fastappy wrote:Bunty Lawless, "I'll agree with you on Becky. But she came up under Mandella didn't she? Class and knowledge abound in that barn."
Yes, she spent 6 plus years with Mandella, and she did a great job on the documentary "On The Muscle" where Redattore among other horses (Tin Man, etc.) were profiled.
She has hands on knowledge in dealing with the problems of keeping top class race horses running. It was amazing the job the Mandella barn did on Redattore despite his foot problems, to get him to perform so consistently at high levels.
Regarding the foot problems, this may be where we part company. I'm of the opinion that too many supplements and too much hot house treatment of these horses contributes to the bad feet. Just like the trainers in the other thread regarding GGF's surface and leaving for Washington, I tend to believe there are few trainers that really know how to keep the feet from getting bad in the first place. Can forgive Mandella as he had a barn full of top quality prima donna types (owners included), so missing that the horse (preferring turf to begin with) might have needed a bit more foot care might just have been a case of oversight. But once he caught it, Mandella absolutely did a great job with Redattore and many other of the older campaigners in his barn. That is the real testament to Mandella, IMO. The consistent number of horses who have long careers and retire to stud with stellar race records.
