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Five Tips For Proper Hay Storage

As summer winds down, focus turns from baling hay to storing hay. Although storing hay indoors is ideal, it is not always possible. To protect your hay investment, follow these five hay storage tips.

When storing outdoors, bales should be covered with a tarp or another durable cover. Tarps and plastic covers have reduced storage losses by half. For round bales stored outdoors, using net wrap or B-wrap reduces storage losses compared to twine.
Water and animal proof the storage site. Don't stack hay under a leaky roof as it will grow moldier with each rainfall event. Plug rodent holes and detour wildlife, such as raccoons, from living in hay storage areas during the winter months. Not only can rodents and wildlife make a mess of hay storage areas, feces from some wildlife can cause diseases in horses.
Regardless of indoor or outdoor storage, do not stack hay directly on the ground. Instead, stack bales on pallets to allow air flow and help prevent hay from absorbing ground moisture. Hay bales stored on wet surfaces can have as much as 50 percent spoilage.
Use older hay first. However, hay should keep indefinitely if the hay was properly baled and stored. High humidity can increase moisture content and reduce storage life. Therefore, we recommend feeding hay within two years of harvest.
When storing round bales outdoors, store them end to end. Stacking round bales while stored outdoors usually increases losses as stacking traps moisture and limits drying from the sun and wind. Additionally, buy or bale tightly packed bales, store bales on a well-drained surface, and never store bales under trees or in low lying areas.

Find more hay storage tips here.

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Ward Retains Stranglehold On Kentucky Downs Juvenile Turf Sprint With 1-2 Finish By Outadore, Fauci

Not only did trainer Wesley Ward continue his domination of the $500,000 Bal a Bali Juvenile Turf Sprint Saturday at Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky., he saddled the exacta finish, Outadore and Fauci.

Ward won the first two editions of the 6 1/2-furlong race, beating males with fillies, Moonlight Romance in 2018 and Cambria last year. With Kentucky Downs now offering a sprint stake for juvenile fillies, Ward turned to his colts and they delivered for him. Breeze Easy's Outadore stayed perfect in his second career start with a 1 3/4-length victory under Irad Ortiz, Jr. in 1:17.31. Fauci and jockey Tyler Gaffalione were 3 1/4 lengths ahead of the third-place horse, Cowan.

Ward, well-known for his success with 2-year-olds, answered a question about being unbeaten in the race with a question – “Isn't that what you're supposed to do?” – and punctuated it with a laugh.

Starting from the outside posts in the field of 10 running over the course rated as “soft,” Outadore (9) and Fauci (10) stalked from a few lengths back of the early pace set by County Final of :21.79 and :46.51. Outadore made his move first with a five-wide surge through the turn and took over the lead near the eighth pole. Fauci followed Outadore's rally on the outside, but could not catch his stablemate.

Outadore, the 9-5 favorite, paid $5.60 to win. The first-place money pushed his career earnings to $334,100.

“He's a nice horse, really nice horse,” said jockey Irad Ortiz Jr. “He broke good over there. He probably needed that first race when he won. He was ready today. He knew what he was doing. He broke and pulled me right there. He relaxed so nice, when I asked he just went ahead. It felt like he had a little more in the tank today.”

While pleased with their performances, Ward said he expects more from Outadore and Fauci as prospects for the $1-million Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf, to be run at one mile at Keeneland on Nov. 6.

“I think both will go a little farther, which is nice as well,” he said. “I think they'll both go a mile on the grass no problem. So, we'll probably split them up in their next start, one to the Bourbon (at Keeneland), one to the Pilgrim at Belmont. We're going to talk it over with both owners and make a plan. The way it looks, Irad (Ortiz) said he was wanting more ground and was kind of waiting. First thing Tyler (Gaffalione) said was, 'Wesley, please, run him farther.' So we're really excited about both colts.”

Outadore a gray/roan son of Outwork, was purchased for $290,000 as a yearling at 2019 Keeneland September. He won his debut at Saratoga on July 26, pressing the pace in a 5 1/2-furlong race that he won by 2 3/4 lengths, setting him up for his start at Kentucky Downs.

“Very nice colt,” Ward said. “He took a little while with some minor shin issues, as most 2-year-olds do. So we gave him the time. Sam Ross, his owner with Mike Hall, is a wonderful guy, and he's jumping up and down and screaming in West Virginia. That's the way you want these owners to be.”

Breeze Easy already has a Breeders' Cup victory on its resume: Four Wheel Drive, who won the 2019 Juvenile Turf Sprint for Ward at Santa Anita. Outadore could take his owners right back to racing's championship meet next month.

“The horse is going wonderful and Wesley (Ward) is doing a good job with the horse,” Hill said. “Mike Mollica and I picked this horse out at Keeneland sale last year and we're back shopping this year. We're really happy with this horse and looking forward to going to the Breeders' Cup.”

Fauci, co-owned by Lindy Farms and Ice Wine Stable, has never been worse that second in his four career starts. The son of Malibu Moon was purchased as a yearling at 2019 Keeneland September for $175,000. He is 1-3-0 from his four starts and with the $95,000 he earned in the Juvenile Turf Sprint has banked $166,800.

Gaffalione said that he and Fauci were a bit slow getting started.

“We didn't get away the cleanest,” he said. “I just wasn't settled in the gate; they sprung a little quick. I just never got his feet planted. But from there on, he traveled nice. I had a great stalking position following the winner most of the way. I got him out at the quarter pole. He had every chance from there. Just second-best today. Great effort. I think he could benefit from more ground. He doesn't have a real explosive turn of foot, but he keeps coming.”

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Kentucky Downs Postpones Sunday Card to Tuesday

As a result of afternoon-long rains that pelted the track and with more inclement weather forecast for Sunday, officials at Kentucky Downs announced late Saturday afternoon that the 11-race program originally scheduled for Sunday would be postponed and run in its entirety on Tuesday.

“With the steady rain that we had from the fifth race on and the projected forecast for rain overnight and tomorrow, we felt it the prudent thing to do safety-wise for both horses and riders,” said Ted Nicholson, Kentucky Downs’ senior vice president and general manager. “With the forecast being much more favorable for Tuesday and Wednesday, it was the right thing to do.”

Sunday’s card was to include the $500,000 TVG S., the $400,000 Untapable S. and the $400,000 Music City S. The Kentucky Downs meeting concludes Wednesday with a program that features the GIII Nevada State Bank Franklin-Simpson S. for 3-year-olds at 6 1/2 furlongs.

The post Kentucky Downs Postpones Sunday Card to Tuesday appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Got Stormy Handles Soft Turf, Shorter Distance In Kentucky Downs Ladies Sprint Stakes

One thing trainer Mark Casse has had on a wish list for his charge Got Stormy in 2020 was for the 5-year-old mare to finally get the foot-rattling ground she has done her best running over. So when rain began soaking the turf at Kentucky Downs in Franklin, Ky., over the course of Saturday afternoon, turning the conditions to soft in the process, one could forgive the Hall of Fame conditioner if he started to get a twist of dread in his stomach heading into the Grade 3 Real Solution Ladies Sprint Stakes.

Class can overcome a lot of would-be setbacks and for Got Stormy, her superiority would not be dulled this day even if the ground beneath her was. The multiple Grade 1-winning daughter of Get Stormy exploded down the lane to take the $500,000 Ladies Sprint Stakes by 3 1/4 lengths, ending a five-race losing skid and earning her first victory of 2020.

Prior to the 6 1/2-furlong Ladies Sprint, the only time Got Stormy had raced at shorter than a mile was her debut as 2-year-old in a 7 1/2-furlong race, which at Gulfstream Park is staged around two turns. Since capturing the Grade 1 Matriarch Stakes last December to close out a 2019 campaign that also saw her best males in the Grade 1 Fourstardave Handicap, the chestnut mare hadn't been able to find the form that made her an Eclipse Award finalist for champion turf female last season.

“For her to get a mile, she needs it extremely, extremely hard. And she hasn't gotten that once this year,” Casse said. “We always felt that way (that she'd sprint) but there's never been an opportunity. For $500,000, we figured this would be a good time to do it. I've always said she'd handle soft going; it just limits how far she can run.

“The bit of the give in the ground (today) was a little worrisome, but it kind of played to her favor.”

With her regular pilot Tyler Gaffalione in the irons on Saturday, Got Stormy indeed looked at home as the 9-5 favorite rated between horses in fourth through the opening quarter mile in :22.54 in the Ladies Sprint. After pacesetter Surrender Now took the field 12-horse field through a half mile in :46.27 and into the stretch, Got Stormy was angled to the outside around rivals by Gaffalione, striking the front near the eighth pole and continuing to draw clear en route to covering the distance in 1:15.41.

“The filly broke great today. We were worried about the soft ground, but she handled it beautifully,” Gaffalione said. “She felt like a winner every step and when I got her out she finished the job. She's got so much class and is a tremendous filly. Great job by Mark and his team having her ready.”

“She's hard not to love,” Casse added. “I've felt bad for her this year because she's gotten some bad 'rap,' that she isn't what she was. And it's not true. Like when she won the Fourstardave last year the track was so hard and so fast. And she just hasn't gotten that. That's what she likes. The softer it is, the shorter she needs to run.”

Winning Envelope ran on from well back to get second in the Ladies Sprint with Into Mystic third.

Owned by Gary Barber, Got Stormy improves her record to nine wins from 24 starts with $1,901,378 in earnings.

“I'll talk to Gary (owner Gary Barber) but we'll probably come back and run her 5 1/2 (furlongs) in the Breeders' Cup” (Turf Sprint at Keeneland),” Casse said “I think she'll like that 5 1/2. (Gaffalione) said he could have been on the lead, no problem. I know she cannot go a mile at Keeneland in the fall. We know that.”

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