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Cyberknife To Represent Cox Barn in Arkansas Derby

Gold Square LLC's Cyberknife (Gun Runner) will make his next start in the $1.25-million GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park Apr. 2, trainer Brad Cox told the Oaklawn press office.

A $400,000 acquisition by owner Al Gold out of the 2020 Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Showcase, the chestnut is unbeaten in two starts going long outside of stakes competition, having graduated in his first route attempt at the Fair Grounds Dec. 26 before tacking on a three-length allowance victory at the New Orleans oval Feb. 19. In between those efforts, he was a well-beaten sixth in the Jan. 12 GIII Lecomte S. Cyberknife worked five furlongs in 1:00 flat at the Fair Grounds Mar. 12.

“He's probably going to continue to work down [at the Fair Grounds], but we've pretty much zeroed in on the Arkansas Derby,” Cox said. “He's a tough horse to deal with, he always has been. He's gotten better. He appears to be improving. I thought his last race was a step forward. Got a really good figure the last race. I think it's going to stack up and probably be one of the better ones in the Arkansas Derby and if he runs that race, I think he's a player.”

Cox's other main GI Kentucky Derby hope is 'TDN Rising Star' Zozos (Munnings), who is being pointed at the GII Louisiana Derby Mar. 26.

Nominations to the Arkansas Derby, which offers 170 points (100-40-20-10) on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, close this Friday, Mar. 18.

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PET Scan Installed at Rood & Riddle

Edited Press Release

Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital is pleased to announce the installation of an equine positron emission tomography (PET) scanner at the Lexington, Kentucky, hospital. This modality is used for diagnostic imaging in select lameness cases and can be used in standing, sedated horses. It does not require general anesthesia. The scans result in quantitative, three-dimensional, cross-sectional images that can help accurately pinpoint the location and severity of a problem. Any area on the limb from the foot to the carpus (knee) and tarsus (hock) can be imaged. Two different types of scans can be performed. One looks at areas of increased bone metabolism and is useful to identify sub-chondral bone disease, signs of impending fracture, suspensory ligament attachment disorders, and osteoarthritis. The other looks at the overall tissue metabolism and is useful in cases of soft tissue injury or laminitis. Rood & Riddle is the fourth location for this standing PET scanner for horses globally and is the site of the first installation at a private practice.

“We are excited to introduce this new technology for our patients,” said Dr. Katherine Garrett, Rood & Riddle's director of Imaging. “PET scans will increase our ability to detect bony injury in horses, which will hopefully lead to improved outcomes.”

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Larry Bramlage added, “We started with radiographs alone, and they depended on celluloid and silver ions for an image. Then, digital radiographs moved us forward in the quality of what we could see. Nuclear scintigraphy was the next step because we could image physiology, not just anatomy. Then, the three-dimensional imaging with computed tomography (CAT) scans and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) further expanded our capabilities. We have now moved forward to another level with PET scanning, which combines the physiology of nuclear medicine and the three-dimensional capabilities of CAT and MRI into a three-dimensional image of bone physiology. It can also look at the three-dimensional activity of some soft tissues. PET adds significantly to our imaging and understanding of the true status of the equine athlete.”

In 2015, Grayson-Jockey Club Research Foundation funded the first-ever research project that performed PET scans on equine athletes and followed that up with additional research funding in 2019. Now, this new cutting-edge research will assist vets coast to coast in identifying lameness problems that are hard to locate.

“Grayson has been a longtime supporter of research on the efficacy of PET scans in diagnosing injuries in horses, and we are pleased to see a PET scanner installed at one of the premier equine hospitals in the world,” said Jamie Haydon, president of Grayson. “We are proud to have contributed to the development of a technology that will help countless horses at Rood & Riddle for years to come.”

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Rotknee A New Stakes Winner for Runhappy in Damon Runyon

The progressive Rotknee (Runhappy) took his current winning streak to three, running out an easy winner of Sunday's Damon Runyon S. at the Big A.

Drawn widest in a field of five, the homebred showed the best early speed and angled over to the fence in the opening furlong, forcing odds-on Best Idea (Honor Code) to be checked for half a stride. Going strongly on the engine beneath Manny Franco, Rotknee turned them in a couple of lengths to the good and kept on gamely to become the seventh stakes winner for his second-crop sire (by Super Saver).

Runner-up on debut in the Belmont mud July 9, the Butler homebred went pillar to post to graduate at Saratoga the following month before hitting the shelf. The dark bay picked up where he left off with a three-length defeat of entry-level state-bred allowance foes Feb. 11.

William Butler acquired Rotknee's second dam for $65,000 at the 2005 OBS April Sale and raced her to six wins and a pair of New York-bred stakes placings for earnings of nearly $241,000. Mama Theresa was bred by former TDN publisher Barry Weisbord and Peggy Santulli and is a daughter of Nothing Special, a stakes winner and Grade II-placed galloper for Weisbord who also produced GI Jockey Club Gold Cup and multiple Empire Classic S. hero Haynesfield (Speightstown).

In Spite of Mama is the dam of Rotknee's 2-year-old half-brother Mama's Gold (Bolt d'Oro), a yearling filly by Audible and was most recently bred to War of Will. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG.

DAMON RUNYON S., $97,000, Aqueduct, 3-13, (S), 3yo, 7f, 1:27.06, ft.
1–ROTKNEE, 122, c, 3, by Runhappy
1st Dam: In Spite of Mama, by Speightstown
2nd Dam: Mama Theresa, by Carson City
3rd Dam: Nothing Special, by Tejabo
1ST BLACK-TYPE WIN. O/B-William J Butler (NY); T-Michael J Maker; J-Manuel Franco. $55,000. Lifetime Record: 4-3-1-0, $156,350.
2–Agility, 120, c, 3, Practical Joke–Singing Doe, by Running Stag. ($160,000 Wlg '19 FTNMIX). O-Parkland Thoroughbreds; B-Hidden Lake Farm LLC, 3C Thoroughbreds, West Point Thoroughreds, et al (NY); T-Jorge R Abreu. $20,000.
3–G Munning, 120, c, 3, Munnings–To the Nines, by Super Saver. ($50,000 Wlg '19 KEENOV; $90,000 Ylg '20 FTKSEL; $275,000 2yo '21 FTFMAR). 1ST BLACK-TYPE. O-Flanagan Racing; B-Clark Brewster & Gold Square LLC (NY); T-John C Kimmel. $12,000.
Margins: 2 3/4, 5 3/4, NO. Odds: 2.30, 5.40, 13.40.
Also Ran: Best Idea, Mister Larry.

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Upstart Filly Runs To The Money, ‘Rising Star’ Honors

Sent off a mortal lock at odds of 2-5, Team Valor International's Green Up (Upstart) improved off a big-figure debut second for previous connections and galloped her six overmatched rivals into the ground, earning 'TDN Rising Star' honors for a 6 3/4-length tour-de-force.

Having dramatically outrun odds of 25-1 to be runner-up at Churchill Downs last May behind the subsequently stakes-placed Ontheonesandtwos (Jimmy Creed) for owner Leonard Mattingly and trainer Chris Melton, the $10,000 Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearling graduate was acquired by these high-profile connections a short time thereafter, according to Team Valor's Barry Irwin.

“She's tall and immature. She had a few issues and we gave her plenty of time,” he explained. “We were actually going to run her next week going a mile, but we started getting worried that the race wouldn't fill, so we sprinted her even though she doesn't want to sprint.”

Green Up's most recent breeze, a five-furlong bullet at Palm Beach Downs in 1:01 Mar. 6, had the Virginia-bred sitting on ready. Irwin said the drill was very much in character.

“Her works are unbelievable,” he said. “She goes out there, she stays with her company and just before the wire, she moves a little bit ahead and then on the gallop out she opens up 12 or 15 lengths every time.”

Off to an uneventful beginning for the in-form Irad Ortiz, Jr., Green Up tracked longshot pacesetter Teasing (Tapit)–a full-sister to GI Belmont S. winner Tapwrit–through solid opening splits. Easing alongside that one as the quarter pole loomed, Green Up quickly put daylight on her rivals and stopped the timer in 1:10.04 while never asked through the final eighth of a mile.

“It was as much as I expected and I expected a lot,” Irwin commented. “About three weeks ago, Todd called me and goes, 'this Green Up, she's a graded stakes winner, she's unbelievable.' He says, 'I know trainers never call people up with anything but bad news, so I want to call you with some good news and tell you what a good filly you've got. Pretty exciting to have one like this.”

The winning jockey added: “She did everything right. She did it the right way. She put me in a good position. She did everything so easy. Going to the turn, I just rode her, biding my time. When I asked her she responded really well. She took off.”

A May 9 foal, Green Up is out of an unplaced half-sister to the solid Midlantic handicap horse Just Call Kenny (Jump Start)–also a paternal descendant of A.P. Indy–who counted the GIII Philip H. Iselin S. as his major career victory and who won the 2014 Spectacular Bid S. over this main track. Green Up holds an entry for the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks and is the second Rising Star for Upstart, who is already represented on the Oaks trail by GII Davona Dale S. heroine Kathleen O.

4th-Gulfstream, $53,000, Msw, 3-13, 3yo, f, 6f, 1:10.04, ft, 6 3/4 lengths.
GREEN UP, f, 3, by Upstart
1st Dam: Green Punch, by Two Punch
2nd Dam: Green Jeans, by Green Dancer
3rd Dam: Duds, by Ack Ack
Sales history: $10,000 Ylg '20 EASOCT. Lifetime Record: 2-1-1-0, $44,360. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by TVG. Click for the free Equineline.com catalog-style pedigree.
O-Team Valor International LLC; B-Althea Richards (VA); T-Todd A Pletcher.

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