acting out | Horse Racing Free Tips

Study Suggests Dangerous Behavior Could Be Caused By Skeletal Pain

Horses that exhibit undesirable behaviors like bolting, rearing or kicking under saddle are often assumed to have poor training or to simply be ill-tempered, but a new study shows that horses acting progressively more dangerously may be reacting to axial skeletal pain.

Dr. Melissa Story studied 14 horses that had exhibited increasingly dangerous behavior, putting their riders' safety at risk, and had subsequently been euthanized.

She and her research team performed spinal exams, gait evaluations, diagnostic imaging, neurologic evaluations, and pathologic and histopathologic exams of the axial skeleton (the skull, the rib cage, and the backbone).

Those evaluations, along with prior medical records, owner and trainer complaints, and an exam completed once the horses had been euthanized, allowed the scientists to tentatively determine that skeletal pain may have been to blame for the horses' behavior.

Ten horses showed severe behavioral responses during both the mobilization and myofascial exams. The most common areas of concern were the lumbosacral and cervicothoracic regions. Additionally, 71 percent of study horses had hemorrhage or hematomas in these areas.

The scientists concluded that structural pain (neuropathic) was the root cause of the dangerous behavior. They noted that ganglia relay peripheral sensory information to the central nervous system and that ganglionitis has been associated with neuropathic pain syndromes. More research is needed.

Training Horses Is Still A Work Of Art For Sherman

The New Year is here and one of racing's undisputed good guys, Art Sherman, welcomed it in fine fettle as he prepares to turn 84 on Feb. 17.

In 2016, Sherman was named winner of the Big Sport of Turfdom Award, awarded annually by the Turf Publicists of America honoring a “person or group of people who enhance coverage of Thoroughbred racing through cooperation with media and racing publicists.”

Sherman, who gained fame and fortune most trainers can only dream about when California Chrome burst on the scene in 2013, is content with a more mundane pace these days.

On Sunday, he runs the 4-year-old filly Acting Out in the $75,000 Kalookan Queen Stakes for fillies and mares, four and up, over 6 ½ furlongs at Santa Anita Park.

She also was nominated to Saturday's Grade 2 La Canada Stakes, but with two G1 winners in the field (Fighting Mad and Hard Not to Love), Sherman felt the race came up too tough and opted for a softer spot.

A gray daughter of Blame, who handed the great Zenyatta her lone defeat by a diminishing head in a dramatic edition of 2010 Breeders' Cup Classic under the late Garrett Gomez, Acting Out won her last two starts in overnight races by a combined margin of just over 10 lengths, one on turf and the other on dirt.

“She's doing well and been running well on both surfaces,” said Sherman, who owns 50 percent of the filly with his son, Alan. Bobby Harkins and Zvika Akin share the remaining 50 percent.

Born in Brooklyn where he became street smart in his father's Runyonesque barber shop, Sherman later moved to Los Angeles and went to work for Rex Ellsworth, accompanying the great Swaps in May of 1955 to Churchill Downs where he won the Kentucky Derby, and on Aug. 31 to Washington Park in Homewood, Ill., 27 miles south of Chicago, for a historic match race with Nashua before a crowd of 35,262.

Sherman began a career as jockey in 1957, retired in 1978, and took out his trainer's license in 1979. Thirty-four years later along came California Chrome and the rest, as they say, is history.

Sherman is comfortable with a stable of “about 10 horses” at his Los Alamitos headquarters, and has no plans to call it a career.

“If people read that I might retire, nobody will want to give me any horses,” he said.

Winner of the Kentucky Derby in 2014 and a two-time Horse of the Year in 2014 and 2016, California Chrome became an international fan favorite and Team Sherman was aboard for the wild ride.

The California-bred son of Lucky Pulpit-Love the Chase retired with a 16-4-1 record from 27 races, earning $14,752,650. Now 10, he stands at stud in Japan for four million yen ($36,500 in Yankee dollars).

“The only time I get to see him is on Facebook,” Sherman said, “but I'd sure like to visit him. I have an open invitation to see him anytime.”

Aside from keeping tabs on California Chrome and winning races, Sherman's foremost priority is his health, which, knock on wood, is good these days. Presently he is cancer-free from a tumor that was discovered on his bladder and surgically removed in March of 2019.

“My last visit four months ago I was free of cancer,” Sherman said, “so I won't have to see the doctor again for a while.”

And that's the best news of this or any year.

The field for the Kalookan Queen, race eight of nine with a 12:30 p.m. first post time: Amuse, Drayden Van Dyke; Biddy Duke, Umberto Rispoli; Qahira, Joel Rosario; Acting Out, Abel Cedillo; Dynasty of Her Own, Ricky Gonzalez; and Mo See Cal, Flavien Prat.

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Jolie Olimpica, Oleksandra Prepare For Rematch In Las Cienegas

Separated by a half length when they last met in May, Brazilian-bred Jolie Olimpica and Australian-bred Oleksandra head a field of seven older fillies and mares going six furlongs on turf in Saturday's Grade 3, $100,000 Las Cienegas Stakes at Santa Anita.

Originally run at about 6 ½ furlongs down the track's Camino Real Hillside Turf Course, the 47th edition of the Las Cienegas will be contested for the first time ever out of Santa Anita's all-new turf chute.

Idle since running a big second in the G1 Jenny Wiley Stakes at Keeneland going a mile and one sixteenth on turf July 11, the Richard Mandella-trained Jolie Olimpica took last year's Las Cienegas at 5 ½ furlongs on turf in her U.S. debut four starts back on Jan. 11, 2020 and is a two-time graded stakes winner over the Santa Anita lawn.

A Group 1 winner in her native Brazil, Jolie Olimpica, in her third start for Mandella, held off a late surge from Oleksandra to prevail by a half length in the G2 Monrovia Stakes going 5 ½ furlongs on turf here May 25. Although Oleksandra had a full head of steam, she never got by Jolie Olimpica on the gallop-out in what was a very impressive win.

Trained by Neil Drysdale, Oleksandra was most recently ninth in the G1 Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint versus males on Nov. 7 and returns to her home turf with the services of regular rider Joel Rosario. A winner of the G1 Jaipur Stakes going six furlongs on the Belmont Park turf two starts back, she rallied from far back to be second, beaten a half length by Jolie Olimpica in the Monrovia.

In what will be her first stakes assignment, veteran trainer Art Sherman's Acting Out will be bidding for her third consecutive win with regular rider Abel Cedillo up. Forwardly placed in all three of her wins to date, this 4-year-old Kentucky-bred filly by Blame seems to relish a fight and has won her last two allowance sprints by a combined 10 ¼ lengths. A maiden 5 ½ furlong turf winner here in her second start, Acting Out has three wins from five starts.

THE GRADE 3 LAS CIENEGAS WITH JOCKEYS & WEIGHTS IN POST POSITION ORDER

Race 9 of 10 Approximate post time 4 p.m. PT

Bohemian Bourbon—Juan Hernandez—120
Charmaine's Mia—Drayden Van Dyke—120
Acting Out—Abel Cedillo—120
Lighthouse—Umberto Rispoli—122
Superstition—Flavien Prat—120
Oleksandra—Joel Rosario—122
Jolie Olimpica—Mike Smith—122

Early first post time for a 10-race card on Saturday is at 12 noon. All of Santa Anita's races are offered free of charge at santaanita.com/live and fans can watch and wager at 1st.com/Bet.

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