No, the way in which his condition began and progressed, I’m sure there was nothing that could have been done to save him. 
A four-race miracle horse, but what a miracle horse! Still remember picture of Baffert’s face at the start of the Dubai race, “Oh well, that is over”. And then he wins going away…
It is not relevant, but did he have unusual conformation? Not poor conformation, just unusual? (And I firmly state that I am not an expert, just politely curious.) I was looking at his conformation shot at Juddmonte. His body shape somehow looks different from most of the other stallions.
He was described as a big horse but not heavy. The thing that sticks out to me is that he has a significantly more prominent wither than any of the others, and his whole shoulder area, down to elbow is big. The set of his neck relative to wither makes his neck look less cresty that the others and he is more tucked up that the others - these last two points could be his relatively young age, especially if the pic is a year or two old.
Note that I am no conformation expert, but just pointing out what I see in the pics.
2 Likes
He very much was Unbridled’s Song in type - they tend to be (grey) big, rangy, with huge shoulders and uphill builds. That’s about what I expect from the UBS line and think he came through strong in most retrospects, except maybe his head and hip.
One thing that might or might not be speculation, however, is that his neck does look overmuscled across the cervical trapezius area in some photos. This is an N1 observation, but I sadly have had two horses with cervical arthritis issues in my time owning horses, and both always had a bit more “bulge” or meat in this area so now it is something I pay attention to; my vet commented that it was likely compensation for the C6-C7 malformation, which both of these horses had.
1 Like
I’d have to look for the exact quote… but Baffert did say he had lost a lot of conditioning when he can back from Dubai, especially over his whithers. He never really regained the same condition once back in the States.
Who knows. Maybe he had some unknown underlying problem with his neck/whithers at the end of his career.
It sounded to me like a vertebrae/spinal injury. We had a show pony in the barn about 20 years ago who was normal every day of the week and one day he started exhibiting odd, very odd behavior. It stemmed from acting like he was a stallion once again to acting clearly neurologic. After supportive care at the barn could be no more; he was brought to the vet school for further evaluation and quickly went down hill. He was Euthanized and an autopsy performed. later discovered he had broken/cracked a vertebrae near his withers which was affecting the ability for his spinal cord to function properly and was ultimately causing him to go neurologic. it was very sad. Sad to see Arrogate end this way. but I am comforted to know that all hands were on deck to try and get him back.
If after all of the radiographs that they would have done, and other forms of state of the art testing, they missed something like that, Lucy is going to be in big trouble with Ricky.
2 Likes
Gotta consider the source… just sayin’
2 Likes
Well, yeah! That’s why it was Lucy and Ricky!! :lol:
2 Likes
Amen, pass the biscuits.
1 Like
Wondering when/if the necropsy results will be made public…
1 Like
Quite possibly, never.
The only results that would take this length of time to be returned would be toxicology and the other blood test findings. I thought he may have had some neck or spinal abnormality, but they would have seen that during the necropsy so we’d know that by now if they planned on telling us.
The labs they are using may have a backlog, I don’t know. Somehow I didn’t think the cause would be found in a blood test, but what do I know?
I would like to know what produced the symptoms that led to his death, but his connections certainly have no obligation to satisfy my curiosity.
2 Likes
If I have a mare in foal to Arrogate, I want to know what killed him. If he had a neurological issue due to a malformation- I want to know that. If he had some freaky defect of another kind, I want to know that. And, I do not think that it is unreasonable to ask for that. If a mare sells in foal to him, before I buy the mare, I want to know what killed the sire. It’s just that easy- for me, anyway.
2 Likes
What we don’t know is if the mare owners have received information and been asked to not release it to the public. I think a legit request at the moment for the MOs to know but the general public… general interest really.
Another possibility is in releasing this information it could reduce the value of the offspring in the off chance that there was some genetic “problem” that might be passed on.
As a buyer of a mare in foal to Arrogate or a buyer of his get, there are pre-purchase options that one could explore if this was a concern.
The labs are backed up due to participating in Virus testing…or so say several sources regarding the split sample test on Charlatan. Imagine same might be true for necropsy.
Owner is under no obligation to release those results to the public or even in foal or recently foaled mare owners. Very rarely get all or even any of the details and there is no requirement to release them. Even to JC.
1 Like
The owners of his get can have them put through the diagnostic wringer, whether or not they’ve been notified of his cause of death.
If he had a “freaky defect” there’s no way of knowing its heritability. His get are a relatively small sample size so if it is a problem it will come to light.
When/if they find the cause of the symptoms that led to his death, even if it is not made public, I expect that the people who need to know will either be told, or will hear it through the grapevine.
4 Likes
Agree that there is no obligation to report to general public - though inquiring horse owner minds want to know about anything strange as this apparently was.
The problem I see, as a non-breeding, non racing person is that NO information will certainly cast a shadow on his foals. Mare owners IMO deserve to know.
1 Like
This is kind of where I am coming from. Let’s just say they know, and they’ve told the mare owners who have mares in foal to Arrogate. If it is something heritable or genetic, and they do not disclose this to a prospective owner, I see deep do-do. If it is not heritable or genetic, I can see not disclosing it because, hey, what happens in the Sheiks barn stays in the sheiks barn.
But if there is one little rumor out there- and, let’s face it, this is the horse biz AND Kentucky, it could kill the values.
Transparency always works best for me!
2 Likes
If you had a mare in foal to Arrogate chances are you would already know what happened. The TB world is pretty small and info generally gets passed around. Anyone involved in TB breeding has probably already heard the story. There’s really nothing nefarious going on.
3 Likes
Yes. Though I think if its not heritable or genetic, they should, in fact, shout it from the rooftops for the benefit of his offspring’s owners. And their reputation.
1 Like
