Category: Updates from the yard

DerringBay is officially start-declared for his international debut at the annual races in Guernsey next Monday. At noon tomorrow we find out how many runners we face. I have never been to the Channel Islands – and neither has any other France-based trainer; I will be the first. I can’t wait to see how this will all work out – the planning alone has been quite an adventure. It is supposed to be a great party, and it will be a pleasure to finally meet some of the other owners I have there who also are in partnership on Little Brazilien. DerringBay’s Guernsey run will be the first for their new silks, so that alone will be worth the trip!

Before we leave there, though, we have Versaki in Chantilly tomorrow. Looks like a good entry, with a good draw, so let’s see if the old boy can decide to move this time.

The sport of kings in American hands has lowered itself to this: The advertising slogan for this year’s Preakness stakes, the second jewel in the Triple Crown, is “Get your Preak on.” I am not making this up. Apparently, some advertising agency was actually paid to come up with this, designed to appeal to those seeking the all-you-can-drink tickets to the infield part of the racecourse. There is a web site, www.getyourpreakon.com, which informs you that the festivities include a bikini contest, live bands and something called a “cornhole” tournament (I don’t even want to know). Apparently, there also might be some sort of horse race, but that’s not really clear.

Racing on both sides of the Atlantic is struggling to retain its audience and relevance in an age that is passing it by. I thought it was bad enough in France, when racing was stripped of its dignity by a publicity campaign in childish writing and pastel colors designed to convince parents to bring their kids to the track. Royal Ascot had to add a rule in its dress code requiring that women wear some sort of underwear after “Ladies Day” started to look more like a pole-dancing convention. But it truly suggests the death throes when the marketing for what should be one of America’s premier horse races has to center on beer and hide the horse.

Versaki will go ahead to Chantilly on Tuesday, but Skid Solo will wait for a slightly easier comeback race. He would have been in the bottom weights of the Tierce race, and while those are always tough, this one looks particularly tough because of the risk of running against three black-type horses. Since he hasn’t raced since last year, I don’t want to over-face him first time out. We will instead wait until next week for a 1,400-meter claimer at Longchamp; I hope we get in, because there will be plenty of entries, but it should be an easier race for him, even though he will carry a price of 34,000 euros. I’m also curious how he would do on the Longchamp “toboggan” course. It’s practically a straight line, but there are two elbow-like bends and some horses specialize on that course. So while 1,400 meters is about a furlong longer than his ideal distance, I think he will like the course.

DerringBay, meanwhile, is on track to be my first international runner at the annual race meet in Guernsey on May 3. It has been a nightmare of papers, visas and – horrors – faxing documents back and forth, but it seems we now have it sorted. Last step is to fax his start declaration on Monday. (I have steadfastly resisted in owning a fax, thinking that the Internet and email should be more than enough, but it appears I am wrong.)

Hard Way is also on track for a race May 3, but in Chantilly. Since I can’t be in two places, Valerie will handle the formalities there, although we may have to bring in extra hands if he decides to light up the presentation ring like he did at Longchamp.

And on a completely unrelated note, the planes are back – and I have found a fascinating site called virtual radar  that allows you to play air-traffic controller and actually identify all the aircraft (and there are way more than I realized) flying over at any given time. So I can sit at my blog, hear a plane, click and find out where it’s coming from. Technology has come this far, and I find I’m still out of the loop if I don’t have a fax machine. Seems unfair.

It’s a pretty quiet week for the yard this week – work-wise and noise-wise since the volcanic ash cloud has shut down air travel. Maisons-Laffitte is in the landing pattern for Charles de Gaulle airport, and while I don’t mind the planes, it is eerily silent without them. This was some comfort this morning when I realized that my cellphone – otherwise known as my portable office and lifeline – dropped out of my pocket somewhere on the track while galloping Hard Way. I dragged Tim out for the search and he used his phone to call mine, figuring we actually had a chance to hear mine ring if it was out there. We didn’t, but I did find it at the bottom of a hoofprint on the final turn, still working once I blew out the sand. Must’ve been the birdsong drowning out the sound of the ring, since there were no planes to perform that function.

Hard Way has been doing great since his race. He is still stubbornly hanging onto his winter coat, but he’s been eating great and working like he did nothing last Sunday at Longchamp. His next target is May 3 at Chantilly, the same kind of race he ran at Longchamp: a 2,400 meter handicap that will be the bottom half of the Tierce. I would expect him to do well.

Belle came out of her race slightly stiff behind, but it’s nothing serious. I would think her constant state of working ovaries probably contributed to that. She still looks great and is eating well, although she definitely left a few kilos behind at Longchamp. I don’t have a target for her yet, but I’ll look for something slightly longer next time out. I think we just have to forge ahead with her and get her more experience. She’s only had 11 races in her career, which is not much for a four-year-old.

DerringBay, meanwhile, is getting ready for his debut as our first international runner. I will take him to Guernsey for their annual races on May 3 – which means I have to miss out on Hard Way at Chantilly, but the races in Guernsey are important because I have owners there and this will be the first time their silks will be seen on a track. I’m also told it’s a hell of a party, and I’ve never been to Guernsey and I would like to see it. At last but not least, it looks like a pretty good entry in that there are only seven runners and from what I can tell we should beat them.

Versaki and Skid Solo are getting ready for their race on April 27th in Chantilly. Skid should be in the Tierce and Versaki will fall into the second half of the 1,200-meter handicap. It will be very interesting to see how Skid does this year, because he seems to be improving in the way he is working and sprinters tend to get better with age. Versaki is harder to figure out, but we’ll see how he does here.

Turfani is having a bit of a rest because I believe we have an ulcer issue to treat. I’m taking her to Chantilly tomorrow morning for a gastro scope to see for sure and determine a treatment. I don’t want to lose too much time with her if I can help it, because it has been a dry spring and there are good races for her now. I’m hoping I’m catching the problem early enough so that we can fix it in short order.

George, Brazil and Timelord are all coming along well, and they should all be ready to run in May. The question mark is George, who is coming along slightly slower than the others, but that is normal since he has to recover from his gelding. We also have a new filly, Rapsodie du Desert, who is working well and also should be ready in May.

So while it is a quiet week, it seems to be the calm before a storm of racing.

Belle didn’t show us what we had hoped at Longchamp today, and there aren’t too many excuses so we’ll have to go back to the drawing board with her. The pace was too quick for her on the fast ground, and while she tried to make a bit of a move in the stretch, she kept on one-paced and couldn’t get closer. We’ll have to go back to the longer 2,400-meter distance and I think a little more cut in the ground might help – although I still don’t think she will do much on true heavy ground. She wasn’t blowing much after the race despite the pace, meaning she didn’t try all that hard. We’ll have to keep at it, maybe with the help of sheepskin cheek pieces next time to get her to focus a bit. She hasn’t really had all that much racing, so we’ll keep trying with her to see what can be done. Seasonal factors also might be at play – she seems to be in season constantly, and while she hasn’t shown signs of being particularly bothered by that in her work at home, it might be affecting her racing. She was running better in the winter at Deauville, so that might be why. In any case, she’s a huge, good-looking filly, and I’m sure there’s a race out there for her.

Belle is all set to go tomorrow in the 6th at Longchamp, a handicap of 1,950 meters with the usual full field of 20. She has drawn an outside post of 19, which could be a problem, but we do want to place her a bit farther back in the field this time around and try go get her rolling a little sooner in the stretch. She is a big filly with no turn of foot, so she’s like a cargo 747 on the runway – she needs a good long roll to get moving, but she’ll eventually fly. The ground is good, the jockey knows the horse and she seems in good form – and not a single prognosticator has given us a ghost of a chance, so the odds will be just like we like them: Long.

Hard Way dead-heated for fourth today in a field of 20 runners at Longchamp, beaten only two lengths over a distance of 2,400 meters (a mile and a half). It was a great run considering he has been off for about four months and still hasn’t thought about shedding his winter coat. I hesitated about racing him at all because I was worried he wasn’t quite ready, but I decided to go ahead because he had been working well and I couldn’t find another decent race for him anytime soon. Raphael Marchelli was riding him for the first time, and he did a good job because Hard Way can be a handful. He was calm and steady through all the preparations, and didn’t move a muscle while being saddled (there is a nice video of the saddling here). But once he got into the presentation ring, the switch flipped and it was almost impossible to hang onto him. We put Marchelli straight up and sent him out first; once Hard Way got onto the turf, he settled into a nice warm-up canter. I asked for him to be loaded with the last horses, because while he loads fine, he tends to panic in the gate. He jumped out straight into the air, which cost him a length, but then ran relaxed just behind the leader for three quarters of the race. When they came at him in the stretch, he battled on under a mostly hand ride; Marchelli gave him one crack, but that was all. He came back fine and recovered very quickly. Two hours after the race, he was back home and tucking into a warm mash with apples and carrots. We had a substantial cheering section on hand, and Hard Way didn’t let us down. He will definitely progress from this, and I think we can start looking to hit the winner’s circle again with him soon.

Next up: Blessing Belle on Thursday at Longchamp.

Versaki finished just 7th today, but he was beaten by only three lengths, which is frustrating. According to the Paris Turf, he finished “honorablement,” or honorably. He did run well, but didn’t show a turn of foot when the hole finally opened, so in the end it was one of our typical 20-horse pile-ups. I have to say the handicappers do a pretty good job, because these big fields usually show a very close finish. If he is ridden a bit closer to the pace next time, or even in front, he will do better. The distance and ground were good for him, but I know he can be a bit lazy, so putting him closer next time will help.

Hard Way, meanwhile, will go to Longchamp on Sunday, shaggy as he is. I can’t find a decent comeback race for him elsewhere, so it’s either this or wait another three or four weeks, and he seems relatively ready to go so we’ll give him a spin. I have no idea how he will do, but my primary goal is that he doesn’t try to do too much. Blessing Belle has a good entry at Longchamp next Thursday, and she should have a shot there.

France Galop was nice to us this week, putting Versaki in with an initial handicap mark of just 30. I was worried he’d be a lot higher. This mark leaves him tremendously well-placed for the sprint next week in Maisons-Laffitte. I was sure he would be in the top division of the Tierce, but he will fall mid-way through the second division, where he should have a very good chance to bring home money.

Hard Way, meanwhile, is entered for his comeback race on April 11 at Longchamp, but I’m not sure he’ll be quite ready. He is working well but still hasn’t changed his coat to something more spring-like and I’m still not quite happy with his top-line muscles. He has started back on his regime of oats soaked in Guinness at night, which should help him pick up some more weight. Belle and Turfani are waiting for better ground before we can look seriously at races for them, and the rest are progressing steadily toward coming back, but they’re not ready yet.

On another note, a breeder friend of mine has a filly available that could be interesting. She’s a two-year-old by Super Celebre out of a Zafonic mare, and she is eligible for French owners’ premiums. She wasn’t sent to the sales as a yearling because she was sway-backed, so she wouldn’t hold much commercial appeal. But she has now had nearly two months of pre-training and is apparently flying, with her back giving her no trouble at all. Reports are it would be a shame not to go forward with her because she is showing good potential. Anyone interested in buying or leasing her should e-mail me – and remember that French owners’ premiums are 78 percent for two-year-olds.

So for the first time in several months, there is no stable premium for the riders because Belle didn’t quite come through on Friday. Despite the recent dry spell (at least results-wise if not rain-wise), I am very optimistic for the season ahead. Belle ran well and stayed the distance, but we now know she has no turn of foot in the stretch. Thulliez said he would ride her differently next time, keeping her farther back in the pack but starting to push for home earlier. He liked Belle quite a lot and said he would be happy to ride her next time out. We agreed she looks a useful sort once we find the buttons. She’s really had very little racing for a four-year-old, with Friday being only the 10th race of her life. I’m not sure where she will go next, but I doubt she will act on very heavy ground, so that will be the determining factor. I will probably keep her between 2,100 and 2,400 meters, in any case.

We have a quiet spell ahead in terms of racing. Next up will be Versaki , who will try for the Tierce in Maisons-Laffitte on April 8th, and then I hope Hard Way will be ready for his seasonal debut at Longchamp on April 11. Stay tuned…