March, 2021 | Horse Racing Free Tips

It’s Everywhere: Why Tetanus Vaccination is Imperative

A trip to the doctor or emergency room may prompt the question “When was the last time you had a tetanus shot?” Though some will have to think back to their last injury for that answer, when asked about a horse's last tetanus booster, the answer should be immediate: annually.

Tetanus is caused by a spore-forming bacterium that is present in the intestinal tract of horses, humans and other animals. It also lives in the soil, where it can be viable for multiple years, posing an ongoing threat to people and horses, which are the most susceptible animal to tetanus.

The bacteria can enter a body through even small open wounds, cuts or incisions, but puncture wounds are particularly susceptible, especially to the sole of the hoof. Infection can also occur through gastric or intestinal ulcers after eating contaminated soil or feces. Foals can also become infected through their naval as the umbilicus heals. The fatality rate for horses who contract tetanus is 75 percent, so vaccination is imperative.

A horse with tetanus will be overly sensitive to noise and movement. As the disease progresses, the horse's third eyelid will prolapse, his nostrils will flare and he will adopt a “sawhorse” stance, with rigid muscles and a tail held away from the body. Most affected horses will eventually have respiratory failure and die.

Tetanus is completely preventable through vaccination, which is considered an AAEP core vaccine.

Frankel’s Dam Kind Dies From Foaling Complications

Kind (Ire) (Danehill-Rainbow Lake {GB}, by Rainbow Quest), the dam of the undefeated champion Frankel (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), passed away from foaling complications on Monday, Juddmonte announced. Also the dam of fellow Group 1 winner Noble Mission (GB) (Galileo {Ire}), the second generation Juddmonte homebred and listed winner was 20. Her final foal, a colt by Kingman (GB), was foaled on Mar. 2.

Stud Director UK Simon Mockridge commented, “I cannot thank the Rossdales and Juddmonte team enough for the tireless care they have given Kind. To many she will rightfully always be best remembered as the dam of Frankel and Noble Mission, to us at Juddmonte she will always be Kind by name and Kind by nature.”

Foaled Apr. 21, 2001, Kind was sent to the yard of Roger Charlton and won a brace of listed races during three seasons on the racecourse. Her best showing was a third in the G3 Ballyogan S. in 2005 and she was retired with a mark of 13-6-0-4 and $132,320 in earnings. However, it was as a broodmare that she truly flourished.

Overall, she produced eight foals, six runners and five winners. Bullet Train (GB) (Sadler's Wells), a winner of the G3 Derby Trial, was Kind's first foal. She visited the court of Galileo (Ire) in 2007 and her best performer, the outstanding European Horse of the Year Frankel was the result. Besides that G1 2000 Guineas hero, Kind also produced three-time Group 1 winner Noble Mission (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) and the multiple stakes winner and dual group-placed Joyeuse (GB). The latter is already the dam of the G1 Coronation S. third Jubiloso (GB) (Shamardal) and the MSP Jovial (GB) (Dubawi {Ire}). Her 3-year-old Galileo filly is named Chiasma (Ire) and is in training with John Gosden. Kind's name is also on the IFHA's International List of Protected Names.

Barring her latest foal, the other five colts out of Kind have all found their way to stallion barns, with Frankel showing the way at Banstead Manor Stud for Juddmonte with great success. Bullet Train stands at Woodfield Farm Stud and Proconsul (GB) (Galileo {Ire}) is at Annshoon Stud, both in Ireland. Noble Mission, after spending several season at Lane's End Farm in Kentucky, is standing his first season in Japan, while the winning Morpheus (GB) (Oasis Dream {GB}) is at Haras de Toury in France.

Kind's second dam, the group-placed Rockfest (Stage Door Johnny), joined the Juddmonte broodmare band as a private purchase out of the John 'Jock' Hay Whitney dispersal and subsequently threw the G3 Lancashire Oaks heroine Rainbow Lake (GB) to the cover of Rainbow Quest. In addition to Kind, Rainbow Lake foaled Irish champion and GI Arlington Million scorer Powerscourt (GB) (Sadler's Wells), three-time Group 2 winner Riposte (GB) (Dansili {GB}) and Group 3 winner Last Train (GB) (Rail Link {GB}), second in the G1 Grand Prix de Paris.

The post Frankel’s Dam Kind Dies From Foaling Complications appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Famous Gamblers Past And Present

There have been many casino players throughout history who became famous as a result of gambling. Although the following persons did not necessarily achieve fame through gambling, they did nevertheless attract a significant degree public attention as a result of their gambling activities.

One of the first famous gamblers in the world was John Montagu, the Earl of Sandwich. He led a scandalous private life and was addicted to gambling. In 1762, he sat for over 24 hours at a gaming table in his home, refusing to attend meals. In desperation, a servant offered the Earl a piece of salted beef as food; the Earl suggested that the beef be encased between two slices of bread so that he could eat it in his hand at the table. This is where the sandwich got its name.

One of the West’s most famous gamblers was “Doc” Holliday, who maintained a fierce reputation as a hard drinker, tough fighter and ruthless killer. He is chiefly remembered for fighting alongside Wyatt Earp at the famous gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

“Wild Bill” Hickok was another American legend, renowned throughout the world for the tall tales surrounding his violent life. He’s chiefly remembered for taming two of the most lawless towns in Kansas. Unfortunately, Hickok made many enemies and his day of judgment came at a poker table. He was shot in the back of the head by an assassin and died clutching a pair of aces and a pair of eights; ever since, this particular hand has been known as the ‘Dead Man’s’ hand for obvious reasons!

Benny Binion was born in 1904 and lived his life as a bootlegger and conman. At the age of 43, he gave up his life of crime and moved to Las Vegas, where he later opened his own casino. Binion was the gambler’s gambler, and in the 1970s he bought and marketed the World Series of Poker tournament, which has grown over time to be the biggest in the world.

Magazine owner Kerry Packer made his name through his family’s media empire, which owns 60% of all magazines in Australia. Packer became known as a high-stakes gambler when he won $26 million playing blackjack at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. However, Packer has not always been successful; he lost $16.5 million at the Crockfords casino in London, although this barely dented his $8 billion fortune.

The World Series of Poker tournament has created many famous gamblers of today. One such example is Johnny Chan, nicknamed “The Great Wall of China” after his amazing success winning the World Championships in 1987 and 1988 consecutively. He’s played in all the major games of the last two decades and is also known as a genuinely nice guy.

Although gambling is primarily a recreational activity, many people have approached it with a different mindset, and as a result, made and lost vast fortunes with it, while becoming famous along the way.

Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: ‘I Don’t Think I Could Ever Work For Somebody Else’

Jorje Abrego distinctly remembers that dark day in 2012 when Midwest Thoroughbreds abruptly removed their horses from trainer Brad Cox's barn.

“It was 3:00 in the afternoon, and I looked down the shed row to see all webbings laying open, no horses in the stalls; it was sad,” Abrego said. “I remember somebody told me, 'You know, you better find another job, because Brad has only two horses!'

“Brad came into Barn 47 and told me, 'Please don't go anywhere, I'll keep you on your salary if you stay here. I'm going to get more horses.'”

That he did. The Cox operation is now setting new milestones: the barn had four Breeders' Cup winners at the 2020 World Championships, and has three top candidates on the Kentucky Derby trail early in 2021.

“You know, sometimes bad things come, and then very good things come after,” Abrego said from his office at Oaklawn Park. “The rest is a very good story. It's amazing, really.”

The 35-year-old native of Guatemala has been at Cox's side since 2009, working his way up from a part-time groom and part-time hotwalker to one of the trainer's top assistants. Abrego had only ever worked with a few horses, and had never seen a racehorse before arriving in the United States at the age of 22. He only walked hots before taking the job in Cox's barn.

It isn't hard to see that Abrego's long-time loyalty to the trainer runs deep; he's one of the first ones at the barn in the morning, and one of the last to leave it at night. He can be found in most of the photographs of the barn's top runners, and he still answers Cox's calls with a crisp, respectful, “Yes, sir.”

For the past five or six years, Abrego has made Oaklawn Park his winter home, handling a barn full of horses as well as the high-quality ship-in runners. Last weekend, for example, champions Monomoy Girl and Essential Quality shipped up from New Orleans before triumphing in local stakes races.

Assistant trainer Jorje Abrego celebrates a victory at Oaklawn Park

The chestnut phenom Monomoy Girl is the one who has Abrego's heart, however.

“I love every single horse in my barn, and maybe Brad Cox will win 100 more Grade 1 races, but I'll always remember her,” Abrego said. “She was the first Grade 1 for the team, and it's amazing to have a 6-year-old filly still running.”

The daughter of Tapizar gave Cox his first G1 win in the 2018 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland, and has now won two editions of the Breeders' Cup Distaff, in 2018 and in 2020. She missed over a year of racing between her championship-defining victories, but came back with a vengeance to dominate her division in 2020.

Monomoy Girl sold to Spendthrift Farm for $9.5 million at the end of 2020, and B. Wayne Hughes decided to return the champion racemare to Cox for a final season of racing in 2021. In her first start as a 6-year-old, Monomoy Girl posted a facile victory in the G3 Bayakoa Stakes on Feb. 28 at Oaklawn.

Her racing success isn't the only thing Abrego loves about the mare.

“This filly is so sweet, too, especially when you give her a peppermint,” he said. “When this filly is walking the shed row, she's like a pony. You'd never think she would run like that.”

The excitement is ramping up in the whole barn this year, as Cox has three runners with points on the Road to the Kentucky Derby. The trainer has never started a horse in the Run for the Roses, but with 2-year-old champion Essential Quality in the barn, as well as prep winners Mandaloun and Caddo River, the first Saturday in May can't come quickly enough.

“I just hope we have the right one in the barn, the winner,” Abrego said, smiling.

Jorje Abrego, left, schooling Essential Quality in the paddock at Oaklawn before the colt's win in the G3 Southwest Stakes

At the end of the day, win or lose, Abrego knows he has the best job in the world. He has a hard time expressing his gratitude to Cox for taking a chance on him all those years ago, but he'll never forget it.

“When I told him this, believe me, it came from my heart,” Abrego relayed. “I told him, 'I don't think I could ever work for somebody else.' I love this job too much.

“I don't feel like Brad Cox is my boss, really. The guy treats me like family.”

The post Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: ‘I Don’t Think I Could Ever Work For Somebody Else’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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