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Written by Sue Kenny
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Saturday, 16 January 2010 13:17 |
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 Brent Johnson looking for his new Better Talk Now. Little late for this one Brent!
Speaking of his great horse, Better Talk Now is thoroughly enjoying his retirement at the Fair Hill Training Center, getting turned out every day with Gala Spinaway who turned 22 this year!
They both love to come in on the cold evenings and have a big mash feed with so much water it's like soup!! They slurp it up! If you take the bucket of warm water in to Blackie, he drinks that too!
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Last Updated on Monday, 18 January 2010 10:50 |
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Written by John Panagot
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Saturday, 16 January 2010 10:50 |
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 In April, Smart Bid looked like a contender for the 1 1/4 miles Grade I Secretariat at Arlington Park after his slowly-gaining second place finish in the G III Transylvania Stakes at Keeneland.
After the Transylvania, the 3-year-old Smart Strike runner missed seven months because of a bone chip in his ankle. Kiss the Secretariat or anything within months of the Grade I, goodbye. Smart Bid was off to the farm.
On August 26 the brother of stablemate Deal Making returned to training at Fair Hill. A little over three weeks later, he was ready for his first breeze. He went an easy 3-furlongs in :39.1 over the Fair Hill Tapeta. Patience and steadiness was his trainer's strategy. A week later, he went 4-furlongs, :51.0. Another week, another half-mile work, :50.0. That breeze paved the way for a quintuplet of 5-furlong works in six weeks, leading up to his comeback race at Santa Anita on the Breeders' Cup undercard.
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Last Updated on Monday, 18 January 2010 10:52 |
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Written by Sue Kenny
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Friday, 15 January 2010 14:46 |
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We had a 5 year old gray filly stabled at our barn yesterday while she waited for a Sallee van to take her to Kentucky. They kindly donated a trip as she was on her way to her final home, the Thoroughbred Retirement Center, Old Friends. Her story thankfully has a happy ending but it nearly didn't. She was orignally a 'saved' horse and then along the way was again unwanted and ended up in the kill pen at a New Jersey auction. Old Friends in Lexington were told about her and decided she would have a home with them for life. She's been at a local farm for a couple of months to put on a bit of weight and heal from her ordeal in the pen, emotionally and physically.
She was so calm and sweet and I kept looking at her and wondering what on earth can make anyone take a horse to an auction like that, knowing what will happen to them. She has an arthritic knee so can't be raced but could be great for so many other things. I walked her out to the van and she stood on the ramp and whinnied; to whom, who knows? I told her how lucky she was and she walked on to the van, stood next to another horse and she was on her way.
We have a couple of horses here who need homes and we are going to make sure we know where they are going. They're too special.
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Last Updated on Monday, 18 January 2010 10:52 |
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