Saturday’s Central Bank Ashland Stakes will offer 3-year-old fillies a chance to qualify for the Sept. 4 Longines Kentucky Oaks, and it will be the first time the race has ever been contested in July.
Legislation Banning Double-Decker Trailer Transport For Horses Passes House
Double-decker trailers, the kind used to transport hogs and cattle, are not safe for equine transport: The trailers don't provide enough headroom for the horses to stand comfortably and oftentimes horses in the trailer are injured during transport as they cannot raise their heads to maintain balance.
In 2011, the U.S. Department of Agriculture banned the use of double-decker trailers to transport horses to slaughter, but continued to allow inter-state shipment of horses in these trailers. The Horse Transportation Act (HTSA), part of a legislative infrastructure package called the Moving Forward Act, would ban the shipment of horses in double-decker trailers anywhere in the United States—not just to slaughter.
The act has passed through the House and now must be passed by the Senate before Sept. 30 to become a law. The HTSA is led by Representatives Steve Cohen (D-TN), Peter King (R-NY), Dina Titus (D-NV) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA).
Read more at HorseTalk.
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Pyledriver Eyes German Group 1
GSW Pyledriver (GB) (Harbour Watch {Ire}) could try for Group 1 glory in Germany, once he has had time to recover from his unfortunate passage in the G1 Investec Derby at Epsom. Trainer William Muir has the Preis von Europa at Cologne in mind for his stable star, whose hopes of Classic success were dashed soon after the start on Saturday.
“Once he got knocked over that was our race gone,” said Muir. “It happened when they cross from one side of the track to the other. He ended up being the meat in sandwich and was spat out the back. That was our race over.
“He did very well to stay on the way he did. He’s come out of it very well, but he didn’t really have a race. It was one of those things. That’s racing, that’s what happened, and you have to be philosophical and go forward. He didn’t get injured–and that’s the main thing, the luckiest thing.”
Muir is sticking to his original plan to give Pyledriver a break, after taking him from last month’s G2 King Edward VII S.–in which he gave the Lambourn trainer his first Royal Ascot success–on to the Derby.
“I said I was going to give him a little bit of time, and I am,” he said. “Once I’ve done that, and he’s freshened up, he’ll probably go for a Group 1 in Germany, the Preis von Europa. We ran Enforcer (GB) (Efisio {GB}) in that years ago (2006), and he was third.
“The horse is fine. He had a canter round on Tuesday. He’s 100%, no problems whatsoever. We’ll look to go to Cologne, unless something pops up elsewhere. I’m convinced after Saturday if he hadn’t got hampered, he’d have finished very much closer– but we wouldn’t have beaten the winner.”
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Baffert: McKinzie May Have Had A Good Excuse For That Met Mile Finish
If McKinzie looked to be missing a bit of closing kick in the stretch of the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap last weekend, he may be forgiven. Trainer Bob Baffert said the horse, who finished fifth as the favorite, came back to the barn missing two shoes.
McKinzie's right front and right rear shoes were missing, which left Baffert somewhat puzzled, as stepping on a front shoe with a hind foot would usually result in a loss of the front shoe alone. Jockey Mike Smith said he thought the Cinderella moment happened about 50 yards out from the gate. Baffert told the Paulick Report Tuesday the horse did not grab a quarter in the process, meaning he didn't seem to damage the flesh on the back of his front foot, but the separation of the front shoe did seem to take a small amount of hoof wall with it.
The trainer told the Albany Times-Union's Tim Wilkin that in 45 years of training horses he had never seen a horse lose a front and hind shoe together like that.
Despite running half-barefoot, McKinzie did make a closing effort in the stretch, but fell well short of front-running winner Vekoma.
Baffert told Wilkin there were no concrete plans for the horse's next start earlier this week, but he was considering the G1 Pacific Classic in late August at Del Mar. The 5-year-old won the G2 Triple Bend in June after a disappointing eleventh in the Saudi Cup.
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