thoroughbred | Horse Racing Free Tips

Challenges Backing Off A Trailer? Top Event Rider Demonstrates A Few Exercises To Help

Some horses express resistance or skepticism when asked to back off a trailer or down a ramp, even if they're previously loaded onto the trailer with no problem. Top eventer Cathy Wieschhoff recently encountered a horse with this problem and coached followers of her One Minute With Cathy videos through a few ground exercises to help.

The strategies Wieschhoff used were aimed at helping the horse gain confidence about detecting and navigating objects with his hind feet, as well as teaching him more about the various cues she may use to ask a horse to back up when not mounted.

Wieschhoff has competed at the four-star level of eventing at both Kentucky and Badminton, is an ICP certified Level IV instructor and holds an r course design license. She owns a boarding and training facility in Lexington, Ky.

Watch below.

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Racing Cancelled At Turf Paradise Monday And Tuesday Due To COVID-19 Positive

Racing and training at Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Ariz., were cancelled on Monday after an employee in the jockeys' room tested positive for COVID-19. The unidentified employee has been hospitalized, according to Vincent Francia, the track's general manager.

Francia informed horsemen via social media late Sunday that all jockeys and valets had been notified and would be required to undergo rapid testing and three-day result testing for COVID-19. The jockeys' quarters were disinfected Sunday and would be fogged with an extra strength disinfectant.

The track's starting gate crew will also be required to undergo COVID-19 testing, and horsemen and Turf Paradise staff are also advised to get tested.

Francia said Monday morning that he anticipated training would take place Tuesday but racing would again be cancelled. He believed racing would resume on Wednesday.

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Bahrain International Trophy Winner Simsir Takes On Bigger Challenge In Saudi Cup

Ground-breaking trainer Fawzi Nass is preparing an assault on the $20 million Saudi Cup with Bahrain International winner Simsir.

Nass made history at the inaugural Saudi Cup meeting last year when his Port Lions pulled off a shock win by defeating Japan's star mare Deirdre in what is now called The Neom Turf Cup, the first turf race ever held in Saudi Arabia.

Now he has the world's most valuable race in his sights with Simsir. The 5-year-old will take on some of the world's best dirt horses, including Pegasus World Cup winner Knicks Go and rising star Charlatan, in the 1800m (nine furlongs) contest on Feb. 20.

Bahrain-based Nass will also aim a three-strong challenge at the first running of the Al Rajhi Bank International Handicap on Feb. 19, the day before The Saudi Cup.

He is targeting last month's Crown Prince Cup winner New Show, as well as stablemates Desert Lion and What A Welcome, at the 2100m contest, which is open to horses trained in countries not included in the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities' Part One nations.

Nass said: “Simsir is doing well. He's had an easy time since winning the Bahrain International Trophy in November, so we thought, if we're going to go to Saudi, we needed to get a run into him. We had the Crown Prince Cup, which was a hot race over 2000m (1 1/4 miles), and he finished a close fourth. Things didn't go his way, he missed the break and he had to come from behind, which doesn't suit a galloping horse like him. He didn't disgrace himself and we're happy with that being his prep run for The Saudi Cup.

“Desert Lion, What A Welcome and New Show, the winner of the Crown Prince Cup, are all going for the Al Rajhi Bank International Handicap, which is over 2100m on the turf. I'm not sure what the competition will be like but I'm happy with them and their preparation.

“Simsir and What A Welcome will be ridden by Adrie de Vries, who won on Port Lions at the meeting last year for us, so we'll stick with the same luck. Desert Lion will hopefully be ridden by Paddy Mathers, who gets on well with him here in Bahrain, and New Show will hopefully be ridden by David Egan.”

The return to King Abdulaziz Racetrack in Riyadh will obviously bring back happy memories for Nass after last year's famous victory.

He remembered: “It was an amazing experience. We went there knowing that we had a chance to nick a place but, obviously, everyone thought Deirdre had the race done and dusted. Overall, it was an amazing day and the feeling was good.

“I think the track is second to none really – up there with the best of the turf tracks. There was an amazing cushion and cover on the grass. Knowing that they had laid it so close to the race, all the jockeys obviously loved it. It's a very, very nice turf track.

“The Saudi Cup meeting is very important, especially for us in Bahrain, as we look at Saudi Arabia as the mother country. It's always a pleasure to participate in those events in Saudi Arabia, so it would be nice if we can win another race again.”

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Tickets For Tampa Bay Derby Day Now On Sale

Tickets for Festival Day 41 Presented by Lambholm South on March 6 are now being sold on the Tampa Bay Downs website, www.tampabaydowns.com.

General Admission attendance will be capped at 2,500. Tickets are $15 plus a $2.55 service fee. Picnic Area tables sold out quickly, but a total of 100 individual Picnic Area spaces are being sold for $15 each, plus the service fee. Anyone purchasing a Picnic Area space must provide their own seating.

The General Admission and Picnic Area ticket price includes a commemorative cap.

Five stakes races will be contested on March 6, headed by the 41st running of the Grade 2, $400,000 Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby for 3-year-olds at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main track.

The Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby is a “Road to the Kentucky Derby” points race, awarding qualifying points for the May 1 Run for the Roses to the first four finishers on a 50-20-10-5 scale. The Oldsmar showcase has produced two Kentucky Derby winners: 2007 Tampa Bay Derby winner Street Sense and 2010 Tampa Bay Derby third-place finisher Super Saver.

Turf-loving females will also be spotlighted. The Grade 2, $225,000 Hillsborough Stakes for older fillies and mares – which has produced such top-class winners in recent years as Starship Jubilee (2020), Fourstar Crook (2018), Dickinson (2017), Tepin (2016), Stephanie's Kitten (2015) and Zagora (2012) – will be contested at a mile-and-an-eighth on the grass. The Grade 3, $200,000 Florida Oaks for 3-year-old fillies, first run on the turf in 2011, is slated for a mile-and-a-sixteenth.

Rounding out the March 6 stakes menu are the Grade 3, $100,000 Michelob Ultra Challenger Stakes for horses 4-years-old-and-upward at a mile-and-a-sixteenth on the main track and the $75,000 Columbia Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on the turf.

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