Posts from June 2008
Declan’s Moon Retired
Declan’s Moon in the Winner’s Circle, certainly not a recent sighting (chriswwalsh)
Although, you’d only know it you happened to read the article on Heatseeker’s Hiatus… or in my case, see in Racehorse Girl’s rss feed!
His last out was a miserable 7th and his 5th consecutive loss. The poor guy has had his share of injuries, including a mysterious breathing problem.
In recent starts, Declan’s Moon has been plagued by a breathing problem, which contributed to losses in all three of his starts this year. In Thursday’s race, Declan’s Moon, 6, led to early stretch but faded to finish 10 lengths behind race winner Mostacolli Mort.
“He can’t get his air,” Ellis said. “It was only under severe stress that it happened. We tried everything and it’s not something that can be fixed.”
I suppose it’s safe to assume that if he wasn’t a gelding that he would have been swooped right off to the shed with this first injury prior to the 2005 Derby. Maybe he would have faired better as sire than a race horse or perhaps he would have passed on his issues, we’ll never know. The good news is that he’ll have a comfortable landing:
“The Siegels will find a nice place for him to live out his life in peace and quiet,” Ellis said.
Here’s his fantastic Hollywood Futurity:
Best of luck to him for an enjoyable retirement!
Posted by dana on Jun 29 2008
Filed Under: Farewell, Geldings, 2008, YouTube, Declan's Moon, Retirement, Race Replay, Racing
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I’ve been elsewhere the past few days! Belmont (Aint No Joke)
My lack of posting is due, in part, to a hectic week which includes working on this so it can be ready by July 1. So far, so good!
In lieu of posting I’ve been doing a lot of commenting… mostly on the extremely active post regarding Jeremy Rose’s suspension. It’s a great, lively, civil conversation mostly (at this point) centered around how to determine if a suspension is excessive. One person’s excessive is another person’s just right is yet another person’s not enough. In my mind this begs for national standards around ALL suspensions.
Speaking of which, Val has a great post (that of course I commented on, because that’s all I do now) about the double standards in the suspensions of Asmussen and Dutrow. She also discusses that national standards are needed in drug suspensions.
Jessica posts the news of Suffolk’s new zero tolerance on slaughter (yep, I commented there too) and points to a related post that alludes to a more holistic view being needed to actually solve the problem as opposed to just applying a band-aid. (Note - I agree that Rose’s suspension is a band-aid for addressing issues around the whip, there needs to be better rules to actually address the overall problem).
And, in another great post that I commented on, Teresa uncovers a bit of of a historical precedence for the protest of sexism in the pursuit of racing marketing! Go sign the petition!
Posted by dana on Jun 28 2008
Filed Under: I'm Procrastinating, Industry, The Whip, Take Back the Race, 2008, Fans, Drugs, TBA, Racing
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Jeremy Rose at Belmont (Sarah K. Andrew)
First off, what a day! I was away from a computer until just an hour ago… I missed quite the news filled afternoon!
In our last poll, Personal Ensign was the overwhelming favorite filly 1988 getting 20 votes, while 14 of you said that you love both Personal Ensign and Winning Colors equally and 7 of you, myself included, said Winning Colors was your favorite. I love them both but Winning Colors’ Santa Anita Derby is what made my decision.
Our current poll asks if what you make of Jeremy Rose’s suspension… is it too much, not enough or just right?
To aid you in your decision, I present this head on race replay (hat tip to partymanners for posting and Jen at Thoroughblog). The incident happens at the 1:00 mark, they’re on the rail. Be warned, you might not want to watch if you’re easily upset or squeamish:
I also present this from Dan Ilman over at his Formblog. When a poster asked if anyone felt that Rose has become “the whippingboy” for racing needing to clean up it’s act (a fair question), Ilman replied with this:
I’ve been following Delaware this meet, and this isn’t the first time that Rose’s actions have come into question. On May 12, I was co-hosting the New York City OTB program with Peter Rotundo, and we noticed Rose tearing the hide off runner-up Chief Export with 100 yards to go, and no hope of winning the race.
If you go to calracing.com (free registration), and load up the May 12 race at Delaware, you’ll see what I mean. Chief Export is breaking from post two, and is program number three. He breaks slowly, and rushes into a tight spot on the inside turning for home. After checking and angling to the outside, he fails to run down win-machine Spooky Mulder. Rose has no chance to win in late stretch, but still gives Chief Export a good beating on his shoulder.
After the race, we called for his head on live TV, and in the wake of the Eight Belles incident, wondered how in the heck Rose could be allowed to ride in the Preakness later that week. I can understand his frustration over the bad trip, but the horse didn’t deserve the hiding.
At first, when I read the news item, I thought the punishment was enough, but after seeing the head on I’m starting to think perhaps it’s not enough… but what do you think?
Posted by dana on Jun 25 2008
Filed Under: 2008, Industry, The Whip, Sarah K. Andrew, YouTube, Race Replay, Injury, Racing
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Making the rounds tonight I was struck by a few items.
I noticed that 5 yo Adieu died last week at Ashford Stud, the causes are unknown (or unreported until more is known). Her racing career was just before I started to follow racing and her winning efforts were not found on YouTube but I figured that many of you were probably familiar with her.
Adieu, an El Corredor mare out of Irene’s Talkin, by At the Threshold, scored wins over eventual champion Folklore in the 2005 Astoria Stakes at Belmont Park and Spinaway Stakes (G2) at Saratoga Race Course before winning the Frizette Stakes (G1) at Belmont.
Trained by Todd Pletcher for owners Susan Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith, Adieu also won the 2006 Delaware Oaks (G2) as a three-year-old. She won five of ten starts and earned $907,934.
Buried in that article (grrrr) was a small note about La Traviata’s retirement to Ashford and that she’s in foal to Mr. Greeley (or as Val would type, Mr. Greenley!).
I was blown away by her performance in the Victory Ride at Saratoga last summer, see for yourself:
Rest in peace Adieu and best of luck on the new beginning to La Traviata.
Over at Owning Racehorses, fellow TBA-er Ted has a post up on behalf of a friend who’s helping an owner do the right thing and find a nice placement for their horse. Check it out and forward to anyone you know who might be able to help or even provide a nice home!
Along similar lines, there’s an account of a recent rescue over at Paul Moran’s blog that reminds us all that luck has far too much to do with whether or not a thoroughbred race horse has a happy ending.
And finally, a story I can only take as a sign that things might just really be beginning to change, Jeremy Rose was suspended for 6 months for misuse of the whip.
Jockey Jeremy Rose was suspended for six months following a stewards’ hearing the morning of June 24 for whipping his mount Appeal to the City in the face during the third race at Delaware Park June 23.
Stewards hardly ever enforce whip rules, although it’s tough to overlook a whip in the face, particularly when it causes hemorrhaging. I would love to see stewards enforce the rules of just plain old over whipping, particularly when the horse is clearly not in the race. But in the meantime, I’m willing see this action as one tiny step in the right direction.
Posted by dana on Jun 24 2008
Filed Under: Farewell, Get Well Soon, TBA, 2008, The Whip, YouTube, You Can Help, Retirement, Breeding, Rescue, Race Replay, Injury, Racing
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No, this is not related to Brooklyn Backstretch’s earlier post. (SA Steve)
While it seems like it started with the hearings, it really started much earlier, at least as early as the Breeders’ Cup / Ladies Day / Take Back The Race Petition where we ask the Breeders’ Cup to “Create a fan committee representing the diversity of the racing audience to provide ideas and feedback on proposed changes and marketing plans to the Breeders’ Cup” (among other things).
Not too long after the Preakness, Jessica @ Railbird and I were enjoying some Friday afternoon hot dogs at Old Town and discussing all things racing. At one point we agreed that we should start our own damn Fan Committee because it was clear it was probably never going to happen otherwise.
Mid last week I was thinking fondly of two mid 90s pioneering sites, angry.org (the original) and kvetch.com (the one that got more attention). Both were very basic sites that allowed users vent and complain. Both also displayed complaints, which were incredibly fun to browse/read!
I printed out a bunch from angry.org and still plan on framing them! One was about the snotty sales assistants at a Calvin Klein store, another about an old lady who was a frequent annoying shopper at a grocery store. Most of them were just eh but a some of them were FANtastic.
With this in mind I registered selfappointedfancommitee.com and emailed Jessica. This also coincided with her sage observation that fans and players are not viewed as stakeholders in the industry that we support with our capital.
After a few emails, some comps and a bit of coding, we had a plan… The Self Appointed Fan Committee was born! Our working tag line is “Our only agenda is to make sure you’re heard!”.
We’ll be launching the first full version of on or around July 1st… stay tuned, and get your list of grievances together!
Posted by dana on Jun 22 2008
Filed Under: Industry, Self Appointed Fan Committee, Take Back the Race, Internet, You Can Help, :), Racing
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