June, 2022 | Horse Racing Free Tips

Rich Strike Trains At Belmont: ‘The Farther He Went The Better He Accepted The Pony’

Rich Strike, the 80-1 upset winner of the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby, arrived in New York at 1 a.m. Eastern on Wednesday to prepare for the 154th renewal of the Grade 1, $1.5 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets on Saturday, June 11, at Belmont Park.

Trained by Eric Reed for Rick Dawson's RED TR-Racing, Rich Strike shipped to New York by van from Kentucky and will be overseen by Reed for the duration of this stay as he readies for the “Test of the Champion” for 3-year-olds in the 1 1/2-mile final leg of the Triple Crown.

Rich Strike, with exercise rider Gabriel Lagunes up, visited Belmont's dirt training track at 9:30 a.m. with the accompaniment of outrider Juan Galvez and his pony Stormy, making two laps the wrong way round.

“He settled down a lot the second time round. A lot of that was trying to get him used to the pony. You could see the farther he went the better he accepted the pony,” Reed said. “I think by the end of the week they'll be good buddies and on race day he needs a buddy.

“He'll sleep the rest of the day. I know he's tired, he just doesn't show it,” Reed added.

Reed said Rich Strike will settle into a comfortable routine at Belmont going forward, schooling in the paddock in the morning before training on the main track.

“He's so routine oriented. We're in a new place, so we can set his routine here and in two days, he'll be fine,” Reed said.

Rich Strike breezed five-eighths solo in :59 seconds flat Monday afternoon on the main track in front of the Churchill Downs crowd, working swiftly under Lagunes and galloping out strong.

Reed said Rich Strike won't need to breeze again ahead of the Belmont Stakes.

“We might let him run down the lane Thursday or Friday,” Reed said. “He gallops faster than a lot of horses breeze. He really rolls around there. That will be up to Gabriel on Thursday or Friday, depending how he's doing. I just want him to get his footing on that track and watch how he moves and see how he handles it.”

Rich Strike, who made the “Run for the Roses” field following the late scratch of Ethereal Road, exited the outermost post 20 under Sonny Leon in the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby and trailed 17 lengths behind the pacesetting Summer Is Tomorrow.

Leon maneuvered Rich Strike closer to contention approaching the final turn and took an inside route in upper stretch before angling outside Messier and taking aim to the inside of the leading pair of Epicenter and Zandon. Rich Strike, full of run, edged clear in the final strides to post a three-quarter length score over Epicenter.

Rich Strike, bred in Kentucky by Calumet Farm, is by Keen Ice, who finished third in the 2015 Belmont Stakes and subsequently bested Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in the Grade 1 Travers that summer at Saratoga Race Course. The Kentucky Derby winner is out of the graded stakes winning Smart Strike mare Gold Strike – a Manitoba-bred, who won the 2005 Woodbine Oaks en route to Sovereign Award honors as Champion 3-Year-Old Filly in Canada.

Rich Strike was claimed for $30,000 from Calumet Farm and trainer Joe Sharp out of a 17 1/4-length maiden score in September at Churchill Downs and followed with a third-place finish in an optional-claimer in October at Keeneland ahead of a distant fifth in his stakes debut in the Gun Runner in December at Fair Grounds.

The chestnut colt made his next four starts in stakes company with his best results coming over synthetic with third-place finishes at Turfway Park in the one-mile Leonatus in January and the nine-furlong Grade 3 Jeff Ruby Steaks in April in his final outing before the Derby.

Reed said the connections decided to skip the Grade 1 Preakness, won by Early Voting on May 21 at Pimlico Race Course, to give Rich Strike more time between starts.

“We didn't plan on the Preakness because we didn't plan on winning the Derby,” Reed said. “We just wanted to show at the Derby that we could compete at the Belmont and then he wins the Derby, so then we had to think about it. But I go back to the race at New Orleans [Gun Runner] and I know what happened there when he was out of routine and I knew the Preakness would be a disaster.

“All his races have to be planned out with distance and the type of track because there's some tracks where it's real difficult to close at a mile and a quarter, even,” Reed added. “Everything we do has to be thought out real good. His running style makes it hard to win any race and everyone expects him to win them all now.”

The connections' decision to skip the Preakness with the Kentucky Derby winner marked the first occasion since 1985 when Spend a Buck collected a $2 million bonus for traveling to Garden State to capture the Grade 3 Jersey Derby.

Other Derby winners to skip the Preakness include Count Turf, who finished seventh in the 1951 Belmont Stakes won by Counterpoint; and Gato Del Sol, who captured the 1982 Derby and waited for the Belmont Stakes, finishing second to Conquistador Cielo.

Grindstone [1996] and Country House [2019] never raced again following their Derby victories due to injury.

More recently, Authentic, the 2020 Derby winner, finished second in the Preakness and did not contest the Belmont. Last year, Medina Spirit crossed the wire as the Kentucky Derby winner and finished third in the Preakness. But Medina Spirit was subsequently disqualified from the Derby victory with Derby runner-up Mandaloun, who did not contest the Preakness or Belmont, placed first.

Reed said if Rich Strike continues to move forward their long-term target would be the Grade 1, $1.25 million Runhappy Travers on August 27 at Saratoga Race Course.

“The owners always wanted to run him in the Travers and I think it's a good spot for him,” Reed said. “If all the horses are freshened and ready that could be a heck of a field in the Travers with Epicenter, Zandon, Early Voting and whoever comes out of this race. It could be a great, great race.”

The Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets is the focal point of the three-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, which runs from Thursday, June 9 through Saturday, June 11, encompassing 17 total stakes, including eight Grade 1s on Belmont Stakes Day.

Belmont Stakes Day will include three Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” qualifiers: the one-mile Grade 1, $1 million Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan Handicap for 3-year-olds and up [Dirt Mile]; the Grade 1, $500,000 Ogden Phipps for older fillies and mares 4-years-old and up going 1 1/16 miles on the main track [Distaff]; and the Grade 1, $400,000 Jaipur for 3-year-olds and up going six furlongs on turf [Turf Sprint].

The blockbuster Belmont Stakes Day card will also feature the Grade 1, $750,000 Resorts World Casino Manhattan for 4-year-olds and up going 1 1/4 miles on turf; the Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn for 3-year-old fillies going one mile; the Grade 1, $500,000 Longines Just a Game for fillies and mares 4-years-old and up at one mile on the turf; the Grade 1, $400,000 Woody Stephens presented by Mohegan Sun in a seven-furlong sprint over Big Sandy for 3-year-olds; and the Grade 2, $400,000 Brooklyn Invitational, a 1 1/2-mile test for 4-year-olds and up.

Tickets for the 2022 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival are available at https://www.belmontstakes.com/tickets.

The post Rich Strike Trains At Belmont: ‘The Farther He Went The Better He Accepted The Pony’ appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Corticosteroids, Galloping Both Ways, And The Importance Of Good Conformation: Vet Panel Provides New Insights For Owners

As part of its ongoing owner education effort, the Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association (TOBA) recently held a virtual panel with three of racing's top equine veterinarians.

Dr. Larry Bramlage, renowned equine surgeon at Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital, gave a presentation on conformation and how it relates to racing soundness. Dr. Steve Reed, internal medicine and neurological specialist at Rood and Riddle, gave owners an overview of Wobblers Syndrome and of equine herpesvirus, and Dr. Lisa Fortier, professor of surgery at Cornell's College of Veterinary Medicine, presented information on alternatives to intra-articular corticosteroid use on the track.

Here are a few takeaways from the presentation. You can watch the full version of the seminar below.

–Each panelist was asked what the noteworthy medical advance they had witnessed in their career. Both Fortier and Reed nodded to the advanced imaging technology that has become more accessible and widely-applicable, for diagnosing limb lameness but also for neurological issues. Perhaps surprisingly for an equine surgeon, Bramlage said deworming medications were the greatest advance he'd seen.

“In my career, I think the most significant development was the anti-parasitic drugs that eliminated strongylus vulgaris,” he said. “That used to be the disease that killed most horses. It was a parasite that migrated inside the blood vessels as a larva and it caused the thromboembolic colics. When I started practicing, an “old horse” was in their early twenties. Now, it's nothing for a horse to go into their thirties. That is pretty much all the result of better wormers.”

–Although her presentation was focused on alternatives to joint injections, Fortier made clear that her presentation was not anti-corticosteroids. On the plus side, she acknowledged the drugs tend to be potent, easily available, and fairly cheap, but pointed out their strengths can be drawbacks, too.

“Will humans and dogs and horses do things they shouldn't do when they have steroids because you've killed the pain? Yes,” she said. “Am I saying that leads to breakdown injury? No, but in humans you could do this too – they could overtrain because you've taken away the vast majority of their pain.”

Corticosteroids can also be associated with what in other species is called 'steroid euphoria' – a desired effect when it's used in an ailing, older dog or cat. The sudden rush of positive feelings will sometimes get the patient back to some level of activity and appetite for a brief period. In horses, Fortier said she sees some degree of uptick in training for horses receiving the treatment, but that effect fades over time.

–There is some degree of risk involved with any kind of injection, especially one that's going into a joint. That risk is small, usually small enough that a veterinarian can conclude the potential benefit to the horse is greater than the limited chance for drawbacks. Fortier did note, however, she has ceased using Depo Medrol in most cases because she has found it to be associated with more significant infections in the rare case a joint injection does lead to an infection.

–Fortier touted the potential benefit of regenerative therapies, such as platelet-rich plasma (PRP), which is an umbrella term for several different types of products made from a horse's own cells. The most basic form involves taking blood from the patient, spinning it, and reinjecting the plasma portion of the spun sample into the area of injury.

The World Anti-Doping Association (WADA) looked at the use of orthobiologics, which includes PRP and stem cell treatment, and determined PRP use is not considered doping, although the administration of certain growth factors that may be contained in blood is. If the anti-doping rules for horse racing are based upon the rules in place for human athletes (as has been implied, with the new Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority on the horizon), Fortier said that would seem this could be a type of therapy veterinarians could use to help an injured horse recover without the fear of a positive drug test down the road.

–Most people believe regenerative therapies are significantly more expensive than corticosteroids, but Fortier said that isn't necessarily the case. She also cautioned that PRP is not a miracle cure.

“It's an option to use instead of steroids, not when steroids fail,” she said.

If a horse's joint has had too much chronic damage and is no longer responsive to corticosteroids, it probably won't respond to regenerative therapies either. Fortier said she prefers to do one injection of PRP and if she doesn't see the response she expected, she does not repeat the same treatment, because it could be a sign that the therapy has been placed in the wrong area of the body, or that there's another, underlying injury somewhere.

–Reed provided a brief overview of equine herpesvirus (EHV) for owners who may have read headlines during outbreaks, but may not be familiar with the virus. He says it's estimated 80 percent of horses are latently infected with the virus, meaning they carry the virus around but aren't actively showing symptoms of infection and aren't transmitting it to others. This means it's unlikely we will eradicate EHV, but should instead aim to better respond to outbreaks.

–It's not always easy to recognize a fever from EHV because it can be biphasic, meaning there is one bout of fever and then an apparent recovery before another spike in temperature. As we know, some horses experience respiratory symptoms with EHV infection, and in some cases, a patient may also develop neurologic symptoms that signal severe infection. Those neurologic symptoms are the result of damage to the nervous system which mimics the lesions caused by a stroke.

–Vaccination isn't really effective at preventing EHV at this point, and Reed said he's not aware of anything immediately on the horizon that will work better. He did point out, however, that the Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation has put out a call for development of an RNA vaccine, which could prove successful where other types of vaccines have not.

–In his presentation on conformation, Bramlage said there are essentially two types of conformational flaws in horses: those that he believes result in unsoundness, and those that just make the horse an inefficient mover, which is also not desirable.

Most horses aren't perfectly-conformed, he said, “but most horses that are successful have reasonable conformation.”

–When examining yearlings at a sale, observers should anticipate changes that can occur to limb angles as the horse grows. Bramlage said a yearling being slightly knock-kneed and toed out isn't much of an issue, because as the horse finishes growth and development, the chest will become wider and the elbows will get pushed out in relation to the shoulders, realigning the joints below.

“If he looks perfectly straight as a yearling, he's going to toe in as an adult racehorse,” said Bramlage.

–Most of the time, conformation issues at birth self-resolve, because growth plates are designed to help rebalance themselves automatically. There are two circumstances in which Bramlage is interested in performing corrective surgery to address conformation: if there's not enough time for the self-correction to happen before the growth plate in the impacted joint closes, or if the horse has inherited a conformation that won't be suited to maintaining soundness during racing.

“Horses highly inherit toed-in and offset knee conformation, so if the mare is producing that in the foal, we have to negate it somehow,” he said. “The reason we manipulate conformation is to make a sounder horse.”

–When asked by an audience member about the potential benefits about training a horse in both directions, Bramlage was hesitant to suggest that this could reduce orthopedic injuries.

There are some issues, including stress fractures in the knee, that we see more frequently in left legs than right legs, according to Bramlage, and that could be due to the fact American racing is conducted on counterclockwise ovals. It's also true that those same stress injuries are seen less in Europe, where horses may train in both directions or in straight lines, but those types of stress fractures tend to come from dirt racing, which doesn't take place much in Europe.

Bramlage said it wouldn't likely hurt to train horses in both directions, but it's not going to benefit the skeleton, which develops in response to the type of exercise a horse does routinely.

“In practicality, the horse is adapting to what you're giving them,” he said. “So for the most part, you want him adapted to racing counterclockwise. I think that the idea of going both directions is more related to the way you train the heart and lungs, which is rarely the limiting system in the horse. The skeletal system is almost always the limiting system.

“As far as splitting the training equally [between two directions], no. They need to train in the direction they're going to run.”

The post Corticosteroids, Galloping Both Ways, And The Importance Of Good Conformation: Vet Panel Provides New Insights For Owners appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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There Goes Harvard the Latest Grade I-Winning Homebred for Michael Cannon

Owner Michael Cannon woke up on Memorial Day with a gut feeling. Cannon Thoroughbreds was going to win a Grade I that day.

His inkling didn't come without good reason. The stable's leading earner Smooth Like Strait (Midnight Lute) would be attempting to defend his title in the GI Shoemaker Mile and was slated as the 4-5 morning-line favorite.

Of course as anyone in this business can attest, favoritism doesn't secure a trip to the winner's circle no matter how small the odds. So while Smooth Like Strait had to settle for second in the Shoemaker, it was Cannon's other entry at Santa Anita–the one they considered scratching hours before the race–who made his Grade I premonition come to fruition.

The second-longest shot in a field of five in the GI Hollywood Gold Cup S., There Goes Harvard (Will Take Charge) pulled the upset to win by a length, making him Cannon Thoroughbreds' second Grade I-winning homebred and giving trainer Michael McCarthy his first Gold Cup score.

“I'm shocked that he won,” Cannon admitted as he relived the victory. “I was hoping for third. Until about nine o'clock that morning, we weren't sure if we were even going to run him. It was only a two-week break from his last race and we usually give them three to four weeks, but he looked like he was ready to go.”

Coming off a seven-month layoff this spring, There Goes Harvard ran second in his 4-year-old debut at Santa Anita. He dead-heated for a win in April and scored in a turf allowance on May 14 before stepping up to Grade I company on Memorial Day. Cannon credits jockey Irad Ortiz, Jr. for his hand in the colt's accomplishment.

“Irad was a gamechanger,” he said. “He did a great job. There were some serious horses in there and it was not an easy win. I'm still in shock, to be honest.”

Now that There Goes Harvard is making top headlines, Cannon is constantly asked about the story behind the colt's name.

“Everybody asks me and I feel like a bad parent every time I answer,” he said with a laugh. “When my kids say something dumb, I always joke with them and say, 'there goes Harvard.'”

Based about two hours north of Las Vegas, Cannon has been involved in racing for decades. He started purchasing and syndicating racehorses after graduating college, but soon decided to get “a real job.” He made a career in entertainment lighting and is now the President and CEO of Cannon Nevada, a venture capital firm.

Michael Cannon | photo courtesy Michael Cannon

When Cannon decided to re-enter the Thoroughbred business, he committed to a new business plan. He would purchase broodmares and establish a breed-to-race operation. One of his very first broodmare purchases, Beautiful Lil (Aptitude), is now the granddam of his stable's top performer Smooth Like Strait.

Several years after launching his new operation and with the assistance of bloodstock agent Kathy Berkey, Cannon purchased There Goes Harvard's dam Soul Crusader (Fusaichi Pegasus) for $75,000 at the 2016 Keeneland January Sale. While There Goes Harvard was somewhat of a standout as a foal a few years later, Cannon said that Soul Crusader tended to throw small foals and did not live up to expectations as a producer. He sold the mare two years ago.

“There Goes Harvard was a little different than her other foals, but there was really nothing special about him in the first year,” Cannon admitted. “He was definitely bigger than the rest, but I didn't think he would ever be a Grade I winner, that's for sure.”

Even after There Goes Harvard was sent to trainer Michael McCarthy, it took some time for him to show his true potential.

“He was actually a bit of a handful,” Cannon explained. “Smooth Like Strait was always a real professional and did everything right, but when this colt first got to Michael, he was doing everything wrong. He was difficult to manage and Michael really had to work with him to get him turned around.”

It took six tries for There Goes Harvard to break his maiden, finally getting the win in his first attempt on turf. When he ran second two starts later in the 2021 Runhappy Ellis Park Derby, Cannon said they got a feel for the homebred's true potential. He dealt with a chip soon after and sat on the sidelines for the remainder of the 2021 season, but has improved steadily in his return this year.

“What's great about this horse is that he's probably better on the turf than the dirt,” Cannon said. “It's nice to have a horse that we know can do both.”

Asked where There Goes Harvard could end up next, Cannon replied slyly, “The one thing I know about Michael [McCarthy] is that you don't discuss that until a couple weeks down the road.”

Cannon acknowledged that he was disappointed with Smooth Like Strait's runner-up effort on Monday, given that the 5-year-old has now finished second or third in his last six starts, but he said that their end goal for this year is still a return to the Breeders' Cup, where Smooth Like Strait ran second in last year's GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile.

“He tries so hard every time and you feel bad that he hasn't gotten it done in the last few races,” Cannon said. “He's in great shape and he just got caught up in a fast pace [in the Shoemaker]. We will probably follow the same races with him as we did last year at Del Mar.”

Cannon won't get too down on one string of bad luck. After all, it was just a few years ago that his stable had no graded stakes winners, which wasn't for lack of trying.

“Before these last two years, I had very limited success,” he said. “I don't take anything for granted now because I know how quickly you can go backwards.”

Cannon plans to stick with his breeding-to-race operation. He said he tried giving the commercial market a chance, but quickly learned that it wasn't what he wanted to focus on. He forces himself to keep a broodmare roster of just six members and currently has a collection of 14 racehorses and future racehorses, including the 2-year-old full-brother to Smooth Like Strait in training with Michael McCarthy. At his cattle ranch at home in Nevada, one pasture is set aside for his stable's retired racehorses and is now up to eight residents.

As Cannon told TDN in a story on Smooth Like Strait last year, half of the earnings from his racing stable are set aside for The Special Operations Care Fund, a non-profit organization that provides support to soldiers who have served in special operations forces. While those earnings may have seemed insignificant to Cannon when he was first starting out, with two colts performing at the top of their divisions this year–and both coming in the money, appropriately, on Memorial Day–those funds are quickly adding up.

Asked about his secret to building a program that can produce two Grade I winners within a year, Cannon replied with a laugh and said, “I wish I knew the secret because it has taken me a long time to figure this out. Honestly, the secret is patience, staying in your lane in terms of developing a program and sticking with it, and hiring good people and listening to their advice. Then you just hope it all works out.”

The post There Goes Harvard the Latest Grade I-Winning Homebred for Michael Cannon appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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‘I am Delighted That he has a Top Miler in Baaeed – I had Been Waiting for That’

Kick-starting a new weekly Q&A series in TDN Europe, former champion trainer John Oxx, whose spellbinding career will forever be remembered through his masterful handling of Sea The Stars (Ire) (Cape Cross {Ire}), Sinndar (Ire) (Grand Lodge) and Ridgewood Pearl (GB) (Indian Ridge {Ire}), sat down with Brian Sheerin to talk all things racing and breeding. The dual Derby-winning trainer speaks about Epsom, how delighted he is that Sea The Stars has a top-notch miler in Baaeed and his life in retirement.

Brian Sheerin: There are few weeks in the Flat racing calendar quite like this one. It must evoke some special memories?

John Oxx: Of course it brings back great memories for us given we had two great horses-Sinndar and Sea The Stars-who were lucky enough to win the race. I didn't have many runners in the Derby over the years but it was a good race for us. There's always great excitement because the Derby comes up quite early in the year and most horses going into the race are not completely tested. They certainly haven't been tested over the distance, never mind the track. It's always a bit of a mystery and nobody knows for sure what will happen in the Derby which I think is part of the great appeal of the race. The pecking order has yet to be established and you can get surprises. On the first Saturday in June, the whole slate is wiped clean and the result is there for everyone to see as the Derby is usually won by the best horse. Suddenly, the whole story becomes a lot clearer, and that's what makes the Derby and the Oaks so exciting.

BS: What attributes do you need to win a Derby? I know Donnacha O'Brien was speaking about a good mentality being a huge asset which is why he is confident about a big run from Piz Badile (Ire) (Ulysses {Ire}).

JO: Some people were advocating for the Derby to be run later in the year. There was debate in the industry paper about whether the date was correct or not. Of course, that is all nonsense because the whole point of the Derby is that it comes up early and that's what makes it a tougher test. The test, as Donnacha explained, is mental. For a horse to be ready to run in the Derby, to get a mile and a half early in June, to have run as a 2-year-old and have very little time off in the winter–none at all really–and then train through the early spring and put up with all that pressure. It's not meant to be easy. I didn't realise all it took to win a Derby until I had the responsibility of training a few horses to run in it and try and win it. The horses who can come through and win it, they have to be tougher, physically and mentally.

BS: Sinndar and Sea The Stars charted quite different paths to Epsom glory, didn't they?

JO: Yes. Sinndar was always a nice horse, a lovely looking horse with a marvellous temperament and he won his maiden before just scraping home in the G1 National S. as a juvenile. He looked to me like a horse who might run a place in a Derby–he was lazy at home and didn't look like a horse who had the brilliance to win the race. However, while he was still lazy at home as a 3-year-old, he went to the Ballysax at Leopardstown with a seven-pound penalty and got beaten by a race-fit rival [Grand Finale (Ire) (Sadler's Wells)], but I came home from the races that day thinking Sinndar could win the Derby. He was much better than what he had been showing at home, much better than I thought he was. He won the Derrinstown Derby Trial by a neck, but again he was carrying a seven-pound penalty for his Group 1 win at two, and beat a good horse of Aidan's [O'Brien] called Bach (Ire). Sinndar was deceptive. Every time he ran he got better and his rating jumped. That's the way he was right through the year. We had gotten to know him by the autumn and we really fancied him for the Arc.

Sea The Stars was a different kettle of fish altogether. We could see the potential brilliance even when he was a big 2-year-old who was always going to develop with the benefit of time. He did well as a 2-year-old to win the G2 Beresford S. and we knew he had plenty of speed and class so we had to let him take his chance in the Guineas. It was a great achievement for him to win at Newmarket because he had a high temperature on Mar. 17 and, to overcome that and then come out and win the Guineas, I think the sparkle was only coming back the week of the race but he still won it comfortably. I know he held a little back in his homework, but you could see that he was a brilliant horse at home who had that mental strength and physical constitution to get over that temperature, win the Guineas and then come out a few weeks later and win at Epsom. He had more ability than you ever expect to find in a horse.

BS: Both horses went on to win the Arc in the autumn. It might be in your instinct to try and deflect praise here but, there is obviously huge skill involved in keeping a 3-year-old colt sweet from the spring right through to the end of the autumn. You did it twice. What was your secret?

JO: The secret is to have a very good horse! You can't burn the candle at both ends with horses if you want them to go on to the end of their 3-year-old year. Sinndar had two runs as a 2-year-old and Sea The Stars had three runs as a 2-year-old but they didn't have a gruelling juvenile campaign. They just did enough and gained enough experience. They were ready for their big engagements at three and were just good horses that were trained appropriately. What I mean by that is, Sinndar had his little break after winning the G1 Irish Derby, as that's what His Highness wanted. That's the way the French do it, they get as far as the French Derby and then rest the horse before giving them a trial before the Arc. That was the modus operandi of his highness at the time so that's what we did.

Obviously Sea The Stars was different. He had the brilliance to do it but he also had the physical constitution and the mental strength. He had everything. After he won the Guineas and the Derby, we knew he was one of the greats but to prove it, he had to run up a sequence of major races right throughout the season. Luckily we were able to get him through it and we just had to keep him healthy and keep him in a nice routine. The key is keeping them calm and happy in their work and not overfacing them. They have to enjoy their working life and then they will keep performing for you.

BS: I was struck by another comment you made once. You said that it was the everyday training of Sea The Stars that was the real pleasure. The race days were just pure relief

JO: Oh yes, it was a great privilege to train high-class horses. That's what keeps trainers going. That's what gets trainers up out of bed in the day. We felt with Sea The Stars in particular that, although it was a great responsibility and there were anxious times, it was also a great privilege and I certainly appreciated it. Sea The Stars was just a magnificent-looking creature. Just watching him, his behaviour and his attitude towards his work, being there looking at him every day and at evening stables, feeling his legs and then just standing back and admiring him, it was just a great pleasure. Yes, the race days were just a relief to see him go by the post in front. When it was all over and he'd won the Arc, I just sat down and I said, 'wow, imagine that. Imagine having a horse like that through your hands.' It was a mixture of tremendous relief, satisfaction and gratitude.

BS: Sea The Stars had brilliance over a range of different trips and we are seeing that through his progeny. Do you get much pleasure out of watching his sons and daughters on the track?

JO: I do, of course. He was a great horse with a great pedigree and he almost couldn't fail as a stallion. But we have seen horses disappoint at stud who had a lot of qualities. When they have that combination of great ability, good looks and pedigree, like Frankel has, too, it's nearly impossible for them not to be successful. I'm delighted to see him now with a top miler in Baaeed (GB) because I had been waiting for that. He's had good horses at a mile, plenty of them, but to get a real star miler like Baaeed, it's something I had been waiting for as Sea The Stars was a Guineas winner himself. Distance was no problem for him. He could have sprinted, he could have gone a mile, he could have gone two miles if he wanted to. He just had that superior engine and it's great to see him with Baaeed. From what I read, Baaeed seems to have his father's temperament as well. I watch the results all the time to see what's coming along for Sea The Stars.

BS: Have you any thoughts on the fact that Crystal Ocean (GB), one of his most talented sons, was not given a chance to prove himself as a Flat stallion?

JO: It's an unfortunate state of affairs that very good horses are shunned by breeders because they're mile-and-a-half winners or, in their eyes, were slow maturing. It's the way of the world at the moment and we can't do a lot to change it. Everyone is aware of the importance in keeping stamina in the breed and keeping those genes alive. There have been some changes made to the racing programme, giving better opportunities to horses in the staying category and boosting prize-money for those races, to try over a period of time to make yearlings who are bred to stay that little bit more popular in the sales ring.

The reason why people want sharp, early 2-year-olds is perfectly understandable. There are good commercial reasons for trainers and bloodstock agents to buy something sharp that might get a quick result for their owners. You can understand why owners would want it as well. You can't change that and I'm not saying we should. We just need to keep an eye on the distance as well because the thing about distance is that, horses race with their lungs and their cardiovascular system, and the superior athletes are the ones with the best respiratory system and the best cardiovascular system. That's the engine. The horses with the big engine have speed with more stamina. They don't stop.They keep going. That comes from their genes. If you don't breed for that, the gene pool is being diminished. If you just go for sprinters and nothing else, over time, the quality of the product will diminish. We are competing on the international stage and you'd like the product here to remain competitive here.

BS: Is there a certain jurisdiction that we should aspire to be like?

JO: We have to heed what is staring us in the face, which is the success of the Japanese horses. It has been there for several years but it has become obvious to a wider audience recently. In Japan, most of the bigger races are run over longer distances and up to two miles. The stallion farms are populated by horses who won these straying races, raced on as 4- and 5-year-olds and had plenty of races. They are producing some of the world's best horses every year. I read the TDN's report on last Sunday's Japanese Derby which stated that the first two horses home ran the last three furlongs in :33.6 seconds. To do that at the end of one and a half miles shows real quality. Speed and stamina equals a big engine and those are the genes that you would like to keep in the Thoroughbred.

BS: When you are speaking about horses who stay the trip I can't help but think about the Triple Crown. How close did you come to aiming Sea The Stars at the Triple Crown and were there ever any regrets that you didn't?

JO: It would be a dream to train a Triple Crown winner. It was marvellous to see Nijinsky II (Northern Dancer) do it and he was one of my heroes. To think that I would have had a chance to win the Triple Crown with Sea The Stars and that I'd dismiss it pretty quickly when I had the chance to do it is amazing really because I would have grown up thinking it would be the ultimate achievement for a horse. However, the owner was not keen on the idea for a start and, while I was given a free hand to train the horse as if he were mine, I knew their feelings. It would have been a formality for him. He would have followed them around at the rear and skirted past them at the end because great horses like that, as I have said, if they have a big engine like he did, distance does not matter. They just keep going. They don't stop and an extra couple of furlongs doesn't make any difference to them.

The commercial market wouldn't agree but winning the Triple Crown really does mean something when it comes to assessing a horse's capabilities but we're not going to see many of them in Europe again. It's still possible, with all the good stallions we have capable of siring such horses, but will we ever see one? As it turned out, running in the Irish Champion S. was his only chance to run in Ireland, having missed the Irish Derby due to the weather, and he beat a good field and actually won by a bit of distance that day, which he normally didn't. He normally just did enough. He earned his highest rating that day so it worked out better for the horse in the end.

BS: The Triple Crown remains a hot topic in America. They are suggesting tampering with the dates of the races. I know you have some views against that.

JO: Just because something is difficult to win and not many horses can do it, that's not a good reason to change it. Making it easier to achieve isn't necessarily the right thing to do as it's supposed to be tough and it's supposed to be a test. I think most people realise that. The Triple Crown in America is tough to win but it's been done many times and is still achievable. It also goes back to my earlier points on stamina. The Americans like speed but they also want to see their horses carry their speed around two turns and stay the gruelling 10 furlongs of the Kentucky Derby. It is still every American owner's dream to win the Kentucky Derby.

BS: Getting back to the Derby, what do you make of this year's race?

JO: As usual, it's all up for grabs on Saturday and we don't know what's going to happen. Desert Crown (GB) (Nathaniel {Ire}) looks a very worthy favourite. He was an impressive 2-year-old winner but has just had the one run this year. I am sure Sir Michael would have liked to get two runs into him this year, but he seems to be happy with him and he knows what he's doing. I also liked Stone Age (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) at Leopardstown where he won easily. He's a battle-hardened warrior who has had enough runs as a 2-year-old and seems to have done well from two to three with two good wins under his belt this year. I like the look of him because he's so experienced. There are other good horses in there so it should be exciting to watch.

BS: How do you approach Derby week now that you are retired?

JO: I am happy to sit at home and watch it on television. I am not a frustrated trainer. I am happy to be watching and not having to worry about it. It used to be an anxious time and I am not sorry to be away from the anxiety of the whole thing.

BS: It could be another big weekend for Sea The Stars with Emily Upjohn (GB). John Gosden has been quoted as comparing her to Taghrooda (GB) (Sea The Stars {Ire}). She appears to have outstanding claims in the Oaks.

JO: She does and if John is comparing her favourably to Taghrooda that's a big recommendation. They are different types of fillies. Taghrooda was a lovely medium-sized filly, as far as I remember, and while I haven't seen Emily Upjohn in the flesh, I believe she is quite big. Obviously she is a fluent mover and is well balanced. I hope she is as good as Taghrooda because she was a smashing filly.

BS: Emily Upjohn's story is quite an interesting one and proves that Classic contenders can slip through the net.

JO: Yes. She was in Book 2 at Newmarket and I believe she was a very big yearling. She was good looking and moved well and must have had plenty of good qualities if Tom Goff bought her. People don't like them too big and don't want them to take too much time and she just wasn't commercial, even though she has a very good pedigree on the dam's side, one of the Aga Khan's best families. She was certainly very well bought at the price regardless of her recent good form. Everyone will look at it now and think they were asleep that day!

BS: You can't really mention the Derby without speaking about Lester Piggott. How did you remember him when you heard the sad news of his passing on Sunday?

JO: Lester was a one-off and will always be most closely associated with Epsom where his great skill was best advertised. People tried to copy his style and he put a whole generation of young jockeys on the wrong path as they all wanted to ride short like him but none of them were able to do it. He was a great jockey with brilliant instincts. He'd nerves of steel and was so focussed and determined. He just had that mental grit and went from one race to the next without letting success or failure have any affect on him. People were very interested in him not only because he was a great jockey but because he didn't talk much and kept a poker face which made him mysterious and added to his charisma.

BS: You have retired but your famous Curragbeg Stables remain a soundtrack to horses

JO: Yes. We are delighted to have John and Jody O'Donoghue here. They have started well and have a small string, nearly all of which are 2-year-olds. In fact, I think he has only one 3-year-old, and he has managed to win with that already. He has one nice early 2-year-old and he has won with that as well. They are a very capable and able couple and I am very impressed by the way that John is going about the job and the decisions that he's making and the way that he's running the place. I think they have a great future and we are looking forward to being a part of it all with them.

BS: And what is driving John Oxx?

JO: I have always been very interested in the breeding side of things and, now that I am retired, I have more time to keep up with what is going on around the world. I read a lot more and am a big fan of TDN. It's a great publication. I enjoy having that little bit more time. I am also very fortunate that Kirsten Rausing asked me to do some work for her at Staffordstown Stud and it's a great pleasure to go up there and be involved in her operation. I am very lucky that she asked me to become involved. She had a tremendous year in 2021, particularly with Alpinista (GB) (Frankel {GB}) winning three Group 1 races, and Sandrine (GB) (Bobby's Kitten), who has already run well in the 1000 Guineas, so we are really looking forward to her this season as well. Just rewards in all her efforts in building up her families.

The post ‘I am Delighted That he has a Top Miler in Baaeed – I had Been Waiting for That’ appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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