Rapid Redux

DDT · Postby **DDT** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 3:16 pm

Rapid Redux won again today at Laurel for his 19th win this year and 21 in a row. He just keeps going.

DDT

IcouldbeU · Postby **IcouldbeU** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 6:41 pm

It was another fun race to watch..congratulations to his connections for keeping him healthy and running him where he can win.

Off topic, have you noticed that this board just really doesn't care about racing?

Bast · Postby **Bast** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 7:24 pm

HUZZAH!!!

Joltman · Postby **Joltman** » Tue Dec 13, 2011 7:51 pm

tested, victorious again

HRTV had a video on loading ponies.

jm

IcouldbeU · Postby **IcouldbeU** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 7:01 am

I was very glad to see this win. I know that there was at least one trainer who was gunning for him yesterday and he finished unplaced. So this wasn't a "let's let him win" race. I just hope that this is not the end of his racing career. I know his conditions end at the end of the year and that the Kentucky Horse Park has offered him a place to retire but he is 5yrs old, healthy and sound so I think he should be allowed to continue racing.

jrgators · Postby **jrgators** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 9:17 am

I was very happy for the horse, and his connections. My only concern is that the article last night said that he wouldn't run in 2012! Was that a misprint??

IcouldbeU · Postby **IcouldbeU** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 1:11 pm

I read that he may be heading to retirement at the Kentucky Horse Park, very sad if its true. He is young and I would think he would be very bored without anything to do all day.

Shammy Davis · Postby **Shammy Davis** » Wed Dec 14, 2011 5:29 pm

I couldbeyou wrote:

I read that he may be heading to retirement at the Kentucky Horse Park, very sad if its true. He is young and I would think he would be very bored without anything to do all day.

I know of no horse that gets bored with plenty of green grass under there hooves to graze on, a full hay bag in their stall, and human care and attention for the majority of the day. To see my point, take a day and a picnic lunch and spend it in a pasture with a couple of horses and see if they get or looked bored. The KHP is the ultimate when it comes to retirement.

Sysonby · Postby **Sysonby** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 6:21 am

Shammy Davis wrote:I couldbeyou wrote:
I read that he may be heading to retirement at the Kentucky Horse Park, very sad if its true. He is young and I would think he would be very bored without anything to do all day.

I know of no horse that gets bored with plenty of green grass under there hooves to graze on, a full hay bag in their stall, and human care and attention for the majority of the day. To see my point, take a day and a picnic lunch and spend it in a pasture with a couple of horses and see if they get or looked bored. The KHP is the ultimate when it comes to retirement.

Aren't they turned out one at a time at the KHP? That was always the case when I was there and, if so, I'm not sure I agree with you. Not all horses love a retired life especially one spent essentially alone. A lot of them like the structure of a job.

Shammy Davis · Postby **Shammy Davis** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 9:21 am

Sysonby: I'm not sure how KHP organizes the day for their horses, but my journeyman experience is that even horses turned out alone in pastures and paddocks with grass to graze, a salt block to lick, clean water to drink, and fresh air to breath don't get bored. All our horses are off track, a number of them "hard knockers," and I've never seen any evidence that boredom is ever a problem. I've got a couple of horses that had to be separated because of illness or other problems and they've done fine for numerous days when out of sight of the other horses.

I might worry about boredom if the paddock was bare dirt and no hay was available. Otherwise, IMO, horses, even the OTTB, adapt well to solitude when given the proper circumstances. Racehorses don't really become naturally motivated horses until they leave the track, but I know for a fact that they adapt quickly. Solitude is not as big problem as one might think. Considering the backstretch enviornment on the majority of the NA tracks, RR will probably be delighted to be anywhere else than a 10X10 stall 23 hours a day.

.

pfrsue · Postby **pfrsue** » Thu Dec 15, 2011 12:11 pm

How many people said that Zenyatta would be miserable in retirement? Yet everything I've seen and heard about her tells me that she's been loving every minute of turnout and being allowed to just chill and be a horse.

I always sort of scratch my head when people who don't even know the animal in question make these anthropomorphic assumptions. Besides, even if it was true that a horse could get bored with turnout, the KHP undoubtedly has lots of activity and things for the horse to see and experience throughout the day. It's not like being turned out in someone's back forty in the middle of nowhere. (Not that I think most horses would mind that either. They'd probably prefer it!)

griff · Postby **griff** » Sat Dec 24, 2011 12:38 pm

can not understand why some one would retire a 5 YO gelding that has won 20, or is it now 21 races in a row and 20 in one year.

He is w/o a doubt sound and fit and under very good management

i realize his starter allowance designation has run out but ??????

griff

Shammy Davis · Postby **Shammy Davis** » Tue Dec 27, 2011 4:44 pm

No retirement of RR. He is going to run after the first of the year according to HRTV.

ageecee · Postby **ageecee** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 7:54 pm

hes running at Laurel Jan 4th in a starter race.

why doesnt Laurel just write a starter race for horses that have started for 5K or less in the years from 2000-2012 for crying out loud.

Terrapin Flyer · Postby **Terrapin Flyer** » Fri Dec 30, 2011 8:16 pm

why doesnt Laurel just write a starter race for horses that have started for 5K or less in the years from 2000-2012 for crying out loud.

For the same reason they don't write non winners in 2012 right now. The same reason some tracks run straight 3yo races all year...to fill races. They aren't the only track that still has this condition in their book. They aren't the only track that stretches out eligibility in the races they write in the new year. In this day and age of 4 or 5 weeks between races life is tough for a racing secretary. Losing a year of horses eligible for a race in the new year is tough. Add the fact that 2 other tracks with weaker competition and comparible purses are less than 2 hours away its a battle to fill races in the winter and another with massive purses is 2 1/2 away. Rapid Redux or not this race would have been in the book.

1/2 of the field that is running against him have run for $5k only once in their careers, 2 of them in the final race of 2011. It's not like they put up a walkover for him, this is a salty bunch.