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When I meet that currently elusive obscenely rich benefactor – are you offering, Ken?
I would agree with you about MR on this as I have heard one or 2 fairly negative things about him. However some of his pupils notably Kelly Marks are very competent. Kelly is the daughter of trainer Doug Marks and has a lot of common sense where it comes to handling and retraining horses..
He so did not get on with Clare Balding. Years ago I was working for a bloodstock agent who was staying down at Goodwood (with JW and one fairly well known Impressionist among others) for the August meeting when I got a call from him asking him to fax in the following:
Dear Clare
Who is the best on the BBC team at doing a Paddock Inspection?
Yours sincerely
Miss R Soles (Rebecca)Fax duly arrived and JW who was in on joke thrust it under Clares nose to read out which she duly did not realising she had been set up. After reading out – Miss R Soles – she desperatly tried to redeem herslf by saying "shes called Rebecca!" but by then Wilson and comrades were in hysterics. Added to that a Paddock Inspection was their euphamism for a bl*wjob.
She never forgave him. The whole incident is referred to in the book and I really do feel mortified that I was the sender if not the culprit behind the deed.
I thought it was hysterical – more name-dropping than goes on on another racing forum I frequent and thats saying something as there are 2 pretty serious star sh***ers on there!
I hope the reference to looking in a dictionary does not refer to me as I certainly have no need of one.
I have seen plenty of horses (mainly NH horses) with their shins pin-fired although as I stated it is not something I would advocate.
If a horse has completely recovered from sore shins as a 2yo and not been subjected to wrok whilst they were sore, there is no reason why he could not run at Epsom. A large majority of young horses get sore shins early in their training careers while a few can get reoccurences. The usual treatment is to ease off on the horse (i.e. stop cantering) until the heat/pain goes from the front of the shin/canon bone. To do this you can apply ice packs and or cooling poultices. Some trainers do blister youngsters regardless whether they get sore shins in the theory it will "toughen them up" – I myself do not use this method – nor would I advocate firing them. Neither do I keep them going "work them through it" – would you appreciate having to go for a run when the front of your shin bones were very painful? Some horses can develop temperament problems if you continue to work them while things hurt and who can blame them.
Sore shins will given a little time, settle down quite quickly as the inflammation subsides and the bone densifies. Occasionally you can get "saucer fractures" which are small flakes of bone that detach from the main bone. This is more common in the US.
I used to look after a colt called Cauvery who suffered from fairly bad sore shins but he managed to handle Epsom well when running second in the Diomed Stakes.
Can claim to be a trainer (taking time out at present but hopefully to return in near future!) – actually responsible for forum associated horse, Tajjree, who won for us last year – a very happy day!
Impressed by the guts of this horse even if he has a rather ungainly gait (I believe he has had a fracture at some stage?). Thought the second had a very very hard time from McCoy – hope hes tough enough to survive it mentally.
Unlikely. This happened last year and yet this years 3yos were hardly inspiring. I think until they replace their Chiefs at the top and go back to employing a Noseda type figure as assistant, they will continue to struggle with their daft training methods.
They’re on his case already
McKeown referred to BHA
over non-trier ruleracingpost.co.uk
CONTROVERSIAL jockey Dean McKeown has found himself back in hot water after he was found in breach of the non-trier’s rule (rule 157) at Southwell on Tuesday.
McKeown was found guilty after his ride on Rascal In The Mix in the 1.30 maiden auction stakes finished unplaced having attracted significant market support before drifting.
The Southwell stewards have referred the case to the BHA at Shaftsbury Avenue.
Librettist,
A horse gone in her coat means she / he is losing her summer coat. When going racing this is usually obvious. Longer hairs appear, I usually spot it on the belly first. It also appears duller.
Some horses are effected by it, some aren’t. But it is a sign it may be past it’s best and is something to look out for in the paddock at this time of year. I would want a bigger price to back a horse wrong in it’s coat.
In this case it is more significant than that. If a horse is getting it’s winter coat and then travels to a hotter country it might sweat more. Rainbow View sweated up even at Ascot, so if she has her winter coat in a hotter climate…
She could "boil over". Even if she were capable of running to her best with a winter coat here, she might not there. But it is all conjecture Librettist.Mark
In my experience horses tend to go a bit weak when they change their coats but usually return to their former well being once the coat has "set" – I think they put energy into this coat changing which is why people think "going in their coat" is the best time to avoid them. Once the coat sets and you have clipped them out they are usually fine. Jumpers are the obvious example, but I would always avoid running one of mine when they are in the middle of getting their winter /summer coat. Likewise my dog (a greyhound) can look pretty manky when hes changing his coat and drops a few pounds.
Horses (especially 2yos) will also go weak when going through a growing phase and it is up to the trainer to spot this. They can show this in different ways from the obvious (rear end shoots up higher than the front end) to not so obvious like lying down sleepig alot during the day or "climbing" in their faster paces where they are struggling to adjust their stride to a weakness in their growing build.
I think a great many 2/3yos are ruined by trainers not easing back on horses when they are in these phases and it can be attributed to horses "not training on." Trainers used to look round at evening stables and stand them up to look at them side on every night to assess their charges as well checking the legs are ok. Also they relied more on their head staff and lads to tell them when they weren’t happy with the horse. Nowadays, I think alot of trainers are too busy and staff over stretched so alot is missed.
If your filly has a strained suspensory ligament you are looking at plenty of time off – I’d say 6 months at least. She certainly shouldn’t be doing any fast work this Saturday or even cantering if the diagnosis is correct. Ligaments and tendons ALWAYS require time/rest.
Had she had a chip in her knee you would have got her back into work sooner in my experience. Tajjree had a small (no bigger than a pinhead) chip which I found after riding her one day and feeling the wheels ad fallen off! On examining evry inch of her legs I found a tiny "hotspot" which even the vet missed. On Xraying her, we found the chip and injected the knee. Once done it was like riding a different horse and she went on to run fairly soon afterwrds. Obviously if the chip is larger and more irritating to the joint, you will have to have it removed surgically.
I’m starting to think Getaway is the forgotten horse this year as well. He looked a beast when he won at Newmarket then disappointed in the Coronation (iffy track may not have suited him) and then next time on soft ground, but he returned to form last time on better ground albeit against weaker opposition and he did run a blinder in the Arc last year. I do like Zarkava but the slowness out of the stalls worries me that she may be feeling something (also the way she carries her tail awkwardly).
Both Wolfhound and Catrail were knocked out of the race vitually when Barathea blew the bend. And Catrail was being a right B******ks training on the track before the race (somewhere I have photos as I was there for the week). But Gosden did train from both Hollywood Park & Santa Anita back in the 80s so he should know the tracks inside out over there.
I found it amazing that Cecil & Gordon-Watson were so stupid to bid for this guy who they had never met. As a trainer you have plenty of nutters ringing up and after a while you realise who the genuine ones are. But to spend that sort of money based on phone calls?
I once had a guy ring me in response to an advert saying he wanted the filly ( I made him pay a non- refundable 10% deposit which arrived in a brown envelope). He then said he was looking for 4 horses including one to run in the Triumph Hurdle. After speaking to him a few times, I pressed 1471 but the number came up as "we do not have the callers number" so I thought – prison or nuthouse. A couple of days later, I got a call back from the HRA (off the record) who warned me he was in a nuthouse having been sent down for 18 months for syndicate fraud & threats to another trainer – he dug a grave in their drive and put a headstone saying RIP & the trainers name. While inside he had tried to hire a hitman to kill the judge who sent him there plus the Chief Constable of Yorkshire. Needless to say he is there for quite a while now. When you speak to these nutters, it is fairly easy to trip them up and anyone in their right mind would do some digging first especially as its so easy with the Internet now. Or at least get some sort of financial references for them.I watche the video of the Belmont courtesy of SportingLife site and he is shown holding up his near hind after the race. As horses have large amounts of adrenalin runnng through their systems during the race, I assumed that for him to have flet enough to hold a leg up then he was pretty sore. Maybe they haven’t got round to telling anyone yet? If he’d pulled a shoe off an dthe horse was immediately sore why not admit it straight away?
There are basically 3 of them that run the Sheikh Mo show –
Simon Crisford – formerly Newmarket Correspondent to RPost also spent 2 years as Assistant to Sir Mark Prescott.
John Ferguson – bloodstock agent – think he was assistant somewhere as well
Diana Cooper – formerly PA to Sheikh Mo and daughter of late Irish bloodstock guru.
Saeed Bin Suroor is a bit of a puppet in the fact that they need an Arab to front it all.
However – NONE OF THE FIRST 3 HAVE EVER HAD A TRAINING LICENCE!
This in my opinion (and a great many other racing professionals) is the problem – they are running the show and have some of the stangest ideas possible. Sheikh Mo has a pre-training outfit which takes up a fair chunk of the Hamilton Road stables in Newmarket. This is split into 3 yards and John Ferguson overseas these with people such as ex-trainer, Declan Daly in charge of the yards. These horses are then prepared to go into training at Godolphin or with the other Darley trainers. They will also take back horses on the easy list. It is this pre-training which I think has been one of the problems. All the horses are grossly overfed and then because they are so hyper get daily doses of a sedative called ACP. This cannot be right especially as long term use of ACP is taken to have a bad effect on the kidneys. On one occasion a sales rep turned up selling a vitamin additive which could definitely benefit some horses – Ferguson put the entire string on it! Great for the sales rep but TOTALLY unessesary. I also think that possibly the horses are not fit enough and tehy go into Godolphin where they are flung into hard work too quickly and you get a great many injured as a result (this is courtesy of an ex Godolphin work rider who left as he was unhappy for this reason).
I have many contacts at both the Darley pre-training yards and Godolphin yards who just get on with the job as the money and bonuses are too good to walk away from. But they are not encouraged to voice their opinions and yet Godolphin have some of the best work riders you could employ. People who have offered too much in the way of ideas tend to get the push. I cannot confirm it but think this may have been the case with Neil Graham who was in charge of training the 2yos.
When you look back to the Godolphin glory days – you had Noseda playing a very large role which was then taken up by Tom Albertrani. I think they need to change their chiefs at the top because at this rate Sheikh Mos outfit is becoming a laughing stock considering the colossal ammount of money he pours in.
I once had a guy ring me in response to an advert saying he wanted the filly ( I made him pay a non- refundable 10% deposit which arrived in a brown envelope). He then said he was looking for 4 horses including one to run in the Triumph Hurdle. After speaking to him a few times, I pressed 1471 but the number came up as "we do not have the callers number" so I thought – prison or nuthouse. A couple of days later, I got a call back from the HRA (off the record) who warned me he was in a nuthouse having been sent down for 18 months for syndicate fraud & threats to another trainer – he dug a grave in their drive and put a headstone saying RIP & the trainers name. While inside he had tried to hire a hitman to kill the judge who sent him there plus the Chief Constable of Yorkshire. Needless to say he is there for quite a while now. When you speak to these nutters, it is fairly easy to trip them up and anyone in their right mind would do some digging first especially as its so easy with the Internet now. Or at least get some sort of financial references for them.