Tyke’s race on Sunday was essentially that: Nineteen of the 20-horse field finished within six lengths of each other. Tyke finished about 10th, at best count. He sat fifth on the rail for most of the race, accelerated two furlongs out, then was blocked and the jockey stopped riding. I don’t think he could have done much in any case; to say there were traffic problems would be an understatement. I would have liked to have taken a check, obviously, but considering he hadn’t run in nearly a year and had never run on turf, it was a respectable debut. The race was pretty quick, with the first 1,000 meters going in 57 seconds. The jockey said he didn’t breathe very well, but I’m not worried about that, because I know Tyke can close up his airway when he gets stressed. He used to have panic attacks when he first came back into training, but they went away as he gained confidence, and with a few more races under his belt, he’ll start breathing easier. He probably has the speed to go a bit shorter, but there are not many good races for him coming up. I may instead stretch him out to a mile in two weeks, with no expectations he can win, but just to get another race in and help him relax. He came back sound and is eating well after yesterday, so now we can look ahead.
That means we have all three T’s back and racing, just waiting for the right chance to get back out; they should all have races between May 8 and May 15. Hard Way also is almost ready to run his “rentree”, which might be in Maisons Laffitte on May 11. The hardest part now is waiting, working and keeping it all going in the right direction.