Month: July 2020

Swiss Skydiver Entered In Blue Grass; McPeek Trainee Only Second Filly To Contest Keeneland’s Biggest Derby Prep

Multiple graded stakes winner Swiss Skydiver is scheduled to become the second filly to run in the Grade 2 Blue Grass Stakes since it debuted at Keeneland during the track's inaugural Spring Meet in April 1937.

The 3-year-old daughter of Daredevil drew post seven of 13 entrants in Saturday's contest, which offers the winner 100 points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. Trained by Kenny McPeek, Swiss Skydiver already tops the points standings for the Kentucky Oaks, with wins in the Gulfstream Oaks, Fantasy Stakes, and Santa Anita Oaks on her resume.

The Blue Grass will be the filly's first start against males, and she'll again be partnered by Hall of Fame jockey Mike Smith.

The first filly to run in the Blue Grass was Hyman Friedberg's homebred Harriet Sue, who in 1944 won the Ashland and next was fifth to Skytracer in the Blue Grass. That year, Keeneland's Spring Meet was held at Churchill Downs. In 1948, future Hall of Famer Bewitch was scratched from the Blue Grass.

This year's Blue Grass field is as follows:

Post Horse Trainer Jockey
1 Shivaree Ralph Nicks John Velazquez
2 Finnick the Fierce Rey Hernandez Jose Ortiz
3 Art Collector Tom Drury Jr. Brian Hernandez Jr.
4 Mr. Big News Bret Calhoun Mitchell Murrill
5 Man in the Can Ron Moquett Tyler Gaffalione
6 Hard Lighting Alexis Delgado Rafael Bejarano
7 Swiss Skydiver Kenny McPeek Mike Smith
8 Basin Steve Asmussen Ricardo Santana Jr.
9 Attachment Rate Dale Romans Luis Saez
10 Rushie Michael McCarthy Javier Castellano
11 Hunt the Front Nick Zito Corey Lanerie
12 Enforceable Mark Casse Joel Rosario
13 Tiesto Bill Mott Flavien Prat

The post Swiss Skydiver Entered In Blue Grass; McPeek Trainee Only Second Filly To Contest Keeneland’s Biggest Derby Prep appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Legislation Banning Double-Decker Trailer Transport For Horses Passes House

Double-decker trailers, the kind used to transport hogs and cattle, are not safe for equine transport: The trailers don't provide enough headroom for the horses to stand comfortably and oftentimes horses in the trailer are injured during transport as they cannot raise their heads to maintain balance.

In 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture banned the use of double-decker trailers to transport horses to slaughter, but continued to allow inter-state shipment of horses in these trailers. The Horse Transportation Act (HTSA), part of a legislative infrastructure package called the Moving Forward Act, would ban the shipment of horses in double-decker trailers anywhere in the United States—not just to slaughter.

The act has passed through the House and now must be passed by the Senate before Sept. 30 to become a law. The HTSA is led by Representatives Steve Cohen (D-TN), Peter King (R-NY), Dina Titus (D-NV) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA).

Read more at HorseTalk.

The post Legislation Banning Double-Decker Trailer Transport For Horses Passes House appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Pyledriver Eyes German Group 1

GSW Pyledriver (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) could try for Group 1 glory in Germany, once he has had time to recover from his unfortunate passage in the G1 Investec Derby at Epsom. Trainer William Muir has the Preis von Europa at Cologne in mind for his stable star, whose hopes of Classic success were dashed soon after the start on Saturday.

“Once he got knocked over that was our race gone,” said Muir. “It happened when they cross from one side of the track to the other. He ended up being the meat in sandwich and was spat out the back. That was our race over.

“He did very well to stay on the way he did. He’s come out of it very well, but he didn’t really have a race. It was one of those things. That’s racing, that’s what happened, and you have to be philosophical and go forward. He didn’t get injured–and that’s the main thing, the luckiest thing.”

Muir is sticking to his original plan to give Pyledriver a break, after taking him from last month’s G2 King Edward VII S.–in which he gave the Lambourn trainer his first Royal Ascot success–on to the Derby.

“I said I was going to give him a little bit of time, and I am,” he said. “Once I’ve done that, and he’s freshened up, he’ll probably go for a Group 1 in Germany, the Preis von Europa. We ran Enforcer (GB) (Efisio {GB}) in that years ago (2006), and he was third.

“The horse is fine. He had a canter round on Tuesday. He’s 100%, no problems whatsoever. We’ll look to go to Cologne, unless something pops up elsewhere. I’m convinced after Saturday if he hadn’t got hampered, he’d have finished very much closer– but we wouldn’t have beaten the winner.”

The post Pyledriver Eyes German Group 1 appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights