Nor Cal Flexes Muscle in Millions

Yesterday northern California trainer Steve Spect and Jockey Frank Alvarado landed in the Gulfstream Park winner's circle after wiring the field in the Sunshine Millions Classic. It's great to see a couple of our boys on the backstreatch get their piece of a million dollar race.

Nor Cal racing fans are extordinarily lucky to have such talent, and it doesn't stop there. Last year we enjoyed Russell Baze breaking the all time record for most wins. Jerry Hollendorfer was 4th in North America in wins. We also lay claim North America's leading trainer by winning percentage, Steve "Leftest Rebel" Miyadi.

Movement Taking Time Off

We gave Movement the twice over and there doesn't appear to be anything physically wrong with her to explain her dull effort. We decided to turn her out and sent her to a ranch in the Sierra foothills for some R&R. She's been in training now for a year and she may have become track sour. We're hoping that after some pasture time she'll want to put her mind on racing again, as she's shown she can. She'll let us know when she's ready to come back, but she should be ready before the summer fairs.

Movement Throws Clunker

Movement ran an uninspired third in a very soft spot in her last race. After two scratches, including the Wygod first time starter I expected to be tough, Movement went off as the post time favorite.

Her effort was like downtown surface parking: Ugly and inefficient. She broke well from the gate, but immediately began running with her head cocked as she did in her most recent breeze. She was also getting out in the lane. She finished a well beaten third in a slow race with a weak field.

"Like in any sport, you practice how you play," trainer Jamey Thomas said, noting she ran just like she breezed the week before.

Despite her dull effort, one highlight of the day was watching the race from the rail. And I don't mean on the apron, but right on the track at the rail where the track photographer stands. Being that close to the action is truly amazing.

CHRB at Center of Another Scandal

Horse owner Les Blake is considering legal remedies after Dr. Rick Arthur, the California Horse Racing Board, and Hollywood Park may have failed to follow proper protocol regarding a heel nerving procedure performed on a racehorse by Dr. Arthur. That horse, Refinery, was later claimed on behalf of Blake by trainer Dan McFarlane on December 2, 2006, but both were unaware the horse had undergone the procedure.

Heel nerving, or more properly posterior digital neurectomy, is a surgical procedure in which the nerve supply to the navicular area is removed which desensitizes a portion of the foot. The connections became aware the horse had been nerved only after attempting to enter a race in Arizona where it is illegal for nerved horses to compete.

Dr. Arthur performed the procedure as a private vet before becoming the CHRB Equine Medical Director.

California law requires approval from the State Vet before nerving a horse (See title 4 section 1850 of California Administrative Code). According Larry De Respino, attorney for Mr. Blake, the CHRB has provided no record that Dr. Arthur received approval before performing the procedure. Dr. Arthur reportedly did notify CHRB Official Vet after the procedure, which is also required by law.

Refinery was claimed during the Hollywood Park meet, however Hollywood Park racing office officials could not be reached for comment. According to Santa Anita racing office staff, there is not a separate heel nerve list, but horses that have been heel nerved are included on the vet list for tracking purposes. Whether this is a new tracking procedure is unclear. According to CHRB staff, all additions, changes and removals to or from the vet list are the responsibility of CHRB’s State Vets and are provided to each track’s racing office.

Record that the horse had been nerved had previously been attached to the horse’s registration papers. However, according to Santa Anita racing office staff, the horse was only added to the vet list indicating the horse had been nerved after this matter came to light in the last few days, presumably at the behest of the CHRB or the State Vet. That such a list is maintained by the racing secretary is also required by law.

Notice Once Again at Issue
De Respino is primarily concerned with the inability of his client to reasonably know a horse had undergone such a procedure before dropping a claim. “The intent of the law is to provide notice. Had my client been aware of the nerving, he never would have claimed the horse,” De Respino said.

The CHRB has been challenged with regard to offering proper notice in the past. During the CHRB medication violation cover-up scandal the CHRB fined a vet for the violation without naming the horse or race in question. Later when the matter came to light CHRB Executive Director Ingrid Fermin stated there could be no appeal of the race’s outcome because “any protest of the result would have had to come within 72 hours of the race.”

Not Too Swift, Blogger Extraordinaire

John of Not to the Swift, your favorite horse racing video blogger, has another project I've been tardy in highlighting in these pages. He writes the official blog for derby hopefully and Delta Jackpot winner Birdbirdistheword.

In his The Race is not Always to the Swift blog John recently posted on a particularly worth while video series put out by Capital OTB. The series discusses bandages, young horses, shoes, and other racing and handicapping details not often encountered in the grandstand with just a Form and a program.

Trainer Grant Forster Interviewed

Wander over to love da goat and listen to this week's interview with guest Grant Forster. Keep an eye on this guy, and one day you'll get to say, "I knew about him way back when..."

From a 2005 Kentucky Oaks press release, which he entered the filly Rugula:

Forster has only been training horses on his own for three years, but his experience in the industry goes back much farther, thanks in part to working with his father through the years. A graduate of the University of Arizona's Race Track Industry Program, Forster also has worked in the field of media relations at Emerald Downs. He officially got his trainer's license in January 2003.

"To be here already in my career, I'm having a ball. This is what it's all about," Forster said.

Movement Entered in Thursday's Nightcap

Entries were drawn on Friday for a $20,000 maiden claimer for three year old fillies going six furlongs over the main track at Golden Gate Fields. From a glance at the PPs she looks to fit with this bunch, but is by no means a standout on paper. Nonetheless, I think the tough competetion will come from the first time starts. Partying Pam Wygod© and husband Marty don't send horses north for a tag just so they can enjoy a weekend in the city by the bay. Generally they want to win and have their lesser stock claimed. The Wygod's are stakes people, not low end claiming folk like me.

NTRA Site Adds Ask and Answer Functionality

The NTRA website now includes a "Virtual Q & A" page that offers an attractive, and what passes for young at a racetrack, woman that will answer your questions about horse racing. As all of these are, the subject matter is limited. "What is a gelding" is dispatched with quite well, but "What brand of hair gel does Dan Illman use" is more difficult for the lass. Terms such as steroids and breakdown also yield no results.

Any question prefaced with "Who is" and concluded with a question mark refers the surfer to the Stats section of the website, whether that person is Todd Pletcher or Milkshakey McShakingham.

Of course I'm taking completely unfair pot shots at them. Honestly, I love to see them trying. They've done great work with the site and I hope they keep it up. It's not nba.com with their realtime active content or even mlb.com (which has also been a laggard) but they've made great leaps with the site in a short amount of time. Here's just one, but Kentucky Joe has noted a number of the advancements on his blog.

We can be interactive over here at the Tote Board Brad Blog, too. Post your favorite questions and subsequent results in the comments section.

Movement Posts Lackluster Work

Movement breezed a half mile on Wednesday in a pokey 51 flat. As with her previous breeze, which was impressive, the time is irrelevant but the trainer's perception of it is paramount: "She worked like shit."

She breezed with her head cocked for most of it and was getting out quite a bit, which is to say she drifted. This is in stark comparison to her last breeze, which was downright dreamy. We don't know exactly why she did this, as the rider, equipment, and track were the same as in the last breeze. She may have fought with the bit, or she may have just been headstrong, wanting to do her own thing. She came out of the work fine, was not lame and did not show any indication of ill health.

We're pointing her for a 20k maiden claimer on January 11th to be contested at six furlongs over the main track. This was not the ideal workout before a start, but does add an element of drama to the proceedings.

Eclipse Voter Swayed by Blog Comments

But the peculiar evil of silencing the expression of an opinion is, that it is robbing the human race; posterity as well as the existing generation; those who dissent from the opinion, still more than those who hold it. If the opinion is right, they are deprived of the opportunity of exchanging error for truth: if wrong, they lose, what is almost as great a benefit, the clearer perception and livelier impression of truth, produced by its collision with error.

--John Stuart Mill, from On Liberty

Dan Illman of FormBlog revealed that after considering arguments made in the comments section of his blog, he was convinced The Tin Man is more deserving of the Champion Turf Horse award than is Dan's initial choice of Aragorn.

you guys may have influenced me more than the other way around. At first, I was going to vote for Aragorn over The Tin Man for champion turf horse. After reading the intelligent posts concerning the division, and then going back over the past performances, I flip-flopped to The Tin Man.

That Dan's interaction in this forum made him more confident in his eclipse ballot, and even brought him to a new more defensible conclusion in one instance, is perhaps the greatest reason why discourse is supremely important. In matters of horse racing or politics, J.S. Mill had it right. Discourse is important. The collision of ideas yields truth and we should not stifle this collision.