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Month: January 2022
Mishriff Eyes Saudi Cup Repeat
Prince Faisal's Mishriff (Ire) (Make Believe {GB}), victorious in last season's Saudi Cup in Riyadh, remains on course to defend his title in the $20-million race Feb. 26. The race will be run as a Group 1 for the first time this year.
“That's his target, the Saudi Cup, and as far as I know everything is on track,” said Ted Voute, racing manager to Prince Faisal.
Following last season's victory, the John and Thady Gosden trainee added a win in the G1 Longines Dubai Sheema Classic at Meydan. Later that summer, the Irish-bred took the G1 Juddmonte International at York. Given two months off following the six-length score, the 2020 G1 Prix du Jockey Club victor returned to finish fourth in the G1 Champion S. at Ascot Oct.16.
“He's amazing, going back-to-back to Dubai and then Saudi, he's got an amazing constitution,” added Voute. “What I do know is that John said to me that he's thickened out even more and he's even stronger.”
The 5-year-old is currently listed as the second choice behind China Horse Club and WinStar Farm's Life Is Good (Into Mischief), winner of the GI Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Del Mar in November.
“We'll wait and see, I notice we're second favourite to one of the American horses which I like, that takes the pressure off a little bit!”
“Fingers crossed he stays in one piece and gets out there, it would be fun.”
The post Mishriff Eyes Saudi Cup Repeat appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
Woodbine’s 5 Furlongs With Steven Chircop: On Hockey, The Beatles And TVG
Each week until opening day of the 2022 Woodbine Thoroughbred meet (April 16), a familiar name in the sport will be in the spotlight, answering some fun, offbeat questions, giving readers a unique perspective into their personality.
Steven Chircop (twitter.com/chircopracing) launched his training career in 2009. Since that time, he's become a graded stakes-winning conditioner, and racked up nearly 160 victories. His biggest highlight to date came with Kara's Orientation, a dark bay son of Orientate who captured the 2011 running of the Grade 2 Sky Classic Stakes. A former hockey standout, Chircop has passed down his love of racing to his 2-year-old daughter, Ava, something he recently shared on Twitter.
♥️ 🐎 ♥️ pic.twitter.com/KsPdgVo6xQ
— Steven Chircop (@chircopracing) November 5, 2021
You take on one NHL player in an all-star competition. Who do you choose and why?
“I'd go with [Edmonton Oilers superstar] Connor McDavid because he's Canadian and the best player in the world. But no chance that I'd be able to take him in any event I'd face him in. I played defense and I was a pretty good passer, but there's no way I'd be able to get the better of him in anything.”
You get backstage passes at any concert for a singer/group, past or present. Who do you choose?
“I'd have to go with The Beatles. So much of their music were classics and they had so many hits. That era was a great one for music. My favorite song by them would be 'I Wanna Hold Your Hand.' I sing along when I hear them in the car, but I don't want anyone, myself included, to have to hear me sing. That wouldn't be good for anybody.”
You get to star on any TV show. Which one do you choose?
“I would love to be on TVG. I really enjoying watching it. I would love to do commentary on any racing. The documentaries on TVG are amazing. There is so much more to horse racing that people have no idea about it. The documentaries on the Breeders' Cup that I would watch when I was growing up, they got me so hooked on horse racing. Maybe I could guest host with Jeff [Bratt] and Jason [Portuondo] this year on the Woodbine shows.”
What's your favorite distance and course to watch a race at Woodbine?
“I like long races. I would say a mile and an eighth to a mile and a quarter on the E.P. Taylor Turf Course. The thing about it is, for the most part, when it comes to those long races on the turf at Woodbine, usually the best horse wins. I do like the Inner Turf at Woodbine, but you have to get a trip. When it's the long distances on the E.P. Taylor, there is so much room for the horses to run and for the riders to maneuver. You have so much time to not get yourself into trouble. I love those kind of races.”
What is your most memorable win at Woodbine?
“For sure, it has to be the 2011 Sky Classic when Kara's Orientation won. I think about it often. I watch the video of the race on YouTube every now and again. It's unbelievable. To think how far that horse came, how young I was, how great the horse was, and how he won the race – it still amazes me. Everything was happening so fast for me when I started training. You almost don't appreciate … I knew how fortunate I was, but the more time goes on, the more you cherish those moments. You look at the trainers that had a horse in that race, people like Graham Motion, Roger Attfield, Mark Casse – to be able to be in a race against them and show that you could run with their horses is an unbelievable feeling.”
Kara's Orientation winning the Sky Classic
The post Woodbine’s 5 Furlongs With Steven Chircop: On Hockey, The Beatles And TVG appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
Veterinary Researcher Swerczek, Who Discovered Secretariat’s Large Heart, Dies
Dr. Thomas Swerczek, longtime researcher and professor at the University of Kentucky, died on Jan. 9. Swerczek was best known to many laypeople in racing as the veterinarian who performed a necropsy on Secretariat and discovered Big Red's abnormally-large heart, which has been credited by many as the reason for his dominance on the racetrack.
Swerczek received his bachelor's degree in 1962 from Kansas State University, with a DVM to follow in 1964. He got a master's degree and a PhD from the University of Connecticut before taking a job in 1969 at the University of Kentucky's Department of Veterinary Science, where he worked until his retirement in 2018. Much of Swerczek's focus as a researcher was the potential impacts of electrolyte changes, particularly potassium and nitrate in winter pasture, and excesses or imbalances of those electrolytes in commercial grain.
According to an interview he gave in 2020, Swerczek came to believe such seasonal changes were responsible for the worsening of Secretariat's laminitis and that they could play a role in fetal losses in broodmares.
Swerczek served as a reviewer for the AVMA's American Journal of Veterinary Research, and had been on the editorial boards for the Journal of Equine Veterinary Science and Journal of Modern Horse Breeding.
A funeral mass is scheduled for Jan. 14 at the Cathedral of Christ the King in Lexington, Ky., with a burial to follow at Calvary Cemetery.
The post Veterinary Researcher Swerczek, Who Discovered Secretariat’s Large Heart, Dies appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
