thoroughbred | Horse Racing Free Tips

‘More Opportunities’ Leading To Career Year For Trainer Luis Carvajal

Despite the absence of a “big” horse, trainer Luis Carvajal, Jr. has still managed to produce a breakout year in a career that began in 2006. The formula for the success has been pretty basic: More starters than ever before helped produced more winners than he has ever had before.

He doesn't intend slow down yet, either, with horses entered in each of the first two nights of the Monmouth-at-Meadowlands meet that gets underway on Friday, Oct. 1. The six-race, all-turf cards during the seven-day meet will have a first race post time of 7 p.m.

Carvajal will send out Fly Fly Away, one of the likely favorites, in Friday's second race at a mile and a sixteenth, and Le Coste in Saturday's fifth race at one mile.

It's all in an effort to add to what has been a banner year for the 49-year-old native of Santiago, Chile.

“The big difference this year is that I have more owners giving me more horses,” said Carvajal. “More horses mean more opportunities to win.

“It's a lot of work having more horses. But I have a great team. It doesn't matter how many horses you have if you have good help. It makes everything so much easier.”

Carvajal has sent out a career-high 192 starters in 2021, resulting in a personal-best of 30 winners. His increased workload is best reflected in the recently-completed Monmouth Park meet, where he sent out 17 winners from 109 starters compared to nine winners from 61 starters a year ago.

“Yes, this definitely has been my best year,” said Carvajal. “It's a lot of fun when you win races.”

That's saying something since Carvajal campaigned multiple Grade 1 winner Imperial Hint until his retirement in 2020. In 2018 alone, Imperial Hint accounted for $767,500 of Carvajal's $1,115,573 in earnings that year. That remains his high water mark in earnings, with his stable of mostly allowance horses, claimers and maidens producing $805,011 in earnings this year.

“I'm looking for my next big horse,” he said. “That always makes things easier.”

Fly Fly Away, meanwhile, enters Friday on a form spree, with two wins and a pair of seconds in his past four starts.

“The horse is doing good. I think he will run a really good race,” said Carvajal. “My only concern is this will be his first time under the lights. But it's the same for a lot of horses. They have never raced under the lights. We'll see how some of them handle it.”

Carvajal's plans are to stay through the Monmouth-at-Meadowlands Meet, which runs until Oct. 30, and then move his stable to Tampa Downs before returning to Monmouth Park next spring.

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Woodbine Announces New Post Times Effective Oct. 7

Woodbine Entertainment today announced new post times for live Thoroughbred racing at Woodbine Racetrack.

Effective Thursday, Oct. 7, live racing at Woodbine Racetrack will commence at 12:55 p.m. every Thursday, Saturday and Sunday for the remainder of the 2021 season. Post time for Friday live racing will now shift to 4:45 p.m.

The new post times are in alignment with a shift to the North American simulcast market.

The 2021 Woodbine Thoroughbred season runs until Dec. 5.

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Australian Study: Why Do Thoroughbreds Retire?

A new study out of Australia has found that 17 percent of 37,750 racehorses retired during the 2017-18 racing season there left the track because of poor performance or at their owner's request. In addition, the study found that 2.1 percent of racehorses that left racing during that timeframe died.

Dr. Kshitiz Shrestha of the University of Melbourne and a research team emailed a questionnaire to the last registered trainers of a sample of the 2,509 Thoroughbreds listed as “inactive” in that timeframe. An “inactive” horse is one that has not worked or raced in the last six months of the racing season, or those horses that were recorded as inactive by Racing Australia.

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In total, 1,750 responses were received. Of those, 43 percent had only temporarily left racing; those horses raced the following year. One-third of the retirements were because of injuries, predominantly tendon or ligament issues.

The study determined that the median age of the 780 horses that were retired was 5 years. Females were 1.2 times more likely to be retired than males, but male horses were more likely to become riding horses than females, many of which went on to breed.

The scientists also found that 90 of the 96 horses that died did so because of injury or illness; 54 percent of the horses had experienced an injury while exercising — 24 of them while racing and 19 while training. The other 6 were injured while participating in a trial.

The researchers note that their findings are consistent with previous Australian and New Zealand studies that report that most racehorse retirements are voluntary in nature because of poor performance or owner request.

They note that the decision to retire is based on an accumulation of factors, including performance. The median age of retirement shows that most horses are not forced to retire because of an injury. This information can be used as a benchmark to evaluate programs designed to track Thoroughbreds as they leave racing.

Read the study here.

Ask The Nutrition Experts: What Can I Do To Help My OTTB Gain Condition?

Question: My 8-year-old Thoroughbred gelding, Caboose, is thin, actually thinner than he was when he came off the track a year ago (ribs on full display). He's turned out for 14-18 hours a day and receives the following ration: five flakes of grass hay, 7 lb (3.2 kg) high-fat grain, 3 cups corn oil, 1 lb (0.45 kg) balancer pellet, 1.5 lb (0.7 kg) of a flax/rice bran supplement, and other supplements (biotin, digestive support, and devil's claw). He's in minimal work. We've investigated dental problems and gastric ulcer issues. Any suggestions?

Answer from Kentucky Equine Research: From my review, the current diet should be supplying appropriate nutrition for weight gain, if not oversupplying key nutrients. When body condition scoring him, is the visibility of his ribs your main concern, or is he lacking condition in general (topline, flanks, etc.)?

A description of the pasture would have been helpful here, as good-quality forage can have a significant impact on the horse's overall health and wellness. Providing free-choice access to good-quality hay and pasture often provides a large portion of the horse's caloric needs. When weight gain is needed, providing free-choice access to hay is recommended, particularly in cases of limited pasture.

With this in mind, five flakes of grass hay may not be supplying enough forage depending on the weight of the flakes and pasture availability and quality. Switching to a high-calorie forage, like alfalfa, would boost the number of calories derived from forage.

Another consideration is the amount of dietary fat in Caboose's diet, as you are feeding several high-fat feedstuffs (concentrate, corn oil, rice bran). Studies have shown a decrease in fiber digestion and utilization when large amounts of soybean oil were fed.

To simplify the feeding program but supply appropriate nutrition, I suggest reducing the number of feeds and supplements offered to just one or two. I would choose one energy-dense feed and feed that according to the manufacturer's recommendations. Because you are trying to increase Caboose's body condition, you will find yourself feeding close to the upper limits of those recommendations. It would not be unusual, for instance, to find yourself feeding 10-12 lb (4.5-5.5 kg) of feed daily or even a little more. Increasing meal size should be done slowly, over the course of 10-14 days.

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Offering a third meal will allow for smaller grain meals and will help maximize digestibility and feed utilization. Including a ration balancer is unnecessary when feeding 7 lb (3.2 kg) of fortified feed, resulting in overfeeding micronutrients.

Horses that struggle to maintain a healthy weight, despite receiving appropriate nutrition, often benefit from a daily digestive health product that supports optimal health and digestive function. EquiShure is one such product; it is a unique digestive buffer that features a protective coating to ensure its delivery to the hindgut.

EquiShure can help balance the support fiber digestion and potentially improve feed efficiency, ultimately resulting in weight gain. EquiShure can be fed along with your current digestive health supplement or you can consider using the total-tract digestive buffer RiteTrac as it contains both gastric support and EquiShure. Australian horse owners should consider these products.

For a horse in light exercise, this feeding rate is relatively high to not see improvement in weight and condition. Further consultation with your veterinarian may be needed to determine any underlying reasons for Caboose's elevated energy needs.

Reprinted courtesy of Kentucky Equine Research. Visit ker.com for the latest in equine nutrition and management, and subscribe to Equinews to receive these articles directly

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