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Stride Syndicate Platform Launched

Stride, a new syndicate platform for buying and selling shares in elite-level racehorses, was launched on Tuesday. Stride will purchase unraced yearlings and 2-year-old breeze-up horses in a price bracket from €25,000-€150,000 and will sell shares in syndicates of between two and six horses. The intention is to sell within 12 months of purchase and profits returned to owners.

Cillian Barry and Eugene Cosgrove, founders of SportCaller, are the Chairman and Head of Product, respectively, while veteran COO Donal Browne will handle the day-to-day business operations for a venture whose horses will initially be placed with trainer Joseph O'Brien. Stride's CEO is former Munster and Leicester rugby star Johne Murphy, who has operated Rugby & Racing and Thoroughbred Racing Syndicates, the latter also attached to the O'Brien yard.

Murphy said, “Stride is more than a responsive platform for buying and selling shares in elite-level racehorses. It's also a way for racing to reconnect, engage and retain its most vital stakeholders: passionate owners who support the sport through times good and bad. Our fractional ownership model readily articulates the merits over micro-ownership and its associated cautionary tales, and enables our members to choose a portfolio of racehorses that elevates enjoyment and mitigates downside at a challenging economic time across most sectors. Investors can now research, buy, manage, and watch their stable of syndicated Thoroughbreds at a fraction traditional ownership spends, with zero hidden costs or clawbacks. The price you pay for your share in the syndicate is the sole fee you'll ever be asked for.”

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Lead Affects Duration Of Hoof-To-Ground Contact On Turns

Research has show that sharp turns increase the risk of ligament-related limb injuries in racehorses and that catastrophic injuries are more likely to occur on a turn than on a track straightaway.

In natural settings, how an animal negotiates curves while moving is important to survival, especially during interactions with a predator where speed alone may not ensure escape. Horses routinely travel in curves and bends while at liberty, racing and in other disciplines. The increased force on front limbs while galloping on a turn is suspected to be associated with increased injury risk.

Drs. Rebecca Parkes, Thilo Pfau, Renate Weller and Thomas Witte created an experiment using seven Thoroughbreds galloping on large radius curves. Each horse was equipped with an inertial measurement unit with GPS on their sacrum, as well as with two hoof-mounted accelerometers and retro-reflective markers on their front legs.

Each horse galloped counterclockwise around the track two to four times; they were filmed at 120 frames per second by 10 cameras. The scientists determined speed and curve from the GPS information and estimated the centripetal acceleration. The accelerometers provided information on stride, swing durations, stance and the percent of the total stride that the hoof is on the ground. The front-leg markers tracked limb angles.

For horses that galloped on the correct lead, the left front leg was on the ground longer on both the straightaway and the curve; for horses that galloped on the right lead, there was no difference in length of time the hoof was on the ground on the straightaway or the curve.

The researchers conclude that the forces at play on a horse's leg when it runs on a curve are complex and that more research is needed. They note that the study doesn't take into account the hind limbs of galloping horses, which mainly propel the horse forward, while the forelimbs apply vertical impulse to the horse's body. They suggest that additional work be done regarding the role of the hind legs, horizontal body bend and the effects of torque on limbs when a horse is running on a curve.

Read the study here.

‘That Sort Of Swing, The Glide, The Stride’: Shirreffs Says Honor A. P. Should Go The Distance

Honor A. P., the likely second choice for Saturday's rescheduled edition of the Kentucky Derby, has made quite an impression galloping over the Churchill Downs surface in the mornings. The son of Honor Code has the look of his grandsire, A.P. Indy, and should relish the 1 1/4-mile distance of the Run for the Roses, according to trainer John Shirreffs.

“Obviously he's named after his grandsire, so what he really has is a really big stride,” Shirreffs explained. “He has a long underline, and he has a very big stride, and it's an effortless stride. Like, when you watch sprinters run, they kind of run hard, like they're turning the stride over, turning the stride over, turning the stride over. You're not seeing that swing, that little rhythm to their stride, usually.

“With Honor A. P., that's what you see, that sort of swing, the glide, the stride; swing, glide, stride. That shows or indicates that he's not putting a lot of effort into it, so that helps horses go farther.”

Though he was particularly impressive winning the Santa Anita Derby on June 6, racing pundits may be hesitant to back Honor A. P. after his loss last out in the Shared Belief Stakes. Shirreffs explained that he didn't have the colt completely focused on running ahead of that 1 1/16-mile contest at Del Mar.

“Going into the Shared Belief, we were working on other things than cranking him up for the race,” the trainer said. “We were working on his attitude a little bit, trying to get him to behave a little bit better. He was starting to feel really good, and he was starting to be a little difficult to handle. So we wanted to do everything we could to quiet him, calm him down, get him to relax, and not crank him up and get him stressing.

“The only way you can do that with a big strong animal is to quiet them, and the best way to quiet them is to give them lots of exercise. Wet saddle blankets is the best thing for a high-strung horse.”

Honor A. P. has been on his best behavior at Churchill this week, and while Shirreffs believes he's ready for the challenge, the trainer said he'd just as soon have run the Derby in May.

“It would have been nice to run then, because the sequence would have been perfect,” he said. “I don't think the four months have helped him or hurt him, he was pretty precocious early on.”

Shirreffs knows what a Kentucky Derby winner looks like, after all. He saddled Giacomo to an upset victory in 2005, and told reporters he still hasn't watch the replay from that first Saturday in May.

“The feeling I had after the race was so special, I want to keep that feeling,” Shirreffs said. “I don't want to analyze the race, and go, 'oh, look at this and look at that.' I just want to think of the whole thing and the feeling I got from it.”

He'll miss the fans at this year's September Derby, of course, but Shirreffs is hoping for a big effort from Honor A. P. on Saturday.

“(Listening to the fans is) sort of an electric feeling, but winning the Derby is always special,” said Shirreffs. “But Honor A. P. is a completely different horse, and it's his opportunity, so we want to make the best of that.”

Thanks to the National Turfwriters and Broadcasters Association (NTWAB), which has assembled a group of pool reporters providing independent reporting to members unable to be on the Churchill Downs grounds this year due to COVID-19 restrictions.

The post ‘That Sort Of Swing, The Glide, The Stride’: Shirreffs Says Honor A. P. Should Go The Distance appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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