Barbaro Updates: 139
updates are now here.
Update 1077: Another comfortable day for Barbaro today. I know, I saw! My first visit thanks to Mrs. Jackson. I spent more than an hour with Barbaro, talking with Mr. and Mrs. Jackson. I will post more tomorrow about the visit, but most importantly he (Barbaro) does look great. His coat is shiny, he has a clean eye and great weight.
Update 1076: WGAL Channel 8 did a follow up piece last night on horse slaughter: Follow Up: Horse Slaughter (usual warnings apply, but well worth seeing). It includes a great profile on Lost and Found Horse Rescue to which many of you contributed for my birthday last week. I am also in it very briefly. Thanks again to Lor in PA for helping get this coverage and to Susan Shapiro for making it happen. Keep calling.
Update 1075: Sue McMullen just sent this e-mail regarding European runners at Hollywood Park this weekend:
Friday's Citation includes Rob Roy, formerly with Sir Michael Stoute, who is now in training with Neil Dysdale in the hope he will have better luck in the US. Rob Roy missed the kick in the BC Mile but finished very strongly and should have gone closer. Also in the Citation line-up is Godolphin's Ashkal Way, plus some former English-trained horses, Three Valleys, Rebel Rebel and Bravo Maestro.
The Hollywood Derby includes the improving Dark Islander, son of Singspiel who got better with age and scored his greatest victories, including a Japan Cup, as an 'older' horse. Trained by John Hills, who saddles Clinet for the Matriarch Stakes, Dark Islander won the Grade Two Oak Tree Derby at Santa Anita and it will be interesting to see if he can step up again and run well in this field.
Ivan Denisovich, who missed the cut in the BC Mile, also runs in the Derby and Ballydoyle will be hoping for a big run from him to pay for all the air fares as he travelled home after his abortive attempt at the BC, then went back to the US to run in California. This will be another encounter with Showing Up who has already beaten him, in the Grade 1 Secretariat Stakes at Arlington.
As noted Neil Drysdale now trains Rob Roy. Neil is one of the leading trainers in the US (trained Fusaichi Pegasus etc.), an englishman and also a new father! Neil once had a string of horses at Fair Hill. I freelanced for him a little. His assistant trainer, John "the quiet man", who ran the shed at Fair Hill and is still with Neil, also worked for Mercy Rimell, just before I joined Mercy's stable for my first job in racing.
I saw Michael Matz in the local sandwich shop (Prizzios). He is planning to see Barbaro this afternoon and take him outside. He will be at Fair Hill in the morning before heading out to Kentucky to saddle Sangrita tomorrow afternoon.
Keep calling.
Update 1074: Another comfortable night last night for Barbaro (tuesday night) and chilly morning this morning at Fair Hill. I saw Michael Matz coming on to the track for my second set. Michael also noted Barbaro is now weighing in at 1,135 pounds. As I suspected it was a pretty busy morning, and it also looks like the guys working on the Tapeta surface (the track inside the main dirt track) are moving right along too. About 2/3rds of the track now has the new surface laid on top of whatever else they needed to put down. I am wondering if they will finish it before the rain comes!
updated 10:30 am, wednesday, november 22
Update 1073: I am guessing Michael Matz will be heading back to Churchill Downs this week: Prep win good sign for Sangrita. If Sangrita can win this grade two stake for Michael's wife, D.D., then Michael will have had a great year at Churchill Downs. Actually I guess he already has had a great year there, but this would be icing on the cake.
Del Mar has gone with the Polytrack. It will be installed in time for their summer meet, which like Hollywood Park, is ahead of their mandated schedule (end of year, 2007). A short excerpt:
"Polytrack is going to make our racing surface a safer place for our horses and riders," said Joe Harper, Del Mar's president and general manager, in a statement. Work is expected to begin on the one-mile main track in January, pending final approval.
The Barbaro update will likely again be after training hours this morning. It is likely to be busy this morning in anticipation of some very wet weather coming through later today and tomorrow. Lets hope we do not get all the rain they expect so racing can stay on the turf this weekend (Red Aspen).
Good morning, Barbaro! Good morning, fellow Fans!
(Morning to all you "left coasters" still up!)
I'm watching the replay of Wire-to-Wire as I type and they're reviewing the Breeder's Cup - still waiting for the mention of Dr. R. and any news on the Big Bay One.
I'm off work until Monday so will be vigilant in calling and emailing those senators. They need to hear from those of us in the hinterlands.
Will check back later for the ACN report.
Marg
Proud member, Fans of Barbaro
Posted by: Marg in Maine at November 22, 2006 10:51 AM