‘Nope, it wasn’t the Dunkin’…it was more like this for MTB:
[QUOTE=Barnfairy;4312002]
Mine That Bird to have surgery for entrapped epiglottis.[/QUOTE]
Well that certainly explains the poor work this morning.
I don’t expect to see him in the Travers no matter how optimistic Chip Woolley is. MTB goes to the Ruffian Equine Medical Center this afternoon.
He still hopes the horse will run in the Travers on Aug. 29.
“It’s disappointing and the timing stinks,” Wooley said. “But we could still make the race.”
Mine That Bird is expected back in Saratoga by Tuesday afternoon.
Sounds like Quality Road will be an overwhelming favorite in the Travers, if his feet hold up.
Who is out there to give him a run for the money? RA already beat most of them in the Haskell.
For those who will recall the Peru mystery horse “Tomcito” was a return-to-racing quickly after the same procedure and his connections didn’t allow for proper recovery. Yes the procedure is quick, routine and not overly complex but that doesn’t mean the recovery is equally brief. I would think that MTB’s connections would provide for adequate time to recover before rushing into the Travers which will be anything but a walkover …
Spa visit
Thanks for these great posts and wonderful pictures. I am headed to Saratoga this weekend and am getting very excited. Will be monitoring this thread for info all week!
K
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;4303427]
I’m sure all eyes - and more then the lionshare of money wagered - will be on Brother Bird (by Yonaguska) a 2-year-old half-brother to Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird who is entered to run in Saturday’s [Aug 15th] second race.[/QUOTE]
In regards to Brother Bird he finished 3rd in his racing debut.
Dogwood Stable’s Brother Bird, a $485G half-brother to Derby winner Mine That Bird, 9-2 in his first out for Todd Pletcher, rallied wide into the far turn to loom boldly under Ramon Dominguez, did not sustain that run but still continued on well for third.
“We thought it was an encouraging effort,” said Todd Pletcher, who trains Brother Bird for Cot Campbell’s Dogwood Stable. “He did everything right, put himself in a good position. There were quality horses in there and he held his own very well.”
As for Mine That Bird and the impending surgery to repair an entrapped epiglottis the time for recovery is up for debate. From the Daily Racing Form 8-17-09
“There’s no guarantee but the doctors think he’ll be good for Travers, but it’ll be somewhat day-to-day,” Chip Woolley, the trainer of Mine That Bird, said Monday outside the stakes barn. “We will not run him if he’s not 100 percent. We will see how things go; whatever decision we make will be made for the horse.”
The surgical procedure takes only a matter of minutes.
According to trainer D. Wayne Lukas, Tank’s Prospect underwent surgery to repair an entrapped epiglottis five days before he won the 1985 Arkansas Derby.
“It worked for me, but they’re all different,” said Lukas, who added if there are no complications “it’ll heal in 48 hours.”
I’m glad you liked the pictures. Have a blast!
I’ve updated my post on the previous page to include the all-important “I carried a watermelon” link (it occured to me that some may not know the significance of the quote!)
He was a crucial part of my trifecta of 2 year olds! Partially b/c of breeding, part hunch b/c of our MTB sightings.
Good luck and healing thoughts for Mine That Bird!
Mike Smith to be in town
Running Wed at Saratoga will be Jess Jackson’s Medaglia d’Oro filly - oh wait did you think it was Rachel Alexandra? Oh no, JJ has two of them 
RA’s stablemate and relative the 2-yr old filly Dashing Debby will start in the $150,000 Adirondack Stakes (G2) and she’s fast too!
Astutely placed by original trainer Gerald Procino in the July 11 J J’sdream S. at Calder on the Summit of Speed undercard, the first-time starter proceeded to romp by 10 1/4 lengths at odds of 13-1. On Wednesday, the juvenile takes her game to the big leagues in the Adirondack Stakes.
Among those facing her will be D. Wayne Lukas trained and Julien Leparoux ridden Decelerator who won the Debutante by a neck on June 27 but stumbled at the start and finished a distant sixth in the Schuylerville Stakes (G3) on July 29 at Saratoga Race Course to Jess Jackson’s wife’s horse Hot Dixie Chick.
Thursday marks the $150,00 Grade 2 Saratoga Special with Bob Baffert trainee and well liked DelMar runner Tiny Woods. The first winner to emerge for the Thoroughbred Legends Racing Stable, Tiny Woods is out of a half-sister to multiple Grade 1-winning juvenile Toccet (Awesome Again). Purchase at Kennelands 2008 Sep Yearling Sale for $180,000.
The Saratoga Special will have 9 in the race
“He [Tiny Woods] seems like a nice one,” said Tonja Terranova, who oversees Baffert’s horses on the East Coast. “Bob liked what he saw (Sunday) morning, and we are all excited about running him.”
Mike Smith, who rode the colt at Del Mar, will be in town to renew the partnership from post 8.
Maybe Mike Smith will get to meet Rachel Alexandra
Always in the interest of full disclosure - another injury (non-fatal) from training at Saratoga As reported 8-17-09:
Chiefswood Stable’s Magical Affair, a 3-year-old $1.5 million Giants Causeway filly, is out for the year after injuring herself Friday following a five-furlong workout at Saratoga.
A contender for the Grade 1 Alabama on the dirt and Grade 2 Lake Placid on the turf, she suffered a condylar fracture in her right front leg and was treated at the Saratoga Equine Veterinary Hospital.
“They fixed it Friday at Dr. (Bill) Barnes’ clinic, and you hope for the best,” trainer Michael Matz said.
As for additional information of the arrest of 33-yr old jockey Norberto Arroyo Jr who was charged with criminal possession of a controlled substance with intent to sell in the third degree and criminal possession of a controlled substance in the fourth degree, both felonies.
Arroyo was summarily suspended by the New York State Racing and Wagering Board, meaning he will not be permitted on the grounds of any New York track until he meets with the board. The board has set a hearing for Arroyo at its Schenectady office on Friday. The board could strip his license or issue other disciplinary action.
Arroyo, who was named on seven horses at Saratoga Monday, had been riding on a conditional license since late June after returning from an absence of six months after he failed a drug test issued by the New Jersey Racing Commission.
Arroyo’s career has been full of pitfalls, including a 39-day stint in jail after being convicted on assault charges in 2002. Arroyo also had a run-in with a livery cab driver in the Bronx in 2001.
Following yesterday’s victory by Awakino Cat in the $70,000 Troy Stakes with Alan Garcia up it gave trainer Linda Rice her 10th stakes win - all on grass.
As such she leads the current trainer’s standings at Spa, as of 8-18:
1.) Rice: 25 starts 10-1-2
2.) Pletcher: 60 starts 9-9-11
3.) Mott: 47 starts 9-8-8
4.) McLaughlin: 31 starts 7-4-4
5.) Tagg: 23 starts 6-3-4
6.) Zito: 30 starts 6-1-4
7.) Asmussen: 31 starts 5-3-4
Jockey standings though 8-18-09, an abridged snapshot
1.) Alan Garcia: 99 starts 22-8-11
2.) Ramon Dominguez: 124 starts 18-23-21
3.) Kent Desormeaux: 81 starts 16-15-8
4.) Julien Leparoux: 109 starts 13-17-12
5.) Rajiv Maragh : 126 starts 13-14-14
Initial report is that Mine That Bird’s surgery was without any troubles this morning and that he’ll enroute back to Saratoga shortly.
Veterinarian Dr. Patricia Hogan cut away the membrane.
“The surgery is done and the horse looks super,” Woolley said. "The doc is happy. She scoped him an hour after, and said it looks perfect, as good as one can look.
“Barring any complications, I would feel very, very confident well make the Travers.”
Woolley isn’t sure yet what Mine That Bird’s training schedule will be and how much time he’ll need to recover, but said, "I can miss a couple of days of training without any worry. He can still work Tuesday. If he misses a day or two, that’s not going to make or break him.
Chip Wooley told me that as of 1:30pm MTB and he were stuck in NYC traffic en route to the Stakes barn at Saratoga. Woolley will be at the Museum of racing at 11am tomorrow as their “Guest in the Gallery.”
[QUOTE=Linny;4315211]
Chip Wooley told me that as of 1:30pm MTB and he were stuck in NYC traffic en route to the Stakes barn at Saratoga. Woolley will be at the Museum of racing at 11am tomorrow as their “Guest in the Gallery.”[/QUOTE]
Hope he’s in a air condition van, it’s one hot humid day in Upstate NY. How are the horses racing doing in this?
[QUOTE=Blacklabs;4315412]
How are the horses racing doing in this?[/QUOTE]
Luckily today is a “dark” day at Saratoga so any horses running in large part did so this am during the works.
[QUOTE=Glimmerglass;4312814]
RA’s stablemate and relative the 2-yr old filly Dashing Debby will start in the $150,000 Adirondack Stakes (G2) and she’s fast too![/QUOTE]
Debby will be facing one less foe tomorrow (Wed): Beautician, second in the Schuylerville Stakes, is a scratch
Trainer Ken McPeek said Tuesday that he had to treat Beautician medically for the colic [developed Monday], necessitating the scratch.
“She’s fine this morning,” McPeek said Tuesday. “She was really uncomfortable late morning and early afternoon yesterday and we had to do what was right. In the short run it’s a setback, but in the long run we’ll be okay.”
McPeek said he would wait to get Beautician back in training before determining where to run her next.
I was sorry to hear about Beautician. She looks like a nice one.
As for MTB, I guess he was unable to find the inside path on the Cross Island Parkway. It took a while to escape from New York.
While I’m really looking forward to see if Dashing Debby can repeat her form (the dismissive comments have been she won by 10 1/2 over nothing special) I too was looking forward to seeing Beauticial run today. Ah, she’ll get to race another day …
So far so very good for NYRA and Saratoga as of 8-18-09: Handle and attendance rise at Saratoga and still about 3 more weeks to go …
Total attendance for the first 18 days of the meet is 439,713, up 8.4 percent from 405,616 in 2008. Daily average attendance is 24,429, compared with 22,534 in 2008.
Ontrack handle at Saratoga is $57,813,286, up 12.3 percent from the $51,486,871 wagered on the first half of last year’s meet. Daily average handle is $3,211,849, compared with $2,860,382 in 2008. The ontrack handle is pretty close to the 2007 figure of $59,505,142 at this point. In 2007, Saratoga established an ontrack handle record of $123,018,041.
There have been three more races (180 versus 177) run this year than last year, and total betting interests have increased 11.9 percent from 1,392 to 1,558. There have been 84 turf races run and only 10 taken off, compared to 56 on and 27 off through the first half of 2008.
Mine That Bird to be back on the work tab on Friday.
Mine That Bird is expected to return to the track on Friday, following successful surgery Tuesday to repair an entrapped epiglottis. Trainer Chip Woolley said that he was advised by Dr. Patricia Hogan, who performed the throat operation on Tuesday, to wait a few days before returning the Kentucky Derby winner to training.
“We’ll follow the vet’s recommendation, do what they want us to do,” Woolley said. “If at any point in time they feel he’s not 100 percent, we’ll pass the Travers up and go wherever else.”
Woolley, however, doesn’t believe that missing two days of training would have a major impact on Mine That Bird and he remains “very optimistic” that the horse could be ready to make the Travers. Woolley plans to jog the horse Friday, gallop him Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, then hopefully work on Tuesday.
“The horse is as fit as can be. He just worked a couple of days ago,” Woolley said. “If you would have had to miss the work I’d have some question. Two [missed] gallops on a horse like him is not going to make any difference.”
Woolley said Mine That Bird has to be on antibiotics and anti-inflammatories, but the horse will be off them far enough out from the race that he wouldn’t test positive.
As cited on the “Old Warriors” thread “Road’s end near for Better Talk Now” - the connections are saying just one more start and then the gold-watch time. That possible last race will be at Belmont Park - Grade 1 Joe Hirsch Turf Classic Invitational October 3rd.
Regarding today’s feature race, the Grade 2 Adirondack Stakes for 2-yr old fillies, Jess Jackson’s Dashing Debby ran to the lead like a fiend and just couldn’t keep that pace up.
Worstcasescenario, under Alan Garcia, collared Dashing Debby turning for home, then stormed away from the field to win the Adirondack impressively at Saratoga. Sassy Image rallied to get second by a 2 3/4 lengths over Magic Appeal. Worship the Moon, Dashing Debby, Babai Baby, Camille’s Appeal, Marabelle and Decelerator completed the order of finish. Beautician was scratched after developing a case of colic.
Welcomed or rather clearly unwelcomed per the Saratogian - today will mark the return to Saratoga of trainer Patrick Biacone, per today’s Saratoga Special:
Zip Quik, a 2-year-old entered in Thursday’s Grade II Saratoga Special, has brought trainer Patrick Biancone back to Saratoga, a place where the French native once showed his expertise with a plethora of juveniles.
Biancone hasn’t started a horse at Saratoga since 2007. Toward the end of the Saratoga meet two years ago, he saddled Nownownow to win the With Anticipation Stakes.
Alas Julien Leparoux has the call on Zip Quik, who arrived in Saratoga Tuesday evening from Santa Anita where he’s been training since a minor cut in July.
Baffert will have Tiny Woods (cited in a previous posting) and D. Wayne Lukas will have Activity Report with Jamie Theriot up. That colt enjoyed an 8-length romp in a maiden claimer at Churchill in June. However when last seen in the Grade II Sanford he finished a well beaten 7th after setting crazy fractions.
Other trainers with entries in the Grade 2 Saratoga Special (9th race; at 6 1/2 furlongs) : Steve Asmussen, Pletcher, Rick Dutrow, Barclay Tagg, Kiran McLaughlin, the aforementioned Biancone, Lukas and Baffert. And one very unknown - Merrill Scherer with “Flatter Than Me”.
Whoa - per an interview with the owners of Mine That Bird at Ruidoso Downs this afternoon they are learning towards NOT running MTB in the Travers. Instead they said they’re likely to just haul him back to Ruidoso where he’s expected to make a previously promised appearance and train him up to the Breeders Cup.
