Varda by Distorted Humor o/o a Sky Mesa mare.
Princess Noor by Not This Time vanned off. Hope for good news.
Updated article in BH
âWe got her back to the barn. She looks better. She X-rayed clean,â Baffert said via telephone an hour after the Starlet. âIt looks like she might have hit herself above the ankleâthereâs a tendon area that looks like some swelling there. Weâre just going to monitor her for a few days, see if she did any damage there.â
Just glad sheâs okay. Hope nothing shows up in subsequent x-rays.
Nice finish by Varda. Good job by Espinoza to get Princess Noor stopped quickly. Astute didnât show up 
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I bet that by âmonitor herâ they will take steps to check on a soft tissue injuryâprobably an ultrasound or more elaborate tests. Probably another x-ray too.
Per Bloodhorse today, Princess Noor has been retired.
All I gotta say at this point is I donât know if Iâd ever send a horse to BB for race training/conditioning.
Between all the âcontaminationâ issues he seems to have with his barn staff and seemingly how many top 2YO and 3YOs he has, how many seem to be retired before the big 3YO races or make just the big 3YO races⊠
I am only basing my comments on conjecture as I havenât compared his âearlyâ retirements to other trainersâ âearlyâ retirements but geezeâŠ
Sorry for Princess Noor and her connections. She seemed like she was just getting ready to stomp the field in the Starlet yesterday when Espinoza pulled her up. Happy it is nothing life threatening but sad to see her leave the track.
Paid $1.35 million for her at the OBS Spring Sale of 2YO. She retired with $365,500 in earnings and 3 wins from 5 starts⊠5th in the BC Juvenile Fillies and the DNF yesterday.
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Good for Espinoza to pull her up. She must have really done a tendon?
It would be nice to know what the injury is, but I suppose no one but horse people would be interested.
I do think the grading committees need to look a lot closer at Californiaâs graded stakes. How does a grade 1 have only 5 entries, and 3 are trained by the same trainer? California racing is basically an island; very few people ship there to race. Unless horses ship out of California and are successful, Im very skeptical of the quality of the grade ones there.
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Princess Noor is a filly who proves your point about CA racing. She was absolutely dominant in her first 3 starts in CA, winning a msw, a G1 and a G2 by a combined 17+ lengths. But in her next race, the Breeders Cup Juv. Fillies (at Keeneland) where she faced fillies from other parts of the country, she was a well-beaten 5th of 7.
I have no idea why the Graded Stakes committee doesnât downgrade all those âcheapâ G1s in CA.
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While I agree in principle that the CA races shouldnât be graded with the current sizes and potential lesser overall field quality than KY, NY, FL races⊠CA races used to be worthy of G1 status and I suspect the CA horsemen would howl if they had to ship to run in a G1.
Does it make it right? Probably not âŠ
Yes. As recently as 4-5 years ago, CA races were worthy of G1 status. But not currently, and not for several years. The graded stakes committee reevaluates and reassigns grades yearly. Itâs time for them to catch up with whatâs happening in CA now.
I donât know why CA trainers should get preferential treatment just because they might howl otherwise.
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Iâm not saying the races shouldnât be downgraded as yes, I often see G1âs in CA with easily fields less than 10⊠just observing you might hear the noise in KY if and when it happens 
I donât know if CA will ever be able to rebound. 
Itâs just too expensive and too difficult to train racehorses in southern California.
As much as we are all frustrated with Baffert, heâs propping the game up there. There are still some other good trainers, but itâs not the pinnacle of the sport as it was even 10 years ago.
Edited to clarify location.
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Have to say that Victor Espinoza is not getting enough credit for his actions here! He immediately knew something wasnât quite right and he immediately took action. If he hadnât; this couldâve escalated into a much worse situation had she continued to run. Iâve always admired Victor as much as I admire Calvin B for his genuine love of the horse. Cheers Victor!!
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Not getting credit for his actions where, here? All the early posts on this topic commented that Espinoza pulled Princess Noor up quickly. I was watching the race and I didnât see (from the TV camera shots) that she was off at all. She walked on the van unassisted. I think everyone here would acknowledge that Espinozaâs prompt action could have easily been the difference between early retirement and possible life threatening/ending injury if sheâd continued to run full out.
It must have been a tough, quick mental call as it was at quarter pole and she was rolling to a win and in front when he pulled her up.
What more credit should Espinoza get? He was on her, he got her stopped quickly and safely for both Princess Noor and the rest of the field who were all behind her. 
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no, not here.
At least two of us did. You feel there should be more? Perhaps in some eyes, Espinoza was just doing his job which isnât just to win the race. Yes, winning is primary but safety of horses and riders is also part of a jockeyâs âjobâ and can be the hidden primary objective. In this case, Espinoza potentially lost his part of the purse money (which true enough, would be a non-issue if Princess Noor was a DNF due to catastrophic breakdown) by pulling Princess Noor up.
Iâm sure all he was thinking about is feeling something NQR and taking immediate action. Would an apprentice have made the same call to pull her up that quickly, who knows. Experienced jockeys get good rides and not just because the jock wins but because of the total âexperienceâ of the jock.
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