fumier maintenance has often been a bone of contention between me and the other trainer, because one has to keep pitching the shit to the back to make maximum use of the space available, and the other trainer is not particularly adept in the use of a pitchfork. I, on the other hand, am an Olympic-level shit slinger. The situation turned serious when we found out about two weeks ago that the truck would not be back until the end of December. That was when my assistant, Agata, became obsessed with the fumier.

The morning we received this news, Agata went back to the fumier and impeccably manicured half of it. She created a terraced landscape, a veritable shit palace with a border up the middle to signify who could dump their shit where. The other trainer ignored the message, but this changed after the first two days, when Agata unceremoniously pitched all the shit from their boxes onto their side. Their pile started to creep forward, while ours just grew in height and stature.

Finally, after about a week, the girl who does boxes for the other trainer took up the challenge. I came around the corner with my wheelbarrow after night stable one night and almost fell over at the magnificent site of twin shit mountains. Mark, an owner  who comes to help with the boxes when he can (no one in France has owners as good as mine!) was not to be outdone, and our side continued to outpace the other in height.

“How’s the shit chateau?” I asked Mark one morning, not having yet had time to look.

“I’d say it’s more like the Matterhorn,” he replied. He was right. the pile had grown to an impressive four meters or so. I started to wonder about the potential of spontaneous combustion that might turn the Matterhorn into an active shit volcano. I mentioned this to Mark. “How cool would THAT be!” was his reply.

It remains to be seen whether we can last until the end of December. The mountain is growing. Meanwhile, if you hear of any seismic disturbance coming from Maisons-Laffitte, you’ll know where it came from.