I spent my entire day there starting with the morning workouts and ending with the second to last race. I was too pooped to stay for the last race which was taken off the turf and had most of the field scratch.
The first horse I saw was Canoodler. He's still in training and his plans are to try out the turf. He's a big and gorgeous as ever!
Then I visited with the rest of the gang from the Davis Racing team. They have a very colorful barn of horses. Here is their stakes runner, Scoring Chick, who has a really cool marking on her haunches.
Perhaps it's her "Energy Button" similar to Big Brown's. They also have in training, a rare registered white thoroughbred.
The coloring may be rare but I don't think it's my cup of tea. No offense intended!
Soon after the track reopened for training from the maintenance break a rider, jockey Florent Geroux, went out to breeze a horse. Seems the girth wasn't tightened enough and the saddle slipped during the breeze. I did not see the fall but the report was that Florent came off as the saddle slid underneath the horse. He was hit by the back legs of his horse, then another horse behind him couldn't get out of the way and ran him over. He was sent to the hospital to be checked out. He was lucky! He was badly bruised up but no other injuries were reported and he was back racing the next day.
Here is Terry, the outrider attempting to catch the horse
and here is the horse as it passed by
Florent and the horse were both very lucky to come out unscathed but it was an instant reminder of the dangers in working with race horses.
The day of racing went well except for mother nature's brief interruption with a wicked thunderstorm. Young Lyndie Wade had a terrific day of racing winning 3 of the 6 stakes races on the card and coming in 2nd in another. The crowd was pretty good and all the horses came home safely. Overall a really great Illinois Champions Day.
Here is a slide show from my photos of the day: Illinois Champions Day
Canoodler looks great and let's hope his "turn on the turf" is safe and he ends up in your barn ;o) You have an "eye" for the handsome horses, I must say.
ReplyDeleteAs for building up your Toby's back muscles, I've been working on that with my horse, too, lo these many years ;o)
His back issues stem from a roach back he was born with to rearing up and flipping over at the track (he did that twice after I bought him though never with anyone on his back and ALWAYS with an eye out for anyone behind him. Normally a horse that doesn't keep "four on the floor" would be GONE, but in Huey's case, I didn't feel it would be an issue. So far--almost 11 years with me--I have been correct).
Working with my veterinarian to add more protein to his diet and following a carefully scripted supplement program (with changes as new things came on the market that my vet has liked) are paying off. Dressage has also been a wonderful discipline.
Huey likes the work, and he's very anxious to please. He tries very hard.
I am like you--I love the TB "try." They are wonderful horses.
The white filly is eyecatching!! Too bad you don't like her... you can always spot who is breezing with her on the track! Perhaps Liane should charge a "finders fee" for people who want to see their horse breeze when she goes with them :) There will be more and more white and colored thoroughbreds on the track as time goes by, so we better get used to them.
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