RR Injury Rate--1994-2007

Kids and horses would be right up there on my level of interest as long as they belong to me, of course, and so beware that this post will summarize our stable again with emphasis on injury from 1994 on.

I've already related that the 3 fillies purchased in '92 never raced. By '94 two of them and Windy Lea were broodmares to the cover of Pancho Villa(Cedarcrest Farm, Palestine, Tx., Dr, Steve Hicks) and a son of Groovy named Groovin'Time standing at U. of Ill., Urbana. Pancho was the Secretariat connection, and I'd had really liked Groovy and Smile for their raw speed. When Smile died I later bred to his full brother Sunshine Today standing at Millennium Farms north of Austin, Tx.

In '96 I attended KeeSept and came back with two nice colts by Northern Baby and Broad Brush, $23,500.00 total price. Thereafter I closed my office and headed to the KY Horse Center in Lexington with three yearlings and three two year olds in tow. In '97 I added a $12,500.00 Danzig Connection at KeeSept, prior owner, Kenneth McPeek. Mr. McPeek's father assured me this was a nice horse, and he was, but he had a wind problem, which explains my ambivalence toward the McPeek crew. I was unhappy.

I'll note a couple of deadspots in our racing--after 1998 when i ran out of money with 14 horses and $25 bales of hay in Lexington, and in 2001 when I was injured. We had zero races from late 2003 on. Here is what they did:

1. Groovin' Wind: Still hoping to race this year at age 12, primarily Wind has been injury free, but is responsible for a couple of the stable injuries. An awesome series of breezes every four days in early '98 included the horse running away almost every day at slow gallop. The runaways were often 2 x 1:50 miles. You hardly get away with that very long and we didn't--developing saucer fracture, goodbye Derby, off four months. Should have switched to Burch training which is without slow galloping. Training failure, rider control failure. Wind's first race was a tough allowance in 2000 where he almost ran down horse of the meet "The Cowboy." Next he won by 20 lengths no other horses in the pic., then shipped to Remington for another allowance but the jock walked him to the gate without any warmup. Result, near low bow and as close as I've come to the crime of jockey murder. Lots of high hopes down the drain that day. Wind later punctured his lung on a tee post on his way to becoming a daddy. This ruined his speed, but he continues to train and race. We'll see yet about Wind and 2007.

2. Gold Brush by Broad Brush: this major league horse was also the victim of lack of rider control. The same rider that rode Wind ran this horse in a :36 in a first breeze instructed at 1f at :14. "He was going so good" were the famous last words. Result, fractured splint. This horse trained for a couple of years then injured an eye and was retired.

3. Aylward by Northern Baby: my least talented, most expensive, best bred, dam won 120,000 proved also my best performer. Interesting correlations. Al was a late bloomer, grass foundering as a two year old and thereafter a victim of our brand new and self-taught farrier Mr. Nob. In Al's early years he carried toes that were too long which compromised his training and speed. Al won several races over the years. His 2000 record was 3 wins 1 second--that includes a training race--then fractured his nose from a kick. Al raced again in 2003 and after three or four races where the jockey related he was unable to get through the wall of buts, a jockey change produced an immediate win. Injury wise Al through eleven years of the toughest training was amazing. Besides an occasional slight check ligament looseness from running in the mud I've never felt any heat or swelling in the legs of this horse, and that includes through two months where he breezed 5F or raced every 3rd day per Burch. Al at age 12 is still in the plans this year.

3. The Pancho Villa Colts and the Danzig Connection. The cause of Bone's bowed tendon caused by my error is on another post. Bones won a couple of races on the bow after I sold him. The others were ready to race at Woodlands 2001 when I got hurt and were sold. Zero injuries besides Bones for this group.

Next post I'll give some opinions on the injury rate in my stable.

Training:
2/19/07 rest due to ground conditions.
2/20/07 ditto. rest.
2/21/07 deep mud again but runnable. 7 min riderless work aborted over concern for check ligs and sesamoids. Good tack work today. Art's third day walking alone in space. Given Nob's fear of falling, we're taking it slow. Figure about 20 more sessions before the horse is under control.