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Month: April 2021
Laurel Park Timed Workouts Put On Hold While Track Surface Evaluated
The Maryland Jockey Club issued the following media advisory on Wednesday evening concerning the dirt racing surface at Laurel Park and a temporary halt to timed workouts while an assessment is done on replacing the track's cushion.
“1/ST RACING and the Maryland Jockey Club, as part of regular track maintenance protocols, have identified that the main track at Laurel Park has not responded sufficiently to the necessary repairs following wintertime cushion changes,” the statement reads.
“While we work to assess cushion replacement options in consultation with Dr. Mick Peterson from the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory, the track will be available for gallopers only, tomorrow morning, Thursday, April 15. No workouts will be permitted until further notice.
“Dennis Moore, 1/ST Racing's senior Track Superintendent and MJC's Chris Bosley will work directly with Dr. Peterson to oversee the assessment. We anticipate more complete project details during the day on April 15 and will be sure to provide relevant updates in a timely manner. We appreciate the impact this will have on our horsemen and we thank you in advance for your patience and trust.”
Laurel is scheduled to resume racing on Saturday.
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‘I’m A Very Blessed Guy’: Orlando Mojica Registers Career Win No. 2,500
In only the second day of action for the 2021 season at Indiana Grand in Shelbyville, Ind., jockey Orlando Mojica hit win 2,500 aboard Sky Judge in the afternoon's seventh race Wednesday. It was Mojica's only mount of the day and only his third start of the season thus far in Indiana.
“I thought I was going to get it at Oaklawn (Arkansas) and I came really close, winning my 2,499th race there,” said Mojica, who has several leading jockey titles to his name at Indiana Grand. “This is very exciting day for me. I'm a very blessed guy.”
Mojica won the jockey title at Indiana Grand during the inaugural season in 2003 and then returned for back-to-back wins in 2008 and '09. The multiple graded stakes-winning jockey has garnered success at nearly every racetrack he has ridden at, including Canterbury Park in Minnesota, where he recorded his 2,000th win in 2016. The native of Puerto Rico also won leading rider titles at Ellis Park and at Hoosier Park before all Thoroughbred racing was moved to Indiana Grand in 2013.
Mojica also scored his 1,000th career win at Indiana Grand. He is still ranked third on the list of all-time winning jockeys at Indiana Grand. Since his riding career began in 2000, he has ridden in more than 17,700 races and accumulated in excess of $45 million in purse earnings.
The 19th season of Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse racing extends through Monday, Nov. 8. Live racing is conducted at 2:25 p.m. Monday through Wednesday with first post on Thursday set at 3:25 p.m. In addition, six all-Quarter Horse racing dates are set on select Saturdays starting June 5 at 10 a.m. A special Indiana Champions Day highlighting the state's top Thoroughbred and Quarter Horses will be held Saturday, Oct. 30, beginning at 12 p.m. More information about the 2021 racing season is available at www.indianagrand.com.
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Letter To The Editor: Why Do We Insist On Training Our Horses In One Direction?
“Imagine if you will” – Rod Serling in The Twilight Zone.
I start off with this famous phrase to get people to imagine professional track runners always training by exercising by going left only on the field track. Their competitions are left on the field track, always have been, so there would be no need to do anything else but train on that field track, always going left. Right? (See what I did there?)
Next, imagine your professional skaters — ice skaters, both figure and hockey. Anyone who has gone to an ice rink to do casual skating has been informed that after resurfacing the ice, skaters are to go the opposite direction. Imagine these professional skaters training in one direction only. Sounds absurd doesn't it?
So why, in 2021 are we in the North American racing world still only training to the left?
Horses, even Thoroughbred horses, are trainable to both sides. I've done it with every horse I ever owned. Any real horseman knows this. When you lunge a horse in the round pen, you certainly don't lunge only to the left, that would quite literally be insane and, dare I say, cruel.
A horse needs conditioning on both sides, just as a human does. And a horse, while a running athlete, is more comparable to that of an ice skater than that of a track runner. That blade that a skater glides on is comparable to the hoof on a horse. Such athletes need to be competent and more importantly physically prepared evenly or a weakness will gradually grow and hinder if not down right injure eventually.
North American race training has, for the most part, been flawed compared to that of the rest of the world. Globally, you can find horses training in all different directions on all manners of terrain and incline. I say “for the most part” because areas such as Del Mar and Ruidoso in the old days used to have horsemen who would take their athletes to the beach or into the mountains to exercise. This form of training has always been far superior and healthy for the horse as opposed to moving to the left, to the left, to the left.
Yes, there is back-tracking, but that isn't enough physical exertion to properly even out fitness on a horse. Training needs to be revamped so as to allow reverse training, just as your local ice rink makes you reverse directions.
It would be folly for me to go even further and suggest trying some reverse racing. I know they do it “over there” but that “is not here.”
For now, can we please just consider scheduling days of left exercising and right exercising? Who knows, maybe this crazy old guy will be right and that will lead to reduced injuries to the left foreleg.
–Robert Fox, Voice of the All American Futurity for 16 years, longtime announcer, former exercise rider and trainer's assistant.
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