mo forza | Horse Racing Free Tips

Miller: Sidelined Mo Forza ‘Doing Really Well,’ Eyes Return In 60 Days

Mo Forza, who missed the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile at Keeneland last Nov. 7 due to “a minor setback,” is recovering and expected to resume his racing career, trainer Peter Miller reports.

“He's doing really well,” said Miller, who enjoys singular success utilizing serene surroundings at the Bonsall training facility San Luis Rey Downs in California's San Diego County. “He looks fantastic and we'll probably bring him back in another 60 days or so.”

Mo Forza, a 5-year-old son of Uncle Mo, had won six of his last seven starts including the G2 City of Hope Mile on grass at Santa Anita last Oct. 3 and Del Mar's G1 Hollywood Derby on Nov. 30, 2019.

He was bred in Kentucky by the late Barry Abrams, who also owned a share of the bay with Onofrio Pecoraro. He races as OG Boss; Abrams campaigned as Bardy Farm.

The post Miller: Sidelined Mo Forza ‘Doing Really Well,’ Eyes Return In 60 Days appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

‘Bad Timing’: Mo Forza Knocked Out Of Breeders’ Cup Mile

Mo Forza, if not the favorite for the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Mile certainly a sentimental favorite, will miss the race at Keeneland on Nov. 7 due to a minor issue, trainer Peter Miller told Santa Anita officials by telephone Saturday morning.

“If all goes well, we'll run in the Breeders' Cup next year at Del Mar,” the trainer said.

“What happened is just bad timing. I think he's the best turf miler in the world and I'm disappointed he won't be able to prove it this year.”

Mo Forza was owned in part by the estate of former trainer Barry Abrams, who died on Oct. 9 after a 15-year battle with cancer.

Abrams, who campaigned as Bardy Farm, also bred Mo Forza.

“This horse kept Barry going,” Miller said. “It gave him something to look forward to.

“It meant a lot to Barry and meant a lot to me, so we were crossing our fingers and hoping he could 'Win One for The Gipper.'”

A 4-year-old Uncle Mo colt also owned by part by Onofrio Pecoraro who races as OG Boss, Mo Forza had won six of his last seven races including the G1 Hollywood Derby last Nov. 30 and the G2 City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita on Oct. 3, his most recent outing.

The Kentucky-bred bay has a 6-3-1 record from 12 starts with earnings of $734,460.

The post ‘Bad Timing’: Mo Forza Knocked Out Of Breeders’ Cup Mile appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

GISW Mo Forza to Miss BC Mile

Mo Forza (Uncle Mo) will miss the GI Breeders’ Cup Mile at Keeneland Nov. 7 due to a minor issue, according to Peter Miller Saturday.

“If all goes well, we’ll run in the Breeders’ Cup next year at Del Mar,” the trainer said. “What happened is just bad timing. I think he’s the best turf miler in the world and I’m disappointed he won’t be able to prove it this year.”

Mo Forza is co-owned by Onofrio Pecoraro, who races as OG Boss, and by the estate of former trainer Barry Abrams, who died Oct. 9 after a 15-year battle with cancer. Abrams, who campaigned as Bardy Farm, also bred Mo Forza.

“This horse kept Barry going,” Miller said. “It gave him something to look forward to. It meant a lot to Barry and meant a lot to me, so we were crossing our fingers and hoping he could ‘Win One for The Gipper.'”

A four-year-old, who has a 6-3-1 record from 12 starts with earnings of $734,460, won six of his last seven races, including last fall’s GI Hollywood Derby and the Oct. 3 GII City of Hope Mile at Santa Anita in his most recent outing.

The post GISW Mo Forza to Miss BC Mile appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

‘A Good Heart And A Good Soul’: Trainer Barry Abrams, 61, Dies;

Racing hasn't lost its greatest trainer, but arguably its greatest fan.

Barry Abrams died peacefully Friday night at Huntington Memorial Hospital in Arcadia, Calif., after he was taken off a ventilator following a recent fall at home that injured his back. He was 66. Services are pending.

Abrams had courageously battled throat cancer for 15 years. A bear of a man at 6-4, 315 pounds before he was stricken, Abrams bared his soul in a story I authored about his ordeal that appeared in the October-November 2015 issue of North American Trainer Magazine, excerpts of which follow in this item.

Barry Abrams never smoked. He got cancer anyway. Side effects from the treatment over a 10-year period caused him to lose his taste buds, prevented him from swallowing (he used a feeding tube), he couldn't eat, run, go in the ocean or a swimming pool.

“I'm just functioning and happy to be alive,” he said. “I can eat cookies as long as they're liquified and made pudding-like. I can't swallow anything else because I have no salivary glands that create saliva.”

He lost half his voice box during surgeries, reducing his speech to a whisper, but he never complained.

“Ordinarily, you talk about things like saving for the future and making plans for this and that, but facing this, you realize that there could be no future,” he said in the 2015 article.

One of Barry's dearest friends was trainer Richard Baltas, who assisted in the barn operation during Abrams' five-month recovery in 2011. “He's very kind with a good heart,” Baltas said. “Years ago, I wanted to leave Louisiana and come home to California, but I needed a job.

“Barry didn't quibble. He simply asked me, 'How much do you want to make?' and that was it. He came to my wedding on Feb. 26, 2011, when he was sick with cancer. He's done many kind and generous things for me.”

Said Abrams' wife, Dyan: “Barry is so kind and helpful. If you needed the shirt off his back, he'd give it to you. … He's one of the good ones. He's got a good heart and a good soul.”

Trainer Peter Miller was looking forward to winning the Breeders' Cup Mile with a horse Abrams owns in part, Mo Forza. “Barry and I have known each other probably 25, 30 years,” Miller said several days ago. “Barry's a great guy. Everyone loves him, and this horse really helped keep him going.”

A highly accomplished conditioner of both Standardbreds and Thoroughbreds, Barry Abrams will forever be associated with Unusual Heat, a horse he claimed for $80,000 on June 10, 1996. The son of Nureyev would go on to become one of the greatest stallions in California racing history.

With Barry's passing, two questions will forever remain unresolved: did racing love Barry more, or did Barry love racing more?

Call it a dead-heat.

The post ‘A Good Heart And A Good Soul’: Trainer Barry Abrams, 61, Dies; appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post