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Trainer Orseno Responds to Bleeding Incident

When MGSW Imprimis (Broken Vow) finished second by a nose to Bound for Nowhere (The Factor) in Saturday's GII Shakertown S. at Keeneland, he returned bleeding from both nostrils. The horse had broken through the gate prior to the start and banged his head, but was examined on the scene by the state veterinarians and pronounced fit to run. Trainer Joe Orseno, who said he “thought [his] horse bled horribly,” issued a statement Thursday morning through the National Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) in response to the incident. It read, in part:

“Published reports and social media have had some incorrect information about what did and didn't happen to my horse Imprimis…Saturday while racing without the anti-bleeder medication Lasix. I want to set the record straight.

“Thank God the considerable blood coming from Imprimis' left nostril after the race was not pulmonary hemorrhaging. It also was not from what has been erroneously reported as being a cut on his nose sustained when he broke through the gate prior to the start. Imprimis does have a sizable bump on his nose–about six inches from his nostril–from where his head apparently hit the gate, but he did not sustain any cuts. The endoscopic examination that I had my private veterinarian conduct did reveal trace levels of Exercise Induced Pulmonary Hemorrhaging [EIPH]. I'm just so thankful that it wasn't more severe.”

Orseno reported Imprimis is doing well this week, but does have a large bump still visible on his nose. He stands by what he said about the new Lasix rules.

“I also don't retract what I told journalists after the race. I'll say it again right now: It's not good for the industry what they're doing forcing horses, particularly older horses, to run without Lasix in stakes races. And apparently that's not just one trainer's opinion. I didn't know so many people had my phone number, all the horsemen who called or emailed me and said, 'Thank you for speaking up'–trainers I don't even know. Someone in California called me out of the clear blue and said, 'Thank you, someone had the guts to say something.' I don't look at it that way. At the time, it wasn't about guts, it was about being very upset over my horse. I've been doing this 44 years and it's not just my livelihood, it's my life.

“I made my statement that someone has to explain to me why we're making horses bleed, older horses that have run on Lasix their whole life, and now all of a sudden you're going to penalize the best horses in the country. It's not good for the game, when we can stop it with an easy fix.

“My veterinarian's endoscopic exam of Imprimis showed that most of the blood was from banging his head. He did have traces, a trickle down his throat, showing that he did bleed a little in the trachea. We were very lucky.

“There are many horses that bleed significantly but not always externally. It is wrong and naive to think no damage is being done to horses just because they didn't bleed through the nostrils. It is also deceptive for those who are trying to label an EIPH episode only by visible blood from the nostrils. How are you going to tell an owner this horse is going to only run four times this year instead of eight or nine because I need more time in between to heal them up because he bleeds and we can't use Lasix? They are going to start to get disgusted, and horses will be hurt if they return at all. Owners are not going to be as excited about buying horses and racing if they can't run them more than four times a year.

“I am on the board of the Florida HBPA. We are scoping stakes horses–which must run without Lasix at Gulfstream Park–and we're paying for it so we hopefully can all learn something and together make informed and intelligent policy decisions from transparent data going forward. I'd say overall that the overwhelming majority of these horses are bleeding to some degree. The numbers aren't good. Do we really want to do this to our horses? I sure don't.”

The post Trainer Orseno Responds to Bleeding Incident appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Week in Review: Off-Lasix 3YOs Have Now Won 25% of This Year’s Derby Preps

Besides solidifying his status as a top-tier Triple Crown threat, Saturday's win by Known Agenda (Curlin) in the GI Curlin Florida Derby bolstered the overall case that the phase-out of Lasix in this year's series of GI Kentucky Derby preps seems to be having no adverse effect on performance.

Through 20 races in North America since Jan. 1 that have awarded Derby qualifying points, horses giving up Lasix after receiving it in their prior start have won five of those races. Seven others have finished second, an impressive strike rate that equates to off-Lasix horses running first or second in 60% of those 20 stakes.

The sample–admittedly small, but growing–is comprised of 52 total starters. The winners were Known Agenda in the Florida Derby, Helium (Ironicus) in the GII Tampa Bay Derby, Candy Man Rocket (Candy Ride {Arg}) in the GIII Sam F. Davis S., Hush of a Storm (Creative Cause) in the John Battaglia Memorial S., and Capo Kane (Street Sense) in the Jerome S.

It should also be noted with an asterisk that Concert Tour (Street Sense) won the GII San Vicente S. coming off Lasix, but that key Santa Anita prep race does not award Derby qualifying points.

This year will mark the first season in which all three Triple Crown races will be conducted Lasix-free, and the majority of prep stakes for the Derby did not permit Lasix. (In the qualifying races that did permit Lasix, like the Springboard Mile S. back in December, horses could not earn points for their placings if they ran on the drug.)

Known Agenda began his career Lasix-free as a 2-year-old in New York, and he beat highly rated Greatest Honour (Tapit) back in November without the use of any race-day anti-bleeding medication. But his form slipped after that–he ran third, beaten nine lengths, in the GII Remsen S., then was the beaten favorite when fifth in the Davis S. at Tampa.

For a Feb. 26 allowance confidence-builder at Gulfstream, trainer Todd Pletcher added both blinkers and Lasix (which is permitted in non-stakes races for 3-year-olds in Florida). Known Agenda attacked with metronomic precision, then poured it on in deep stretch to win by 11 commanding lengths. The drop in class, the addition of blinkers, and the use of Lasix for the first time all likely contributed to a vastly improved performance. But it was impossible to tease out which of those factors had the most impact.

Conventional handicapping wisdom shaped by decades of Lasix usage in North American racing suggested that coming off of Lasix while stepping up to Grade I company after an allowance win by double-digit lengths the first time on that drug might not be an advantageous angle.

But as we are now seeing, convention might as well get tossed out the window, because these off-Lasix horses as an aggregate don't seem to be suffering marked declines in performance.

Known Agenda improved to a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 94, a leap of 12 points. Four of the other off-Lasix sophomore stakes winners mentioned above also improved their Beyers when foregoing Lasix: Hush of a Storm (+12), Capo Kane (+10), Helium (+9) and Concert Tour (+6). The only off-Lasix winner to decline in terms of Beyers was Candy Man Rocket (-2).

In the interest of fairness, four other Florida Derby starters on Saturday came off Lasix after using it last time out. They ran second, fifth, sixth and ninth. So yes, for some of those horses the negative performance implications of not racing on Lasix might have been more pronounced.

Prior to the entire field not racing on Lasix on Saturday, you have to go all the way back to 2012 to find the last time a Florida Derby entrant didn't race on Lasix (Reveron, beaten just a length at 31-1 odds). Before that only one other horse in the 21st Century ran Lasix-free in the Florida Derby (an off-the-board long shot in 2001).

And we'll wrap up this discussion with a little quiz: Prior to Known Agenda, can you name the last horse to cross the Florida Derby finish wire first while running Lasix-free?

The answer is Lil's Lad in the 1998 edition. He was the only horse in that year's Florida Derby not racing on Lasix, but he got disqualified from the victory for causing interference.

The post Week in Review: Off-Lasix 3YOs Have Now Won 25% of This Year’s Derby Preps appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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Ability To Run On Lasix ‘A Major Factor’ In Choosing Oaklawn For C Z Rocket’s 2021 Debut

The last time C Z Rocket ran at Oaklawn, the gelding was on a 10-race losing streak and in for a $40,000 claiming price.

C Z Rocket may have lost again last April, but Southern California-based trainer Peter Miller and owner Tom Kagele won big after claiming the gelding out of his fifth-place finish.

C Z Rocket captured his next five starts before his streak was snapped with a runner-up finish behind Whitmore in the $2 million Breeders' Cup Sprint (G1) Nov. 7 at Keeneland. Flip the results of the 6-furlong race and C Z Rocket would have gone from claimer to champion in roughly six months.

“My owner actually picked him,” Miller said Wednesday afternoon. “I OK'd it, but he picked him. He was off form, but obviously he had back class and back fast figures, fast sheet numbers. That was kind of what Tom Kagele saw and I agreed.”

Miller, who didn't have to shake for C Z Rocket, said the gelding bled the day he was claimed and “just assumed he was a bad bleeder and we were able to control that.”

C Z Rocket went on to set a 6 ½-furlong track record (1:15) in a July 12 allowance race at Keeneland and edge Flagstaff in the $150,000 Pat O'Brien Stakes (G2) Aug. 29 at Del Mar and $200,000 Santa Anita Sprint Championship (G2) Sept. 27 at Santa Anita before being beaten 3 ¼ lengths by Whitmore in the Breeders' Cup Sprint.

C Z Rocket returns to Oaklawn, this time for a rematch with Whitmore in Saturday's $200,000 Hot Springs Stakes for older sprinters. Like Whitmore, the country's champion male sprinter of 2020, the Hot Springs will mark C Z Rocket's first start since the Breeders' Cup. The 7-year-old son of City Zip has recorded a series of workouts at San Luis Rey Downs in Southern California in advance of the Hot Springs, which also drew Flagstaff.

“The fact that we could run on Lasix was a major factor in us choosing to go to Oaklawn,” Miller said.

C Z Rocket's career U-turn has him poised to reach $1 million career earnings this year. The gelding boasts a 9-2-2 mark from 23 lifetime starts and earnings of $891,641. Prominent North Little Rock, Ark., businessman Frank Fletcher purchased C Z Rocket for a sale-record $800,000 at the 2016 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company June Sale of 2-year-olds. C Z Rocket won his first three career starts (2017) and the $75,000 Kelly's Landing Overnight Stakes (2018) before he began running for a tag last spring at Oaklawn.

C Z Rocket will be reunited Saturday with Florent Geroux, who was aboard for two of the gelding's five consecutive victories last year. C Z Rocket is the 2-1 second choice in the program for the 6-furlong Hot Springs. Whitmore, who has won the Hot Springs a record four consecutive years, is the 8-5 favorite. Whitmore and C Z Rocket are scheduled to break from posts 6 and 7, respectively, in the projected seven-horse field.

“We felt like we could have won the Breeders' Cup if we had a better trip,” Miller said. “We were plus-40 or 50 feet in the race, even though we broke from the 2 hole and he (Whitmore) broke from the (7) hole. Don't ask me how that happened going three-quarters. But somehow or another we ended up giving up 40 or 50 feet in ground and we were closer to the pace than he really likes to be when the pace is that fast. We're excited. Obviously, our end goal would be the Breeders' Cup, but we're looking forward to the rematch.”

C Z Rocket now races for Kagele, Madaket Stables LLC (Sol Kumin) and Gary Barber.

The Hot Springs is the final major local prep for the $500,000 Count Fleet Sprint Handicap (G3) April 10. Whitmore has won the Count Fleet a record three times (2017, 2018 and 2020).

The post Ability To Run On Lasix ‘A Major Factor’ In Choosing Oaklawn For C Z Rocket’s 2021 Debut appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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Nixon ‘Over The Top’ After First Graded Stakes Victory In Barbara Fritchie

By early Sunday morning the voice mailbox on Justin Nixon's cell phone was full, and for good reason. Late the previous afternoon, the Laurel Park-based trainer registered the first graded-stakes victory of his career in dramatic fashion with Hibiscus Punch in the $250,000 Runhappy Barbara Fritchie (G3).

Hibiscus Punch rallied to upset Hello Beautiful and Dontletsweetfoolya, both multiple stakes winners coming in on lengthy win streaks, at odds of 41-1. It was also the first graded triumph for the 6-year-old mare, and second in two months for owner-breeders Edward Seltzer and Beverly Anderson following Eres Tu in the Dec. 26 Allaire du Pont (G3), also at Laurel.

“I was cautiously optimistic. Obviously, Hello Beautiful is an awful nice mare, and Dontletsweetfoolya, and they were both coming into the race strong and with strong resumes. We would have just been happy with a graded placing for the filly,” Nixon said. “To win it was just over the top.”

It was just the eighth career start for Hibiscus Punch, by Into Mischief out of the Machiavellian mare Bellini Sunrise. In her only previous stakes attempt, she ran second by 2 ¼ lengths behind Dontletsweetfoolya in the Willa On the Move on the du Pont undercard. In between, she won an open Jan. 17 allowance at Laurel; all three came with Horacio Karamanos aboard.

“Closers were doing well. When we entered we knew that those two would probably set the race up pretty nice for us, if we were good enough,” Nixon said. “You look at their resumes and they're both very talented fillies and very quick fillies. We thought if we could draft in behind them and get a piece, that'd be great.

“The trip worked out well. Horacio, he just rides her perfect. He lets her settle and make that one run and yesterday a lot of little things all came together for her,” he added. “Very happy for the Seltzers and just thrilled to have the filly. I've been at Laurel on and off since 2003 so that's special, too, to win the big race here.”

Nixon said no decision has been made on the next step for Hibiscus Punch, who emerged from the Fritchie in good order. Nixon captured Sunday's opener at Laurel with the Seltzer-owned Lucre ($11.80).

“Everybody's good. We came out in good order and she's doing well. She's a nice filly,” Nixon said. “Right now we're just go into enjoy the victory. Mr. Seltzer and I will talk and I'm sure he's got some ideas. Whatever he thinks is best, that's what we'll do. Right now we haven't looked at it too, too hard but we'll flip through the stakes books and what have you and see where we go.”

Hello Beautiful, riding a three-stakes win streak, dueled with Dontletsweetfoolya up front for a half-mile before finishing fifth as the 2-5 favorite in the Fritchie. Starting this year, horses competing in graded-stakes in Maryland are not allowed to be treated with Lasix within 48 hours of post time.

“When she was empty at the quarter pole, I knew something went wrong. It's ok. We learned something. She won't ever walk over there without Lasix again,” trainer Brittany Russell said. “We're going to freshen her up for a couple weeks.”

Russell said Madaket Stables, Albert Frassetto, Mark Parkinson, K-Mac Stables and Magic City Stables' Hello Beautiful will get some time off with Bruce Jackson at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md. She had been a perfect 7-0 racing over Laurel's main track.

“She'll just have a little 'R and R,'” she said. “She won't lose much and we'll get her back in here and kick on with her.”

Meanwhile, Russell said Michael Dubb and Bethlehem Stables' Maythehorsebwithu was doing well out of his four-length score in the $100,000 Miracle Wood for 3-year-olds. It was the first stakes win for the gelded son of Grade 1 winner Bullsbay, a narrow second choice to multiple stakes winner Kenny Had a Notion.

“What a man. He showed up. He appeared to take that step that I said we were hoping to see eventually,” Russell said. “He's just a neat horse. He's walking around the barn this morning like it wasn't a hard effort for him or anything. That's what you like to see.”

The $100,000 Private Terms, contested at about 1 1/16 miles, is the next step for sophomores on Laurel's stakes program, scheduled for March 13. The one-mile Miracle Wood was the furthest test to date for Maythehorsebwithu.

“It's going to be up to him. If he needs to skip the next one, I believe he's probably worth it, if that's what he's telling us. But if he's touting himself and acts like he needs to run again, I guess three weeks isn't a big deal if the horse is doing well,” Russell said. “We'll just let him tell us. If we have to skip it, it's no big deal either.”

Five Hellions Farm's Dontletsweetfoolya had won five consecutive races including back-to-back stakes entering the Fritchie, which marked her 4-year-old and graded-stakes debut. She wound up seventh, just the second time in nine career starts where she didn't hit the board.

“As the day progressed, I would probably say our confidence wasn't high with the way the track was playing,” trainer Lacey Gaudet said. “She was there, she got a little tired, she got headed. This racetrack was extremely tiring. I don't think the lack of Lasix affected her. She runs with very little, so I don't think that was an excuse for her. She came back fine. Unfortunately, horses get beat. You can't win forever. Do I wish that he could have finished a little better? Absolutely. But, we're happy that she came back happy and healthy and we'll just go back to the drawing board and find another spot.”

Gaudet and Five Hellions also saw Fraudulent Charge rally to be second by a length to Street Lute in the $100,000 Wide Country for 3-year-old fillies. It was the sixth stakes win in eight starts for Street Lute and second straight over Fraudulent Charge, who came within a nose in the Dec. 26 Gin Talking at Laurel.

“She ran huge. We could not be disappointed in that. We want her to go further,” Gaudet said. “Everybody thought that it was a fluke last time, the way that she ran, because it was a four-horse field and had everything kind of go her way. I was just really happy to see her run back to that. She's going to be a fun filly.”

Free Nominations For Five Stakes March 13, Including $100,000 Private Terms
Free nominations close Saturday, Feb. 27 for five stakes worth a total of $450,000 to be run at Laurel March 13.

The open stakes are the $100,000 Private Terms for 3-year-olds at 1 1 /16 mile, the $100,000 Beyond The Wire for 3-year-old fillies at a mile, and the $100,000 Harrison Johnson Memorial for older horses at 1 1/8 mile. The stakes also include the $75,000 Not For Love at six furlongs for Maryland bred and sired horses, and the $75,000 The Conniver Stakes for Maryland bred or sired fillies and mares at seven furlongs.

For more information contact Maryland Jockey Club stakes coordinator Trish Bowman at 800.638.1859 and Trish.Bowman@marylandracing.com.

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