Each week members of the media around the country vote on the nation's top contenders on the Triple Crown and Kentucky Oaks trails in the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll. Find out the latest 2020 top 3-year-old rankings below. AMERICA'S TOP THOROUGHBREDS as of July 6
Tag: Racing
Enable Showed ‘Zest And Desire’ In Sunday’s Coral-Eclipse Defeat By Ghaiyyath
Champion racemare Enable, kept in training for 2020 to seek a third victory in the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe, began her 6-year-old season with a strong second in Sunday's Group 1 Coral-Eclipse at Sandown. The John Gosden-trained Juddmonte mare was defeated 2 1/4 lengths by frontrunner Ghaiyyath, but fended off challenges from Japan, Magic Wand, and Deirdre.
“We're delighted with that, she ran a gorgeous race,” Gosden told racingpost.com. “We know about Ghaiyyath and Sandown is a great front-runner's track. We're very happy. She enjoyed it and the zest and desire was there, but trying to get involved with a front-running horse like him was never going to be her deal.”
Gosden said Enable was only 85 percent fit for Sunday's race, and jockey Frankie Dettori confirmed that the mare was a bit tired in the final 100 yards.
Up next, plans call for Enable to try for a record-setting three-peat in the King George at Ascot on July 25. The mare's major year-end target is a historic third win in the Arc, a goal she fell just short of last year when Waldgeist ran her down over the very soft ground at York.
Enable won the Arc in 2017 and 2018, and became the first horse in history to win the Arc and the Breeders' Cup Turf in the same season when she crossed the wire first at Churchill Downs in November 2018.
Read more at the Racing Post.
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Asymmetrical Movement Common In Young Standardbreds
Scientists from the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences found asymmetrical movement in most of the Standardbred horses used in a study.
The group recruited the help of 12 Standardbred trainers across Norway and Sweden. They used wireless inertial sensors to detect uneven movement at the trot on 103 horses. All the horses had been broke to harness and were beginning race training; each was considered fit to train by their trainers.
Drs. Anne Kallerud, Cathrine Fjordbakk, Eli Hendrickson, Emma Persson‐Sjodin, Marie Hammarberg, Marie Rhodin and Elin Hernlund chose to study this group, which had an average age of 18 months, to reduce the chances of the presence of training-related injuries. All horses received a physical exam before the study; measurements were taken to see if any associations could be found with the uneven movement that could be detected.
Of the 103 horses, 77 were seen in-hand and on the track; 24 were assessed in-hand only and two were assessed only on the track. The scientists used thresholds established for other breeds to determine asymmetry. They determined that 94 of horses (93 percent) showed front and/or hind limb asymmetry in the in-hand reviews. In the track trials, 74 horses (94 percent) showed asymmetry. Though most of the asymmetry was mild, one in five horses switched the asymmetrical side for one or more parameters between in-hand and on-track trials.
The study team explored the prevalence of asymmetry, but not its underlying causes. It is unclear if the asymmetrical movement increases, decreases or stabilizes with age and training. They suggest that future studies look at the changes in asymmetry over time, and explore any associations between the asymmetrical movement and the development of clinical lameness.
Read the study here.
Read more at HorseTalk.
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10-Year-Old Pay Any Price Prevails In Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint
Pay Any Price, the 10-year-old gelding owned by Averill Racing LLC and Matties Racing Stable LLC, held off a late rally by Ambassador Luna to win Sunday's $75,000 Bob Umphrey Turf Sprint by a nose over a 'good' turf course at Gulfstream Park.
A son of Wildcat Heir trained by Georgina Baxter, Pay Any Price has won 19 of 33 races, including nine stakes. The gelding won the Umphrey in 2017 and 2018, the Crystal River in 2018 and 2019, and was second in the Jim McKay Turf Sprint in 2017.
The win was especially pleasing to Baxter after Pay Any Price lost his three previous starts.
“This horse is amazing, isn't he?” Baxter said. “I know his last two runs were questionable but you can never write this horse off. You have to respect him every time he steps on the racetrack.
“He's special to me. He's special to everyone in the barn. He's 10 years old. His worst enemy is his attitude, but he's turned into be our best friend – the fact that he is so goofy and quirky. He's still so good and so fast and still running well at 10 years old.”
Pay Any Price popped out of the gate under jockey Edgard Zayas and set fractions of :21.84 and :44.03 before hitting the wire first. The gelding was bred in Florida by Brent and Crystal Fernung and has now won 16 of 24 starts at Gulfstream.
Earlier in the afternoon, GU Racing Stable LLC's Belle Laura split horses around the turn and drove to an impressive victory in Sunday's $60,000 In The Breeze, covering a good mile turf course in 1:35.32.
The 4-year-old daughter of Mucho Macho Man, facing 10 others, including six stakes winners, was fifth down the backstretch before moving between pacesetter Dangerous Curves and Rosa Star around the turn and then driving away to a 4 ½ length victory over Great Sister Diane. Midnight Soiree was third.
Belle Laura is now two-for-two this year under the shedrow of trainer Juan Avila and jockey Hector Berrios. The filly finished third in the Jessamine (G2) and seventh in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1) as a 2-year-old, and third in the Herecomesthebride (G3) last year.
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