Notional w/Jersey Joe Bravo up celebrating a win in the Salvatore Mile at Monmouth (Sarah K. Andrew)

I had no intention of blogging tonight but I just saw this item at NTRA.

Notional, a multiple graded stakes winner, has been retired from racing after breaking the coffin bone in his left front foot when he finished fourth in last weekend’s Grade 1 Whitney Handicap at Saratoga.

First my beloved Lava Man is retired and now Notional, just when he was coming back into his own.

Valerie couldn’t have said it better last weekend when she opined “When will they accept that Notional is just a miler?” (except I would have omitted the “just”, ain’t no shame in being a miler).

The worst part was he looked GREAT in the parade for the Whitney, so great in fact that I almost thought about betting on him even though he was a clear bet against for me at the distance. All and all he ran well at the distance and I was looking forward to seeing him back a mile where he could dominate. Damn it!

2008 Salvatore Mile:

2007 Risen Star (Perhaps I will love all winners of the Risen Star):

2007 San Rafeal (the audio is really weak):

2007 Florida Derby:

Best of luck to Notional for a speedy recovery!

Posted by dana on Jul 31 2008    
Filed Under: Get Well Soon, Sarah K. Andrew, Farewell, 2008, 4yo, YouTube, Notional, Fans, Retirement, 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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Eibar Coa at Belmont (~ RAYMOND)

Storm Caller just threw Eibar Coa coming out of the gate in the Yankee Victor at Belmont. Storm Caller didn’t go down and didn’t look to be injured. I couldn’t tell if Coa got up but he’s off his mounts for the rest of the day.

Hopefully he’s ok… more as it unfolds.

Update: Looks like he got away with just a few bruised ribs. I just saw this buried in an unrelated story at DRF (with about 4 or 5 other unrelated items as well, why do they do that?).

Jockey Eibar Coa sustained a bruised rib on his left side when he was unseated at the start of Friday’s $76,900 Yankee Victor Stakes.

Coa was scheduled to ride at Colonial Downs on Saturday and Woodbine on Sunday.

Coa, 37, was aboard Canadian shipper Storm Caller, who stumbled badly at the start of the race, tossing Coa. The horse then appeared to kick Coa once, possibly twice. Coa was transported by ambulance to North Shore University Hospital where X-rays did not reveal any fractures.

Get well soon!

Posted by dana on Jun 20 2008    
Filed Under: 2008, Raymond Haddad, Riderless Horse, Get Well Soon, Injury, Belmont, Eibar Coa, Racing

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Pays to Dream on the outside lives up to his name (budmeister 26.2)

They’re retired with an injury!

Pays to Dream, the long shot that came on to surprise in the Dixie and then ran a game third in the Manhattan was retired with a fracture. Ugh is all I can say to that, and of course, get well soon!

Here’s his eye popping run in the Dixie on the Preakness Card:

And his game effort in the Manhattan:

Posted by dana on Jun 09 2008    
Filed Under: Turf, :(, YouTube, Get Well Soon, 2008, Injury, Javier Castellano, Belmont, Retirement, Race Replay, Pimlico, Edgar Prado, Racing

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Oddly named yet supremely talented G1 winning filly Panty Raid (Sarah K. Andrew)

I can’t claim that headline as my own, Sarah used it first when posting the photo above, but it still applies!

Panty Raid has been retired due to a non-career ending injury!

The injury was not career-ending, but it was decided to retire her anyway. “By the time we would have been able to get her back to the races it might have been this fall,” said John Greathouse. “She was already home.”

Grrrrr. They would have had to wait until the fall? Deprived again of seeing another talented horse.

Feast your eyes in this performance in the Juddmonte Spinster (grrrrrr) where she beat older fillies and mares. She did not go on to run in the Breeders’ Cup, which makes her early retirement even more enervating.

Please, no more bad news!

Posted by dana on May 28 2008    
Filed Under: Get Well Soon, Sarah K. Andrew, Farewell, Asi Siempre, 2008, YouTube, :(, Retirement, Let Horses Race, Grrrr, Race Replay, Injury, Racing

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