Quality Road Banged Up

[majxmom]

I wish somebody would give Jay Robbins a shot with another good horse. He worked wonders with Tiznow being so patient when he needed a lot more time out of the stall in the morning, and he had such a sore back.

why doesn't he get any chances? I've never seen him with anything.

is he not a likeable person or something?

I have no idea (perhaps one of our SoCal friends can say), but I guess I've always assumed that he must not play the game of kissing up. I remember after Tiznow retired, I heard he only had 6 horses in his barn and I couldn't believe it. I know he's looking for more horses because he's said so in interviews, but maybe he is fussy about what he accepts.

[majxmom]

Sorry about the hijack above. To get back to Quality Road, I just went back this morning and watched all of The Works episodes now that the Cup is done. I was particularly intrigued by Quality Road on the track out for a jog. He looked like he was on his tip toes. His muscles and leg extensions are looked like a gorgeous horse that had muscle memory of striding out, but he looked like he was setting his feet down lightly. That really makes me wonder if this acting-out is driven by a reluctance to feel the pain he knows is coming in the race. That sort of thing is extraordinarly hard to school out of. A smart horse knows what's coming and is just trying to get out of it: "Don't you understand? It HURTS!" like a sore horse that bolts around the track just to get back to the barn. I have to say that this makes me feel a little more charitable toward the challenges that the Pletcher barn was facing.

[bdw0617]

Sorry about the hijack above. To get back to Quality Road, I just went back this morning and watched all of The Works episodes now that the Cup is done. I was particularly intrigued by Quality Road on the track out for a jog. He looked like he was on his tip toes. His muscles and leg extensions are looked like a gorgeous horse that had muscle memory of striding out, but he looked like he was setting his feet down lightly. That really makes me wonder if this acting-out is driven by a reluctance to feel the pain he knows is coming in the race. That sort of thing is extraordinarly hard to school out of. A smart horse knows what's coming and is just trying to get out of it: "Don't you understand? It HURTS!" like a sore horse that bolts around the track just to get back to the barn. I have to say that this makes me feel a little more charitable toward the challenges that the Pletcher barn was facing.

this is verbatium the same thing i said a few pages ago, but apparantly I dont' have enough "experience" to say such things.

to say this was "unexpected" could be true, but if you watched his works it's quite possible he just took thigns into his own hands. he had been trying to tell everyone he didnt' want to run all week.

[winds]

It could be he wasn't afraid of the gate, just what it represented ....the race. Never thought of that bdw. Good call.

winds

[Hotwalker]

hopefully he comes back sound and has a strong 4 year old campaign. Thinking back to the Florida Derby and Amsterdam Stakes, this guy is horse of the year material for next year if everything is right.

[Shammy Davis]

http://www.brisnet.com/cgi-bin/editoria ... i?id=16904

[Shammy Davis]

http://amateurcapper.blogspot.com/2009/ ... acing.html

[Shammy Davis]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality_Road

[Shammy Davis]

http://www.darleyamerica.com/page/37819 ... travelling

[Shammy Davis]

http://blog.timesunion.com/horseracing/ ... road/3618/

[bdw0617]

more than anythihng, I'm curious what Evans did wrong that prompted him snatchign Quality Road

for instance, when lawyer ron was snatched from his previous trainer, there was a very, very ovbious issue that was not being addressed.. lawyer ron's ratability.

rather pletcher did or did not help, I understand why he was taken away from Houthus (sp)

What did Jerkins do wrong? lol. the horse was freaking brilliant. just had bad feet.

what did he exepct to happen that woudl improve the horse?





that's something else too. I find it.. ironic.. that when everyone takes their horses from someone, they always go to pletcher.


usually from what I see, when an owner takes a horse from a (good and accomplished) trainer, the trainer has told the owner something they dont' want to hear. Like mott told Zayatt he had an exepsnive pretty turf horse in pioneerof the nile.

my uneducated guess on what happened... the feet problems started, jerkins told the owner he wanted to turn him out for a couple of months, bring him back in the fall or even gear up for gulfstream next year, pletcher comes in and tells the owner there is no reason he should have to be laid up that long, I dont' see a reason why we can't win the travers, and off he went.

[Shammy Davis]

bdw617 posted:

What did Jerkins do wrong? lol. the horse was freaking brilliant. just had bad feet.

As farrier, I think this would be high on the list. Hoof management and care is not just a priority, but a necessity. As I recall, it was quartercrack that bounced QR from the KD.

Look at all the remedial farrier work that was done on BIG BROWN. IEAH was going to get BB running even if it was on his sesamoids.

Remember Ned Evans breeds to race. He is not a commerical breeder in the sense that we normally consider.

There is no brillance in horses that can't run. Remember the old adage: "NO FEET, NO HORSE."

It's true.

With all due respect, this is what fans often don't understand about horseracing. The care and training of racehorses is extremely complicated. It's not like you can remove a bad hoof and screw another one on. In the case of BIG BROWN, Dutrow was right on top of the problem and he managed it extremely well. If Jimmy Jerkens was not on top of this problem w/QR, he deserved to be fired. If QR was not racing, he wasn't even paying his day rate. Your suggestion to send QR back to a smaller barn doesn't make sense. Jerkens' barn is small and he still couldn't stay on top of the hoof problem.

[bdw0617]

bdw617 posted:

What did Jerkins do wrong? lol. the horse was freaking brilliant. just had bad feet.

As farrier, I think this would be high on the list. Hoof management and care is not just a priority, but a necessity. As I recall, it was quartercrack that bounced QR from the KD.

Look at all the remedial farrier work that was done on BIG BROWN. IEAH was going to get BB running even if it was on his sesamoids.

Remember Ned Evans breeds to race. He is not a commerical breeder in the sense that we normally consider.

There is no brillance in horses that can't run. Remember the old adage: "NO FEET, NO HORSE."

It's true.

With all due respect, this is what fans often don't understand about horseracing. The care and training of racehorses is extremely complicated. It's not like you can remove a bad hoof and screw another one on. In the case of BIG BROWN, Dutrow was right on top of the problem and he managed it extremely well. If Jimmy Jerkens was not on top of this problem w/QR, he deserved to be fired. If QR was not racing, he wasn't even paying his day rate. Your suggestion to send QR back to a smaller barn doesn't make sense. Jerkens' barn is small and he still couldn't stay on top of the hoof problem.

Scat Daddy had the exact same problems going into the derby. Wretched feet problems that came up the week before the derby. You are right, it would not have been a probelm becuase pletcher would have ran him anyway, and finished up the track never to race again, which is exactly what happened to scat daddy.
\

[winds]

He was on top of it, if the horse has bad feet there's not much you can do but try to fix the problem when it shows up. I have a friend who uses Jimmy and he's on top of everything, they are thrilled with him. Mr. Evans is a pain in the butt owner, who had taken the horses from Pletcher in the first place ( if I remember correctly ) gave them to Jimmy and then went back to Pletcher. Having Jimmy Jerkens as a trainer is like having Allen Jerkens as a trainer, and he's the best.

winds

[Shammy Davis]

Winds: The bottom line is that Evans is the owner. You might be right that Jerkens was following the best course of action for QR. bdw617 might be right that Scat Daddy was mishandled or not cared for. I really don't know. It's a moot issue. Even if Evans is a "butt owner" he is the boss and it looks to me like Jerkens is out and Pletcher is in. Alot of people think Todd is a "butt trainer" so you've got two butts working together. One thing they have over you, me, and lot of other people in the horse industry is a great deal of success so it might be that when you combine two butts you don't always get two poor asses.

As far as bdw617 asking what the problem was between Evans and Jerkens, no one will ever know, because neither is talking. It's apparent that bdw617 doesn't like anyone saying that he might be wrong. Ascotstud was right. I think bdw617 should get a little knowledge before his imagination makes him into a "butt" handicapper.

As I recall, didn't you work with or know Jerkens. You might be a little prejudice. It is possible that in the QR instance, JJ might have missed something? It happens. It is not the end of the world.