Happy Friday, Everyone!
Wow, it has been a very busy week in our industry. There is so much going on that I want to share with you.
First of all, I’d love to congratulate FRANKEL (GB) on his success in winning the SUSSEX S. (G1). He is now undefeated and has a race record of 8 for 8. FRANKEL (GB) is truly a sentimental favorite in my camp as he is named for a very dear friend. Jay Hovdey, in the DRF, wrote a special piece on all of this in a recent article. Dottie and Bobby were very close friends for years. Ruben Loza, who now works as one of MY JOHN’S assistant trainers, held the same position for Bobby for 25 years. Jose Luis….who currently grooms MR. COMMONS and STAR BILLING for My John…was a long-time groom for Bobby. “Chuma” (as he is known around the barn) is also such a hard-working gentleman. He has groomed so many other wonderful horses during his career as Medaglia D’Oro, Sightseek, and Intercontinential to name a few.
So, it was with great joy and pride that MY TEAM watched FRANKEL(GB) win #8 on Wednesday. A heartfelt congratulations to his owner and breeder, Juddmonte Farms, his trainer, Mr. Cecil, and the entire team who works with this exciting colt!
I’m sending him a special HIGH HOOF for a job well-done!
Both of the SUMMER MEETS on each coast are in full-swing….and this weekend, Monmouth Park has a wonderful stakes program including the HASKELL. This should be a very exciting race!
Then at Saratoga, several big stakes races are taking place including the JIM DANDY and THE THE RUFFIAN. These should be great to handicap and enjoy. At Del Mar, we have some very accomplished sprinters competing in the BING CROSBY. So much action!
From all reports, the dirt surface at Santa Anita is terrific! This is fabulous news. In California, they now have Santa Anita open for training in addition to Del Mar. Hollywood Park closes for the next 5-6 weeks to allow the maintenance crews to completely clean out the barn area and freshen up everything that needs to be repaired and painted. The track crew, headed by Dennis Moore, is given the opportunity to work on the track and the surface to get it freshened up for the upcoming year. This is traditionally done in CA each summer…one year Santa Anita is closed to accomplish these maintenance needs and the next Hollywood Park. This alternating system works out quite well for everyone and it really helps to keep everything in the best possible shape.
Thus, since nothing can be left out at Hollywood Park for this big clean-up process to take place…everyone and everything needs to be out of Barn 55. My John and his crew did a great job getting this organized and properly storing everything that was in MY STALL. It was all safely packed for the future!
So all of my horse BARN 55 friends had to relocate as well for the summer. They were split between Santa Anita and Del Mar. In the photo above, you see STAR BILLING on the left and EBLOUISSANTE on the right getting ready to travel. They are loaded on the van and on their way to Del Mar. They are comfy, cozy, the windows are open just right…and these girls are READY TO GO TO THE BEACH!
I gather “E” wanted to snack along the way.
The TOO CUTE part of all of this is that “E” is in the same exact stall on the van I always used. In California, I shipped on Vida and David Randall’s Ranch Runner’s van. That was MY STALL! They even put a plaque on the side of this stall with MY NAME on it. So, I guess for all practical purposes, I still get to travel right with them…..in spirit!
Have a FUN weekend…and enjoy RACING!
With Love,
Hugs to All~
Z
judy berube
Dear Gary M.:
Good luck today. Hugs, J.B.
Charlotte Farmer
@Barbara Grimaldi – If you are talking about the Seabiscuit movie pretty much from everything I read during that time it was right on the money regarding War Admiral. I can’t remember where or how I learned about one particular race in which Admiral ran; it could even have been one of the three legs of the Triple Crown. Coming out of the starting gate War Admiral cut himself really bad somewhere on one of his hooves, but continued to race and won that day, but when his jockey brought him back to the winners circle it was discovered that he had raced with half his hoof hanging. There was blood all over him and when Samuel Riddle saw all the blood he almost had a coronary.
Admiral, like his sire, Man o’ War, had a nasty temperament. It was in the bloodlines. I know it was passed onto Seabiscuit. Tex Wheeler’s daughter told me of the time her father, while staying at Ridgewood to do the statue so that he would have access to ‘Biscuit, found just how not sweet he really was. Seabiscuit tried, on many occasions, to take a chunk out of Tex. Howard wanted the piece to look as close to the ‘Biscuit as possible but when Tex asked him if he wanted to include the scar that was somewhere on his face, sorry forgot where, Howard said no. Otherwise, it is as close to the real thing short of bringing Seabiscuit back.
judy berube
Dear Trina Nagele:
You’re welcome. Isn’t he gorgeous! Can’t wait to see his first race. Hugs, J.B.
judy berube
Dear s in San Diego:
So happy to hear that beautiful mare will be in a forever home soon thanks to you and Keith and all the caring people like you. God Bless. Hugs, J.B.
DJ
To Gary M: Understood why you picked “DR EVIL” (Bernardini & Mike Smith) :) I like “DANCE LITTLE ANGEL,” “PICK AND PRAY” & “MAJESTIC MOMENT” looks interesting too… Best of Luck and may the Man Upstairs be with you!
DJ
To JB: You’re (hugs) welcome (hugs)!
judy berube
Dear Micelle Cross:
Thank you so much for the Blind Luck training link. She is so little compared to Z. Loved when the rider pets her and says “beautiful”. Hug, J.B.
judy berube
Dear Barbara Grimaldi:
Mel Brooks is one of my favorites and “Young Frankenstein” was one of his best. As far as horse rescues, hopefully people are becoming more aware of them and are making little donations as they can. Every little bit helps. Hugs, J.B.
judy berube
Dear Terry Crow:
I sure wasn’t walking around lucky. Even when you know…….. Very sad about Bill Hardtack. It’s good you got to meet him. Hugs, J.B.
Barbara Wood
@Charlotte Farmer–thankd for the extra info. on War Admiral. I thought the race was the Belmont, but not sure about that. @Barbara Grimaldi–I have several of those little books on individual horses. I believe I got mine either on Exclusively Equine or Amazon.
Gary Moulton
@DJ – picked him because I think he is the class.
.
@judy berube – Thank you and back at you with luck.
.
@everybody – When I copied & pasted the Baby results it didn’t pick up the last line. After “A little tip from the upstairs Man”, It should of read “The winner’s He can see”.
.
Praying from an Edit Feature for X-Mas.
Barbara Grimaldi
CHARLOTTE–thanks for your comments. So small he was almost given away? Glad to hear that the Seabiscuit film was fairly portrayed. I did not know the Biscuit was related to the other two…and that he had a mean temperament. I still love him, though! If WA ran while injured, he was a tough competitor and a terrific horse. I appreciate your insight into this…
ABIGAIL–what exciting races, what wide tracks, some with hills or grades! How many horses were in that race–around 28? Exciting to watch. Thank you.
Gary Moulton
@everybody – look for the two mistakes in the edit post, even when I edit the edit I get it wrong, LOL
Carolyn Caswell-Brown
Ooopps! Can I be forgiven. I thought E was Z! In a photo from last year or previous. She sure is b e a u t i f u l. Lucky girls heading to the beach!! Kudos to awesome Frankel. He took off like a Ferari when asked to run! WOW
Love & Peace
Terry Crow
@Barbara Grimaldi–As far as his race records go and what they said about him , the Seabiscuit movie was right on about War Admiral. The one fact they played with a little bit, and why I don’t know because it wasn’t necessary, Seabiscuit was actually bigger than War Admiral. @Karen Gogue-Who was 12 in the mid 60s, you or Hartack? It was sad what happened to him at the end. I was very surprised when Gary Stevens was contacting people to help with the final expenses. as a man to talk to, at least from my own experience, Hartack was a great guy. Not everyone shared this opinion, however. @Barbara Wood-Not everyone uses the term full of horse lore when desrcibing me. Thank you. @Gary Moulton-Good one. I do have a few more years on you when it comes to studying the form. However, I admire your knowledge. @Happy Harriet-Both E and Mr. Commons preferred your company when we visited Barn 55. @Trina Nagele-Thank you. I did the best i could without altering the meaning of the joke.@Diana S-Count me in, although FB is beyond me.@Charlotte Farmer–Thank you. Good words from you is like praise from Caesar, and I’m not being facetious. Today’s joke. I will tell it like it was told to me. You can substitute any two names for the ones used. This is NOT a political commentary. A man is sitting in a bar in Montana and was very far from home. He looks up above the bar and sees Barack Obama on TV. The man says “Obama is a horse’s behind.” Out of nowhere, a cowboy jumps up and hits him on the side of the head, knocking him off the bar stool. The cowboy then stomps out of the bar. The man picks himself up, rubbing his cheek, and sits back down at the bar and orders another beer. Shortly thereafter, Joe Biden appears on TV. The man then yells “Biden is a horse’s behind, too.” Again, out of nowhere another cowboy appears and hits him on the other side of his head and knocks him off the bar stool. The man gets back up and looks at the bartender. “I take it that this is democrat country.” “Nope,” says the bartender, “horse country.”
LauraJ
@Barbara Grimaldi, Kathy K., et al., please let’s trust Michael and the OF staff to use their Saratoga donation as they see fit. They know what their needs are. I don’t know anything about the layout at Cabin Creek, but at Dream Chase (KY) I can’t think of where they would put a new barn or even expand the existing ones. There isn’t any large open space that I can recall that’s level. As far as improvements go, I think they’d rather have more run-in sheds and waterers.
–
@Barbara G., one thing is that the Seabiscuit movie portrayed War Admiral as an 18-hand behemoth, when in fact War Admiral and Sea Biscuit were about the same size (15.3 and 15.2 respectively). He was a year younger than Sea Biscuit. He was able to bounce back from his loss and go on to win several more important races, including the Jockey Club Gold Cup. Unlike Sea Biscuit, he was a successful sire. His progeny include the great champion filly Busher, HOF inductee Searching, and stakes-winner Busanda, dam of the great Buckpasser. War Admiral’s descendants include many great champions. Zenyatta herself is a descendant of War Admiral on her mother’s side, through his daughter Wavy Navy, dam of Hoist the Flag. War Admiral is buried at the Kentucky Horse Park along with his sire Man O’War.
Terry Crow
@Barbara Grimaldi-That episode of Mary Tyler Moore is my all-time favorite. So many funny one liners. Betty White-playing the happy homemaker-“Callous? Why I baked the first pie Chuckles ever sat in.” If anybody out there has not seen this one, I think you can piece the whole episode together on You tube. I just don’t have the technical chops to give you the links. @Charlotte Farmer and Karen Gogue–I would love to have a conversation with Jerry Lambert. When he was training arabians at Los Alamitos, the writers would always interview him about the Diver when it got near Gold Cup day. Since the arabians left Los Al, I had lost track of him.
Terry Crow
@Judy Berube–If anyone deserves a dumpling tag, it is you.
DJ
Terry C: ‘YOO-HOO!’ Thanks for the Chuckles. Part III hopefully :)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8EUykajYWo&feature=related
Terry Crow
@Laura J-You are quite correct. I should have said that the two were approximately the same size. War Admiral was small for a progeny of Man O’War. However, the movie made it seem like it was David versus Goliath. I guess the truth is less entertaining. This takes nothing away from Seabiscuit’s victory in the match race. @Judy Berube-Seabiscuit broke his maiden at your old Rhode Island track.
Ingrid Arnone
Dear D J, I feel when I read your prayers that they give me air to breathe, amen, hugs, Ingrid.
Max
@Abigail from Montreal. I really enjoyed watching the videos from Goodwood which you posted. Great win by Midday. As for Hoof It, that was also an impressive win against a very big field. Wow!
Terry Crow
@DJ-Thanks for the link. This is the way I remember it. The Credo of a Clown-A little song, a little dance, a little seltzer down your pants.
DJ
To Ingrid A: ‘Breathe in God, Breathe out Gratitude…’ Me too!
Terry Crow
@DJ-Are you playing the part of Aunt Yoo-Hoo? Did you catch the story of my outing to see Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat? I can still remember the head shaking after that.
DJ
To Terry C: ‘giggle, giggle!’ I watched them all too, every night! Will come up with a favorite after lunch. Food, then contemplation. Thank you, laughter is good medicine.
LauraJ
@Barabara Grimaldi, don’t know how I missed it, but Zenyatta is also descended from War Admiral via Hoist the Flag on her sire’s side. :-)
Ingrid Arnone
Dear Judy B, you always gives us so much joy with your comments, God Bless you for being an incredible person, hugs, Ingrid.
Lover of Horses
WOOOO, go Frankel! Zenny, did you hear about Henny Hughes’ son J C’s Pride? He ran 5f in 56.47 sec.! Henny Hughes stands at Darley just like Berny! A great bunch of stallons there! Love you, Queen Z!
HappyHarriet
Dear Queen Zenyatta and the Royal Baby
.
I have a personal bias against multiple and excessive postings so I’m going to go ahead and do it myself! haha
.
ALERT: I came across a wonderful way to raise money for Old Mims and other of our favorite charities. There is a Search Engine and Shopping Site with yummy good stores called GOODSHOP. If you use THEIR search engine (powered by Yahoo I believe) and you shop via THEIR website at your favorite stores such as Avon, JCPenney and many other well-known retailers, your SEARCHES and your SHOPPING DOLLARS will accumulate DONATIONS to charities such as Old Mims.
.
Old Mims IS registered with GoodSearch and oh my goodness – they’ve only raised $23 in all of 2011. WE CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT!
.
http://www.goodsearch.com/nonprofit/our-mims-retirement-haven.aspx
.
Click there, if you are interested, and snoop around the site. You’ll find other wonderful charities that you can donate to effortlessly and with no dollars leaving your own pocket other than what you were planning on spending for goods and services.
.
Think of all the times in a day you use goggle to search for something. As of today, I’m going to use ONLY GoodSearch. Same with shopping. If we all got behind the equine charities it would be a big boost to the funds of these organizations.
.
The Queen is also the Royal Giver amongst us, don’t you think? We know the Mosses and Dottie and John will bless our Queen and her Royal Offspring with every needed and wanted comfort so with that a certainty, we can turn our efforts to the horses and other animals that were not fortunate enough to have owners that meet the high ethical and moral standards we love about OUR TEAM.
.
…going off to search for pears for our Sunday Brunch using GOODSEARCH…
.
Soft Nose Nuzzles to All – HH