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Blue Grass-Winning Trainer Drury Tells His Story On TDN Writers’ Room

It took a long journey for trainer Tom Drury to get to where he is now, with a GII Toyota Blue Grass S. winner and major GI Kentucky Derby contender in his barn. There were years when Drury didn’t win any races, which had him questioning whether he was made out for the training business. But life is good now for Drury, largely thanks to a Bruce Lunsford homebred named Art Collector (Bernardini), and he joined the TDN Writers’ Room presented by Keeneland Wednesday to talk about his prized pupil and his bumpy ride to success.

Calling in as the Green Group Guest of the Week, Drury was asked how he came to train Art Collector, who ran the first five races in his career for Joe Sharp. The colt was transferred to Drury by owner/breeder Bruce Lunsford following his disqualification from an allowance victory for a levamisole positive under Sharp.

“I’ve been working for Bruce for a long time. We had Madcap Escapade for him as a 2-year old,” Drury said of his time assisting longtime Lunsford trainer Frankie Brothers. “I’ve always done more behind the scenes kind of work, legging up young horses and taking horses when they needed a break and things of that nature. Along that path, he’s always left a few horses with me to race and given me some opportunities to win some really nice races. He contacted me and just said he was going to be shuffling the deck a little bit and wasn’t exactly sure which horses were going where, and just asked if I could help him out, which we were obviously happy to do. Art Collector was one of those horses.”

As for Art Collector’s temperament and development, Drury commented, “He’s really been easy. He’s just a very kind, classy individual, nothing seems to rattle him. He just kind of fell right into the routine. Gosh, he’s probably been as easy of a horse to train as I’ve ever had in the barn. I would definitely tell you that the horse handled Saturday a whole lot better than the trainer did. He’s just been a pleasure to work with.”

Drury has walked a winding road to where he is now, and he recalled some of the tougher times, saying, “It took me a while to figure out what my niche was going to be in the business. I kind of had to do the same thing my dad did. I had a few horses, but I had to gallop on the side to cover the expenses. It’s just been slow coming. There were some years that we didn’t win a race and the opportunities weren’t happening. You think to yourself, ‘Man, what did I do here?’ At one point, I wasn’t sure that I was going to make it as a trainer, but fortunately things turned around and here I am. It’s been good stuff. We never gave up. Finally things just started to kind of go the right way.”

Elsewhere on the show, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, the writers discussed the outbreak of COVID-19 among the jockey community and looked forward to the Saratoga meet. Click here to listen to the podcast and click here to watch it on Vimeo.

The post Blue Grass-Winning Trainer Drury Tells His Story On TDN Writers’ Room appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Weaning Woes: Is Artificial Weaning Hard On Horses?

Weaning, where a foal is removed from his dam, can be heartwrenching for both the humans and the animals involved. During traditional weaning, foals are forcibly separated from their dams at six months of age. However, left to their own devices, a foal will eventually separate from his mother on his own accord; this is considered “natural weaning.” Little research has been done on natural weaning.

The relationship between a mare and her foal focuses not only on providing sustenance to the youngster, but on the imparting of social skills that will allow the foal to become a well-adjusted part of an equine herd. Researchers in France studied natural weaning to determine if it could offer benefits to the mare and foal.
Drs. Séverine Henry, Hrefna Sigurjónsdóttir, Aziliz Klapper, Julie Joubert, Gabrielle Montier and Martine Hausberger studied three groups of semi-feral Icelandic horses: 16 mares with their foals, all owned by a riding school. The researchers discovered that the weaning age of foals varied greatly, but that foals were on average nine months old when they willingly stopped nursing from their mother.

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Surprisingly, the foal didn't gradually taper off his suckling before weaning nor did the mare become more aggressive with her foal before weaning; it seems the foal simply stopped nursing. Immediately after weaning, the foals spent about as much time with and stayed as close to their mothers as before weaning, indicating that they still needed social contact with their mothers.
None of the mares lost any body condition even though they were in foal and had a nursing foal on their side, though their breeding may have something to do with this: Icelandic horses are notoriously hardy.

Artificial weaning generally causes high levels of stress in foals and this is often the time when stereotypies like cribbing or weaving begin. The scientists hope that this data will assist in providing a better understanding of what happens in the mare-foal relationship, specifically from a social point of view, and how artificial weaning can affect foals.

Robin Goodfellow’s racing tips: Best bets for Thursday, July 16

Sportsmail's racing expert Robin Goodfellow dishes out his tips for Thursday's meetings at Hamilton, Uttoxeter and Sandown.

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Del Mar Cancels July 17-19 Racing After 15 More Jockeys Test Positive For COVID-19

With caution its primary concern, Del Mar has preemptively canceled its next three days of racing, July 17-18-19, after 15 jockeys tested positive for COVID-19. All of Del Mar's jockeys and jockey room personnel were tested on Tuesday by San Diego County Health and Human Services Agency staff as requested by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif.

“Assuming these individuals continue to show no symptoms, they will be isolated for a total of 10 days and should be able to resume their usual activities, including riding after that time,” said Dr. Eric McDonald, Medical Director, Epidemiology & Immunizations Services, County of San Diego.

“Racing will return on July 24,” said Joe Harper, Del Mar's CEO. “Canceling this weekend's races will give us additional time to monitor the situation and give the individuals who tested positive additional time to recover.”

On Tuesday, based on DMTC protocols, as well as direction from medical advisers and county public health officials, the testing was administered by county medical staff. Fifteen of the jockeys tested positive and all were believed to be asymptomatic. Contact tracing procedures are underway in conjunction with the San Diego Health & Human Services Agency. However, a common factor among all but one of the riders that tested positive is that they rode at the recently concluded Los Alamitos meet.

Del Mar officials ordered the testing of all the jockeys and jockeys' room personnel after two riders, Flavien Prat and Victor Espinoza, tested positive for COVID-19.

“Even though our jockey colony did not exhibit symptoms when they arrived at Del Mar, we made the decision to test everyone as part of protocols we have developed in conjunction with local medical experts and the San Diego County Health & Human Services Agency,” said Josh Rubinstein, Del Mar Thoroughbred President and COO. “We put these measures in place to help ensure the safety of all workers at Del Mar and our surrounding community.”

Because of the Health Insurance Privacy and Portability Act (HIPPA), Del Mar is not allowed to release the names of the affected riders.

In a further safety measure, only jockeys based in California will be permitted to ride at Del Mar for the remainder of the meeting. Jockeys from jurisdictions outside of California will not be allowed to ride at Del Mar. The measure to restrict the riding colony follows a similar announcement Tuesday by the New York Racing Association concerning jockeys at Saratoga Race Course. Under Del Mar's new policy, until further notice, local jockeys who leave the track to ride at other venues will not be allowed to ride again at Del Mar for the remainder of the summer racing meeting.

Additionally, Del Mar officials are re-configuring and expanding the track's jockeys' quarters, including moving some of the functions that normally take place in the jockeys' room to an adjacent area.

Del Mar has been providing health screening, monitoring and testing resources for barn area workers and essential personnel during its summer meet, which is being held for the first time in the track's 81-year history without spectators. The meet began Friday July 10th and will conclude on Labor Day, September 7.

Del Mar's health and safety protocols have been formulated with direct input from medical experts in the community.

“We have worked with Del Mar to apply practical health protocols for its essential personnel and we applaud the track's continued vigilance to help provide a safe environment for its work force,” said Dr. Ghazala Sharieff, MD, Corporate Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at San Diego's Scripps Health. “We can reasonably expect that there will be some additional positive tests. The key is to provide strategies and protocols for testing, quarantining, containment and management, all of which Del Mar is doing in cooperation with local public health experts and officials.”

Del Mar's racing officials have said that many of the races that had been scheduled for the upcoming weekend will be shifted to the following weekend. That includes the Grade 2, $150,000 San Diego Handicap and the Grade 2 $200,000 Eddie Read Stakes.

The Thoroughbred Owners of California said they are in agreement with Del Mar's measures. “TOC strongly supports the actions taken today by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in conjunction with the San Diego County Department of Health. The health of our riders is our top priority now.”

The post Del Mar Cancels July 17-19 Racing After 15 More Jockeys Test Positive For COVID-19 appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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