Category: Updates from the yard

We are launching a full-scale assault on Deauville tomorrow with three runners. Versaki is out first in a 1,300-meter claimer; it’s only a week after his last race, but this is a much better distance for him and he seems on form, so since we got in it was too good a chance to pass up. Greg Benoist will ride. Up next will be George, who is taking on 1,900 meters again but will have a proper jockey on his back this time, so I hope that he gets a better lesson than last time out and we can better judge what he might do. He is also in substantially easier company than last time out. Capping the day will be Turfani, who is at the bottom of the first division of the 1,900-meter handicap. Charge!

Well, we made it. We’re through the winter solstice, so now, even if the temperatures drop further, the day gets a little longer from here on out. About one more minute of sun (or what passes for it) every day gives me something courage to get through the weeks ahead. I do hate winter. We managed to get Turfani, Belle and George (Email) down to the fibersand for some good work today. Turfani runs Thursday, and possibly George, too, and maybe even Versaki, which we didn’t really intend, but it looks like he might make it into a race we had counted on being eliminated from. It’s only a few days from his last race, but he seems in form and could go, so if he makes the cut he’ll take his chance. It’s a much better race for him than last time; this one is 1,300 meters claiming, which is just about perfect. George will have another crack at 1,900 meters; it is probably too long, but since we couldn’t judge anything from last time, I’d just like to see how he handles the distance if ridden correctly. We are lucky in that all of the races this time are not restricted to inexperienced jockeys. On Friday, four of the races on the card were for either young jockeys/apprentices, jockeys that hadn’t won 15 races this year or lady jockeys. The stewards had apparently taken on the role of schoolmaster, because the next day there was a huge list of fines handed out for things like unbuckling the chin strap of their helmets before dismounting, misusing the whip, failing to guard their line in the stretch and other basics. There was a total of 2,000 euros in fines, so we decided the stewards must have needed to pay for their Christmas party. In any case, we will not have to be subjected to the jockey school on Thursday. Now let’s hope the experienced guys are properly motivated!

Winter has taken hold way ahead of time here, and the Paris area is definitely having a white, frozen Christmas. All pretty from the holiday standpoint, but absolute hell for horse training. There was an article in this month’s European Trainer magazine about those hardy (and completely insane) Scandinavians who will happily ride their racehorses through piles of snow and race all winter despite having to harrow the piste about every two minutes to keep it from freezing solid. The point was supposed to be how resilient a thoroughbred can be. Agreed. But these are thoroughbreds that put up with this every year, so they’re used to it. On top of it, the Scandinavians seem to be far better-equipped for this nonsense than we are. I don’t know where they get their clothes, but somebody give me a web site, because they don’t exist in France. I go out in the morning with more layers than the Michelin tire guy and I freeze. But I digress. In the midst of all of this, there are some occasional race dates and we have horses ready to run, so off we go. Versaki debuted for us today in a 1,900-meter condition race for young jockeys, and ran respectably but the race was far too long for him. We knew it, and had him double-entered for Saturday in the race we really wanted to run that was 1,500 meters and we could have put a more experienced professional up. Unfortunately I wasn’t available at deadline time to juggle the entries, and he had to settle for today’s race, which was a shame. (At the entry deadline, I was actually having an MRI on my head because I was convinced I was having a brain hemorrhage of some sort after three days of a migraine turned into something much more ugly. I’ll spare you the details, but suffice it to say that this has been a strangely difficult autumn/winter season, physically speaking. I seem to be on the mend – again – now.) In any case, Versaki put in a good effort, finished his race and came home fine. He didn’t get the best of rides, but it was much better than poor Email’s catastrophe.

DerringBay has his chance tomorrow. He has everything going for him, so I’m really curious how he’ll do. Mathias Sautjeau, who rode him in Lyon, is up for tomorrow. We have a far outside draw, but I’m not too concerned about it because in Deauville, the winners are almost never coming on the rail.

Meanwhile, almost everyone else is staying inside because it’s very dangerous to go out. The tracks are being harrowed, but it’s not keeping up with the weather and there are ice chunks everywhere. One bad step could set a horse back for month or worse. We trucked Email and Bay off to the fibersand so they could stretch their legs a bit (particularly important for Bay since he’s running). Turfani and Belle got a sort of bizarre trot/hack canter working on whatever part of the regular tracks we could find that were usable. We need to keep Email and Turfani ticking over for their races next week. Belle is less of a priority because like Pixie, she almost certainly will not get a run in soon because of her earnings exclusion. This kind of weather makes me wish we could set up a satellite operation in Florida, but playing by French drug rules. Not in my lifetime, I suppose.

Cape Tycoon won his race last Thursday in Deauville, but the victory was bittersweet because that race will be his last. As I’ve noted here before, his knees were always iffy, and he came home lame on the right side. He was extremely courageous and won easy, and Greg Benoist walked him off the track babbling on about how fast he was and how much you could do with him, which made things all the more difficult. He cooled out fine, but after we left the vet box for the drug test (which took nearly an hour; Tyke has a thing about peeing under pressure and they finally took blood, as they had to after he won in Lyon) he was slightly favoring it. By the time we left for home about 20 minutes later, he was starting to show lameness and by the time he walked off the truck he was a sore kid. I put him on bute to keep him comfortable and we took x-rays on Saturday, which offered a mixed picture. There was no major fracture, which we had feared, but the limited about of cartilage he had cushioning the joint had all but disappeared on one side, leaving the bone to start fragmenting. He is gradually getting more comfortable, and he will continue on bute for two more days before we’ll have to stop because of other risks. He does not seem to be in distress, is eating his hay and can lay down and get up, all good things. This leaves the prognosis for him to be a riding horse somewhat limited, so we will look for suitable retirement, I think. He is a lovely big horse with a great personality, and that helps in finding a good home for him. Tyke posed more than a few ethical questions for me as a trainer. I knew he had bad knees and that they were getting progressively worse, and I also knew there was a good risk that race would be his last. But I also knew he was dead fit to go and he certainly felt like he wanted to give it a last shot. I rode him on Wednesday, the day before the race; we were passed by a canter on the straight track and I had all I could do to hold him back. I decided that maybe he was like Brett Farvre, the U.S. football quarterback who kept retiring because his body is in pieces but kept coming back and winning. I think maybe I was right. He won the race, which is what I had prepared him to do, and despite his injury, he isn’t looking too sorry for himself just now.

We also took Hard Way and Email Exit to Deauville. I thought Hard Way should win, but he finished only sixth, the first time out of the money in five starts. There was no pace in the race and he got stuck trying to move on the rail in the stretch, which seems to be totally dead and no winners were coming from there. That said, he didn’t pull for the first time and didn’t show signs of trying to gain much speed in the stretch, so I think he’s tired and now definitely needs his break. I have taken him out of training, changed his feed and am treating him like a hack, which seems to suit him. He will stay in the yard for the winter; maybe I’ll change my mind and send him out for two weeks or so at some point, but not more. He likes his double rugs, his prime place in the barn, his trail rides and his Guinness, so there’s no reason to change that.

Poor Email Exit got one of the worst rides I’ve ever seen. He was entered in a race reserved for jockeys that hadn’t won 15 races this year (keep in mind this IS December…) and let me tell you, there’s a reason why some of these guys haven’t made it. An agent found me a guy called Aurelien Malenfant, who should change his name to Malmonte. My first warning signal was when I picked up the saddle and found out he was not a kid, but a grown-up of about 35. If a kid doesn’t win 15 races, it might be because he’s just getting started. But it makes me nervous to see adult still hacking away. I explained to Aurelien that the horse had never run more than 1,200 meters in England, but that he seemed to want more distance in the way he was working at home and had condition. I told him to let him get out of the gate, find a spot behind other horses, do your work in the stretch and see what happens. When the gate opened, this guy gunned him forward like the fires of hell were behind him (don’t forget, he had been a 1,200 meter horse – this would be the very last thing you should do). Not surprisingly, he quickly found himself in front. Then he seemed to remember that this is not where he was supposed to be. So he hooked the horse back so brutally that I think the poor colt thought it must have been a false start. Email quickly dropped back to the back third of the pack of 16. Then the jockey panicked about being too far back and proceeded to start riding the horse again ENTERING THE FINAL TURN. As soon as they got out of the turn, Aurelien dropped his hands and gave up. He pulled the horse up not more than a stride after the wire, then proceeded to babble on about how the colt was afraid of other horses and maybe I might want to try blinkers. I said thank you, now get off. I was stunned, and so was the horse. I have never seen a look of more abject confusion on a horse’s face. Email walked back to the showers with a “what the hell just happened to me out there?” look. I had planned to run him just once and then send him off for gelding, but he has come back fine and I will probably look for one more race because I hate to send him away with such a bad lesson.

Next up in Deauville should be Derringbay, who is working gangbusters, Turfani and hopefully Versake and Belle if we can get them in.

The Deauville follies have begun in earnest, and seven of our horses have triple entries next week in an effort to get into something. It looks like Cape Tycoon should get a run, since he has a priority entry from the last elimination (along with the 155 others that didn’t make the cut, about half of whom are entered along with us). It’s going to be tough to get Pixie into anything, because she is the first to get thrown out because she hasn’t made enough money this year. Same with Blessing Belle and Versaki. Their performances were in England, where the prize money is so dismal that even Versaki’s two third places amounted to a whopping 600 euros and Belle’s victory was only worth 2,700; in France, those kind of performances would have tipped them well over the 3,000 euro mark needed to avoid automatic elimination. The same criteria doesn’t apply to two-year-olds, so Email Exit might get in through luck of the draw. Derringbay might get in, too, but for once I’m hoping he gets eliminated because I’d rather run the longer race on Dec. 18 but I need the priority entry to get in. Sound confusing? It’s a mess. Hard Way looks likely to make the race on Wednesday. I wanted to start his winter break, but he decided he’d rather race again, so I’ll give him a run in Deauville but then it’s definitely vacation. He’s in the 2,400-meter handicap, which should roll along quickly enough on the fibersand that we’ll let him run out front and stretch his legs for once. Unfortunately, it looks like he will carry top weight in the second division again, but that seems to be where we’re stuck in the handicap for the moment. Another of the frustrations of not knowing until the last minute who runs and at what weight is that it’s impossible to line up a jockey – or at least a decent one. The best guys wait until the last minute to see where the chips fall, then cherry pick the best rides (can’t begrudge them that – we’ve all got to make a living). France Galop said this morning that it is adding one race a day for the meeting, which should help a bit, but won’t do much for Pixie, Versaki or Belle. Bay, Tyke and Turfani all should find something eventually, though. Gotta love Deauville in December.

Turfani spun her wheels in the mud in Lyon yesterday, frustrating us all because she really wanted – and was ready – to do better. I wanted soft going for her, but what we got was “collant,” or sticky, thick mud. I had never run her in anything that deep, but I was hoping she would travel on it. Nope. It was pretty evident from the minute she hit the track for her warm-up canter. She did not have her usual fluid stride. She broke well and went to her usual spot, about fourth behind the leaders, and was gamely trying from there, but she switched legs in the first furlong looking for better footing and I knew we were cooked. This is the first time I haven’t been annoyed with a jockey dropping his hands. Hamel rode exactly to orders, then asked her twice at the head of the stretch and didn’t force it when it was clear she couldn’t accelerate. So my record in Lyon is 1 win and two places from five starts, which isn’t too bad, but it’s a long way down there and I’ll be happy enough not to have to make the trip for awhile. Turfani came back fine, had a good long nap today and is eating up. Best of all, her legs look good, so we can look for something in Deauville…

…like the hundreds of others who are entered. Pixie and Tyke were both eliminated from their race Thursday – there were 199 horses start-declared. Everybody fit to run has entries next week; we’ll just keep throwing them out there and hoping something sticks.

Skid Solo makes his second attempt at a Tierce handicap tomorrow, this time in Deauville and this time at his best distance of 1,200 meters. It’s a great purse – 27,000 to the winner – and a field of 16. We’ve got Olivier Peslier up, and as usual, it’s up to Skid because we know he’s got the ability.

Derringbay heads back to the fibersand in Lyon for an 1,800-meter claimer; this time he’s riding in a truck that he can walk straight on and off, but I won’t be with him this time in any case, since I’ll be with Skid in Deauville. He will be well looked after, though, and Nadege will ride. It’s a tougher field this time because it’s a PMU meeting, but if he can repeat the speed he’s shown at home, that could carry him into the money. Unlike me, DBay seems to be feeling fit and fine since his last race.