Aidan O’Brien hopes stable stars Magical and Enable have the chance to face Ghaiyyath again
Aidan O'Brien says he would relish the opportunity to take on Ghaiyyath again in the Irish Champion Stakes at Leopardstown a week on Saturday.
Month: September 2020
Mike Smith Talks Honor A. P., Derby Memories On TDN Writers’ Room
As a Hall of Fame jockey and two-time winning rider of the GI Kentucky Derby, Mike Smith knows his way around Churchill Downs. After having his morning-line favored mount Omaha Beach (War Front) scratched the week of the race last year, Smith is back aboard a major contender in Saturday’s Run for the Roses. Wednesday, the 55-year-old rider who’s still at the top of his game joined the TDN Writers’ Room presented by Keeneland. Calling in via Zoom from Louisville as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Smith talked about his mount Honor A. P. (Honor Code), his past Derby wins, Holy Bull, Arrogate, whether he thinks about retirement and more.
Honor A. P. punched his ticket for the Derby with a win in the GI Runhappy Santa Anita Derby, but was second at 1-5 last out in the Shared Belief S. at Del Mar Smith said he thinks the colt’s improved training and distance capabilities give him confidence in a peak effort Saturday.
“The Santa Anita Derby was a mile and an eighth, Shared Belief was a mile and a sixteenth, so he shortened back up,” Smith said. “And he didn’t get a whole lot of serious training in between the two races. They certainly wanted him to be peaking at this time and not then. I think his best work going into that race was 1:02 something, so he kind of ran a bit sluggishly and finally came running at the end. And actually still ran really well. He ran a 102 Beyer. But since then, we’ve really stepped up his training and put some sharp works into him. Then after his two really sharp works, we did a maintenance work and he did it so nice. He went seven-eighths in 1:27 and galloped out in 40, which was really good. He did that all on his own. So he’s coming into the Derby training extremely well, really fine-tuned and fit to run his best effort.”
Smith has chosen to stay aboard the John Shirreffs trainee instead of taking the return call on Authentic (Into Mischief), who he rode to victory for Bob Baffert in the GI Haskell Invitational.
“They’re tied with each other. The first time they ran against each other [in the GII San Felipe S.], Authentic beat Honor A. P.,” he said. “We’d come off a foot injury, had missed some time, so I knew he wasn’t 100% going into that race. In the Santa Anita Derby, I knew he was. And I thought that the distance would really suit him well. I just truly think that when we’re going to go a mile and an eighth and further, that’s when you see Honor A. P. really start to shine, really start to stand out. And that’s just what made my mind up. I can’t wait to see what he does going a mile and a quarter.”
Smith reminisced on his previous two Derby wins, first aboard 50-1 shot Giacomo (Holy Bull) and second on undefeated favorite Justify (Scat Daddy).
“We were running out west [with Giacomo] where the tracks were really fast at the time,” Smith remembered. “They weren’t suiting him, but he would run second or third and really gallop out strong, so I knew that once we got off the West Coast racetracks, he was going to excel. He was going to run better. Was it going to be good enough for him to win the Derby? I wasn’t really sure, but I was talking myself into it. I’d ridden his father in the Derby. He was a big favorite and ran probably his worst race, so I wanted to redeem his father’s name. I was using that to keep me pumped up and keep me excited. Then the more I looked at the race, I saw that this pace is going to be really hot. This could really set up for me. And that’s exactly what happened.”
“When I was with Justify, it was a whole different story,” he said. “We had all the hype, he was the horse to beat. We actually believed that he had the kind of talent to be a Triple Crown winner. He was that kind of horse. So there was a whole lot more pressure with him.”
Asked about the secret to his longevity and whether or not he thinks about retiring, Smith said, “At times I think about it, but then I think, ‘Well, where else am I going to have this kind of fun?’ I’m having a blast right now, getting the opportunity to ride in these big races. And if I did anything right early on in my career, I really took up physical fitness instead of going out and playing golf and not doing a whole lot. Every morning, I just made it a way of life. I train every morning. If I’m not training myself, I have two different personal trainers that train me at least five times a week. I go at it pretty, pretty hard. I’ve been doing it for a long time and it’s starting to pay off in my later years. I’m still as fit as I was 10 years ago. So for some reason I’m hanging in there. And as long as I can continue to do that, I plan to ride another few years.”
Elsewhere on the show, the crew broke down the Derby and Oaks fields from all angles and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, reacted to the creation of the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act and its corresponding alliance. Then, host Joe Bianca addressed the comments made by Barclay Tagg Tuesday about the racial unrest in Louisville. Click here to watch the podcast, click here for the audio-only version.
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Diodoro has Third Winner This Week DQ’d for Drug Positive
For the third time as many days this week, the nation’s third-leading trainer by wins for 2020 has been fined and had a winner disqualified for a Class 4 drug positive.
According to a Sept. 2 ruling issued by the Oklahoma Horse Racing Commission, the Robertino Diodoro-trained Erebuni (Ministers Wild Cat) came up positive for dexamethasone in post-race serum testing after winning the 10th race at Will Rogers Downs May 4. The race was a $5,000 NW4L claimer in which the mare was favored at 19-10 odds.
Dexamethasone is an anti-inflammatory listed as a Class 4/Penalty Category C prohibited substance on the Association of Racing Commissioners International’s uniform classification guidelines for foreign substances.
According to the ruling, Diodoro declined the opportunity to have a split sample tested, waived his right to a hearing, and pled “no contest.”
In addition to owner Empire Racing Stables, LLC, (Jason Bullard) losing the $4,614 winning purse for Erebuni’s DQ, Diodoro was fined $1,000.
Erebuni has started and lost three consecutive races since that May 4 win, shipping most recently to Evangeline Downs in Louisiana. But the ruling states that the mare must now work out and be examined by a commission veterinarian (at the owner and/or trainer’s expense) before being allowed to race again.
On Aug. 31, Diodoro had two winners and a fifth-place horse disqualified from Oaklawn Park races via rulings that cited prohibited use of two different Class 4 substances. Diodoro was separately fined $3,500 for failing to meet the “absolute insurer” requirements of a trainer licensed by the Arkansas State Racing Commission.
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Study Shows Unique Equine Shoes Mimic Barefoot Benefits
A study out of Belgium sought to determine how medial-lateral heel movement in horses was affected by shoe configuration when compared to barefoot hooves. Drs. Brunsting, Dumoulin, Oosterlinck, Haspeslagh, Lefère and Pille worked eight Warmbloods on a treadmill at the walk, trot and canter for the study.
Barefoot hooves are flexible; they move with each step and have an elastic rebound as the horse moves off each hoof. This motion absorbs concussion and improves blood flow in limbs. Wearing shoes, however, restricts heel movement, limiting concussion absorption and blood flow.
All 16 forelimbs were tested. The hooves were either left barefoot, fitted with a conventional shoe or fitted with a split-toe shoe. The conventional shoe was a standard steel shoe with a toe clip. The split-toe shoe is a new shoe designed to enable heel expansion. The shoe has a toe clip and side clips between the second and third nail hole on each side. Once in place, the shoe is sawn through at the toe so the two halves of the shoe move independently of each other.
Typically, barefoot hooves expand during impact and midstance; heels contract during breakover. Heel expansion is greater at the trot and canter than at the walk, but heel contraction is consistent in all gaits.
The researchers found that conventional shoes restrict heel expansion by 36 percent compared to barefoot hooves. The team found no significant difference in heel expansion between hooves wearing split-toe shoes and barefoot hooves. They also noted that though shoes protect the hoof from excessive wear and can increase traction, that they can increase shock impact and weight on the distal limb. They conclude that the split-toe shoe provides advantages of both barefoot and shod hooves.
Read more at EquiManagement.
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