Barbaro Updates: 114
updates are now here.
Update 913: No Barbaro update yet. It was another chilly morning this morning at Fair Hill, although there was more cloud cover. A lovely sunrise, just a shame it was appearing coming back from the second set (ok, clocks really do need to change). As suspected, a pretty busy morning. Quite a few breezers, one loose horse and just plenty of things going on.
It is nice to see New Zealand continue its Barbaro coverage: Barbaro has a good week.
Sue McMullen sent this regarding the recent sale of Shirocco, and the less than spectacular success of Godolphin in Europe this year:
We reported earlier this week that a sale had been agreed between Sheikh Mohammed and Baron Georg Von Ullman for the purchase of Shirocco and this has now been completed following a satisfactory veterinary report. The five-year-old son of Monsun has been retired and heads to Darley Hall Stud at Newmarket. Sheikh Mohammed's racing operation regard this attractive horse, winner of four Group 1s and described as having a 'fantastic temperament', as a great stallion prospect. They must also be hoping he will bring them some good fortune in what is by their standards, a very lean time at the top level. This year they failed to achieve even one Group 1 victory in the UK, the first time this had happened since the establishment of Godolphin in 1994. They have also been very unlucky with the death of their top horse Electrocutionist and now Iffraaj is to retire to Kildangen Stud in Ireland following a minor injury, plus Shawanda, the dual Group 1 winner purchased from the Aga Khan has also retired through injury without representing Godolphin on the racecourse. This classy daughter of mighty Sinndar was to be another star in their line-up and had been due to make an appearance for them in the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot, but although she had been reported as training well she went lame only hours before the race. Her previous appearance had been in last year's Arc, when she finished a valiant sixth but suffered a leg injury in the process. Shawanda will prove an immensely valuable addition to the paddocks.
Of course in the US, Godolphin is represented by Discreet Cat, and Bernardini is owned by Sheikh Mohammed (under the Darley banner rather than Godolphin).
Update 912: A quick reminder, the Barbaro update will likely be late morning again. Fair Hill will likely be quite busy this morning in anticipation of some wet weather coming through tonight, which will leave the dirt track either closed or in grim shape tomorrow.
The Daily Racing Form provides a quick update on some Breeders' Cup contenders preparing for a week on saturday: DRF Clocker Report: Thursday, October 26. I will try to catch up with a couple of the contenders today to see how things are going.
The Cushion Track at Hollywood Park is preparing to play host to its first meet: New 'Cushion Track' Attracts Out-of-Towners. This will be the second major racetrack in the US to adopt a synthetic racetrack. Lets hope the favourable reports from training over the track persist during the race meet.
Update 911: Rachel, from Kennett Florist left this comment (timestamp: 8:33 pm):
All is quiet at NBC today... I think they are recovering from the Halloween parade last night! They entered the parade (it's a judged event) as they have in the past. They have a miniature pony that in the past has been Smarty Jones, etc. He was dressed in a blue drape with fake casts on his hind legs... yep a Barbaro stand in! It was so cute. They had a little boy dressed in scrubs that had "Richardson" across the front and "but cuter and nicer" across the back! There was a little girl dressed as Edgar in the jockey outfit. They had adults carrying picket fences with get well posters all over them (representing the main entrance of NBC). They were also pulling a cart of flowers and carrots that had our logo on it! What a hoot! I hope someone got pictures for NBC, because mine came out really dark. It was a great night, even as cold as it was. Love, love, love this town!
We brought the big guy all his favs today!
Update 910: Peter Brette visited Barbaro again today, which is looking like the routine while Michael Matz is overseeing Round Pond's training at Keeneland. Peter took Barbaro out for a pick of grass, groomed him and changed his bandages. All remains comfortable.
Update 909: Just spoke to Steve Willard, Giacomo's exercise rider. All remains well with Giacomo as he gets ready for the Breeders' Cup Classic. Steve is very happy with the way Giacomo feels. He is training well, jogging a mile and galloping a mile and a half each day. He will likely work one more time, sometime this weekend. He will ship to Churchill either on the 29th or 31st of October. Once at Churchill they will likely paddock school him a little just to help him get used to his new surroundings (of course they are not entirely new, he is one for one at Churchill).
Update 908: Another comfortable night last night for Barbaro (wednesday night). I just spoke to Peter who had heard from Michael. Peter again plans to visit later today so hopefully I will catch up and get another later report too.
For those curious about the shipping plans for the Breeders' Cup for the european runners, here they are (from Sue McMullen):
I've just spoken to the IRB at Newmarket. The euro runners are travelling on three flights; two on Sunday, one of which carries the Godolphin horses and the other the rest of the euro runners apart from the Ballydoyle contingent, who fly on Tuesday (they usually travel a bit later than the rest).
So George Washington will be coming over on the tuesday flight next week.
Me first!
Posted by: Kathy J. - Hilton Head Island, SC at October 26, 2006 4:58 PM