Breeders Cup 2015

[sk8pics]

I met Pharoah on Thursday. He is still beautiful and calm. They would not let us pose with him exactly, but did put him in his stall with the door open, and we could stand next to the open door. If ever there was a horse who would not mind people petting him on the shoulder and posing with him, it would be Pharoah. I hope he will be okay at Ashford and they will not shuttle him every year.

 

[skipaway]

So envious sk8pics, but also happy you got to see AP.

 

[aftershocks]

I met Pharoah on Thursday. He is still beautiful and calm. They would not let us pose with him exactly, but did put him in his stall with the door open, and we could stand next to the open door. If ever there was a horse who would not mind people petting him on the shoulder and posing with him, it would be Pharoah. I hope he will be okay at Ashford and they will not shuttle him every year.

Yes, I too hope that AP will have a chance to interact with fans, and that Baffert, Espinoza, and the Zayats will find time to visit him. Do former champion race horse stallions still get the chance to have some exercise that they are used to, without heavy workouts? Or are they over-protected for fear of injury and losing investment? It's important to make sure such a young horse does not get bored. Yeah, I know some may think it's the life mating with mares and rolling in the hay all day, but champion horses are used to hard work, and surely need to be prevented from becoming bored with a lazy lifestyle. Perhaps AP will get the chance to make some carefully chosen public appearances on occasion?

 

[sk8pics]

I am positive Pharoah's peeps will visit him. He will be turned out daily and exercise himself. Many of the farms also have mechanical walkers to exercise them. Not too many actually ride the stallions. Three Chimneys used to, but I don't think they are doing it any more. As for public appearances, I doubt it. I only hope they are not going to shuttle him every year. They are already planning to breed him to 150 mares this coming season. If they shuttle him, too, he won't get any down time. I was not happy when I heard he was going to Coolmore, but at least they probably won't move him permanently. I know they paid a lot of money for him and want to make a profit, but he is still flesh and blood.

 

[Seerek]

I'm quite disappointed in how much glee most of social media is having with American Pharoah not winning Sports Illustrated Sportsperson of the Year. Kind of classless if you ask me.

 

[sk8pics]

SI clearly picked Serena Williams long before announcing it. The poll was just a gimmick for publicity. Still, she only got less than 6,000 votes, not even in second place, so, eh. Pharoah got 288,000 voted, first by a long shot.

 

[skipaway]

American Pharoah, Unanimous Horse of the Year


And the other Eclipse Award Winners:

Two-Year-Old Male: Nyquist

• Two-Year-Old Filly: Songbird

• Three-Year-Old Male: American Pharoah

• Three-Year-Old Filly: Stellar Wind

• Older Dirt Male: Honor Code (4)

• Older Dirt Female: Beholder (5)

• Male Sprinter: Runhappy (3)

• Female Sprinter: La Verdad (5)

• Male Turf Horse: Big Blue Kitten (7)

• Female Turf Horse: Tepin (4)

• Steeplechase Horse: Dawalan (FR) (5)

• Owner: Zayat Stables

• Breeder: Zayat Stables

• Trainer: Bob Baffert

• Jockey: Javier Castellano

• Apprentice Jockey: Tyler Gaffalione

• Horse of the Year: American Pharoah

 

[danceronice]

I'm sort of surprised Victor didn't get jockey, but OTOH Javier won a staggering amount of money this year.

New anticipation: barring accident or injury, Beholder should meet California Chrome (back with a win the San Pasquale, now off for racing in Dubai) in the TVG Pacific Classic later this summer.....

 

[aftershocks]

Congrats to AP and to all the other champion horses.

I've been reading some wonderful books about horses (true stories)-- Gunner: Hurricane Horse (about a champion Paint horse saved after Katrina, very touching story); Chosen by a Horse (heartbreaking and uplifting memoir by Susan Richards who rescued a horse named Lay Me Down); Saving Baby: How One Woman's Love for a Racehorse Led to her Redemption, by Jo Anne Normile and Lawrence Lindner; and The Body Language of Horses, by Tom Ainslee and Bonnie Ledbetter.

Joe Camp's The Soul of a Horse, is a delightful book I finished recently and it has opened up my eyes to some things I never realized: horses who are left to go barefoot are happier and generally healthier (if their natural hooves are trimmed properly); and horses really don't belong cooped up in stalls. They need to be outside in a pasture, enjoying companionship with other horses (all that's needed are outdoor enclosures for the horses to freely use when they want shelter). Here's more on Joe Camp, his wife, Kathleen, and their horses (Camp is the writer-director and animal trainer of the Benji movies): http://thesoulofahorse.com/blog/

I know such natural-based practices wouldn't ever be done for working racehorses, but still, being a racehorse under the conditions man dictates is not horse heaven. The horses, as always, do what they can to adjust to man's demands.

From the Courier-Journal:

'"Horses training at high levels for long periods of time, like California Chrome has, gradually get behind in the bone's response to the stress because we train them and then ask them to stand in the stall for most of the day," equine Dr. Larry Bramlage said ... "So the treatment is to get them back to their natural state, let them be a horse in the paddock until the bone returns to normal."'