Moving Moments Send Shivers, Both Good and Bad
Nov 4, 2013 20:10:33 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Nov 4, 2013 20:10:33 GMT -5
From the New York Times....
Moving Moments Send Shivers, Both Good and Bad
By JOE DRAPE
Published: November 3, 2013
ARCADIA, Calif. — There were awe-inspiring moments aplenty, like Magician moving like a John Deere tractor as he mowed down rivals in the lane of the Breeders’ Cup Turf to give European horses their fifth victory of these world championships. Or Wise Dan, the reigning horse of the year, showing why he should retain that title with a last-to-first rush in the Turf Mile that was as breathtaking as it was powerful.
It was Wise Dan’s 19th victory in 27 career starts and pushed the gelding’s lifetime earnings to almost $6.3 million. It rewarded his everyman connections of the owner Morton Fink and the trainer Charles LoPresti as well as a large fan base that appreciates how Wise Dan seems to fire every time he runs. Both Fink and LoPresti know that this horse has little left to prove and has treated them well.
If Wise Dan returns to racing at all next year, LoPresti said it would be for a limited schedule.
“He is an exceptional animal, but he’s not made of iron,” he said. “We just need to be a little bit more careful with him next year. But he’s sound and he loves to run, and he loves to train. I know one thing about him, even in defeat, he’ll give you his all.”
The most moving moment, fittingly, occurred in the championships marquee race when Mucho Macho Man held off determined charges from Will Take Charge and Declaration of War to win the $5 million Classic. Surprisingly, it was the first Classic victory for the Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, who, at age 50, returned to race riding after a seven-year retirement and has been winning one big race after another.
It was hard not to be touched when he brought what had been up to that point a hard-luck horse to the winners’ circle and was stopped on the track by Kathy Ritvo, Mucho Macho Man’s trainer, who five years ago received a heart transplant. She has a small horse operation, two young children and treated the fact that she was the first female trainer to win the Classic as a minor footnote.
“I love this horse,” she said later. “He’s fantastic. He gives us a 100 percent. He’s a happy horse, intelligent. I’m just very blessed to be here. Very blessed to have met him.”
The sport’s dangerous side found its way into the spotlight in the first Breeders’ Cup race Saturday when the filly Secret Compass broke her leg and had to be euthanized after the running of the Juvenile Fillies. She also dumped her jockey, the Hall of Famer John Velazquez, who had to have his spleen removed and remained in Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, Calif. He was the regular rider of Wise Dan, and had mounts on several other contenders.
Secret Compass was trained by Bob Baffert, another Hall of Famer, whose barn has endured a series of fatal injuries. Baffert is at the center of an inquiry by the California Horse Racing Board into the acute deaths of dozens of horses — seven of them in a 16-month period — belonging to him. He has denied any wrongdoing and has been awaiting the board’s findings, which could be released by the end of the month.
Baffert was visibly shaken by the death of Secret Compass. A necropsy was under way Sunday. Unlike in New York, however, where in the days before big races, veterinarian records of every treatment and injection are logged and made public, rules in California call for those records to remain confidential. So it is unknown if Secret Compass was being treated for pain or any ailment.
It would be a nod to transparency if the owners of Secret Compass, Westrock Stables LLC and Baffert, agreed to release his medical records publicly.
Last year, an investigation by The New York Times identified the nation’s most dangerous racetracks, showed how a pervasive drug culture put horses and riders at risk and found that 24 horses a week died at tracks in the United States — a rate greater than in countries where drug use is severely restricted. Industry leaders have acknowledged that a drug culture is diminishing the sport.
Horse racing officials have taken significant steps to clean up their sport. More than a dozen states have agreed to operate their racetracks under one set of rules that severely restricts the administration of medication.
Racetracks, too, have a responsibility to make their venues safe for human and equine athletes. Three other horses sustained similar injuries on the racetrack here, prompting complaints that the surface was not properly maintained and was too hard. The Breeders’ Cup Sprint contender Points Offthebench broke a leg while training earlier in the week and was euthanized. Centralinteligence was pulled up and taken off after the Dirt Mile Friday; he had surgery on his injured right foreleg.
Afterward, Breeders’ Cup officials told executives at Santa Anita that they were concerned about the condition of the track, prompting an overtime effort from its ground crews to water and soften the track for Saturday, according to a Breeders’ Cup official who spoken on condition of anonymity because the person did not have the authority to comment publicly.
Magician, Wise Dan, Mucho Macho Man and nine other action-packed world championship races reminded us once again that horse racing can be beautiful and thrilling. Now, it’s up to the people in charge to commit 100 percent to what’s right for the horses, their riders and the sport.
www.nytimes.com/2013/11/04/sports/touching-moments-send-shivers-both-good-and-bad.html?_r=2&
Moving Moments Send Shivers, Both Good and Bad
By JOE DRAPE
Published: November 3, 2013
ARCADIA, Calif. — There were awe-inspiring moments aplenty, like Magician moving like a John Deere tractor as he mowed down rivals in the lane of the Breeders’ Cup Turf to give European horses their fifth victory of these world championships. Or Wise Dan, the reigning horse of the year, showing why he should retain that title with a last-to-first rush in the Turf Mile that was as breathtaking as it was powerful.
It was Wise Dan’s 19th victory in 27 career starts and pushed the gelding’s lifetime earnings to almost $6.3 million. It rewarded his everyman connections of the owner Morton Fink and the trainer Charles LoPresti as well as a large fan base that appreciates how Wise Dan seems to fire every time he runs. Both Fink and LoPresti know that this horse has little left to prove and has treated them well.
If Wise Dan returns to racing at all next year, LoPresti said it would be for a limited schedule.
“He is an exceptional animal, but he’s not made of iron,” he said. “We just need to be a little bit more careful with him next year. But he’s sound and he loves to run, and he loves to train. I know one thing about him, even in defeat, he’ll give you his all.”
The most moving moment, fittingly, occurred in the championships marquee race when Mucho Macho Man held off determined charges from Will Take Charge and Declaration of War to win the $5 million Classic. Surprisingly, it was the first Classic victory for the Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, who, at age 50, returned to race riding after a seven-year retirement and has been winning one big race after another.
It was hard not to be touched when he brought what had been up to that point a hard-luck horse to the winners’ circle and was stopped on the track by Kathy Ritvo, Mucho Macho Man’s trainer, who five years ago received a heart transplant. She has a small horse operation, two young children and treated the fact that she was the first female trainer to win the Classic as a minor footnote.
“I love this horse,” she said later. “He’s fantastic. He gives us a 100 percent. He’s a happy horse, intelligent. I’m just very blessed to be here. Very blessed to have met him.”
The sport’s dangerous side found its way into the spotlight in the first Breeders’ Cup race Saturday when the filly Secret Compass broke her leg and had to be euthanized after the running of the Juvenile Fillies. She also dumped her jockey, the Hall of Famer John Velazquez, who had to have his spleen removed and remained in Huntington Memorial Hospital in Pasadena, Calif. He was the regular rider of Wise Dan, and had mounts on several other contenders.
Secret Compass was trained by Bob Baffert, another Hall of Famer, whose barn has endured a series of fatal injuries. Baffert is at the center of an inquiry by the California Horse Racing Board into the acute deaths of dozens of horses — seven of them in a 16-month period — belonging to him. He has denied any wrongdoing and has been awaiting the board’s findings, which could be released by the end of the month.
Baffert was visibly shaken by the death of Secret Compass. A necropsy was under way Sunday. Unlike in New York, however, where in the days before big races, veterinarian records of every treatment and injection are logged and made public, rules in California call for those records to remain confidential. So it is unknown if Secret Compass was being treated for pain or any ailment.
It would be a nod to transparency if the owners of Secret Compass, Westrock Stables LLC and Baffert, agreed to release his medical records publicly.
Last year, an investigation by The New York Times identified the nation’s most dangerous racetracks, showed how a pervasive drug culture put horses and riders at risk and found that 24 horses a week died at tracks in the United States — a rate greater than in countries where drug use is severely restricted. Industry leaders have acknowledged that a drug culture is diminishing the sport.
Horse racing officials have taken significant steps to clean up their sport. More than a dozen states have agreed to operate their racetracks under one set of rules that severely restricts the administration of medication.
Racetracks, too, have a responsibility to make their venues safe for human and equine athletes. Three other horses sustained similar injuries on the racetrack here, prompting complaints that the surface was not properly maintained and was too hard. The Breeders’ Cup Sprint contender Points Offthebench broke a leg while training earlier in the week and was euthanized. Centralinteligence was pulled up and taken off after the Dirt Mile Friday; he had surgery on his injured right foreleg.
Afterward, Breeders’ Cup officials told executives at Santa Anita that they were concerned about the condition of the track, prompting an overtime effort from its ground crews to water and soften the track for Saturday, according to a Breeders’ Cup official who spoken on condition of anonymity because the person did not have the authority to comment publicly.
Magician, Wise Dan, Mucho Macho Man and nine other action-packed world championship races reminded us once again that horse racing can be beautiful and thrilling. Now, it’s up to the people in charge to commit 100 percent to what’s right for the horses, their riders and the sport.
www.nytimes.com/2013/11/04/sports/touching-moments-send-shivers-both-good-and-bad.html?_r=2&
