Bring on the Bulldozers: Santa Anita Will Install Brand New Artificial Surface for Breeders Cup in October

The continuing education of racetrack management continues this summer, as a full card of bulldozers will break through the gate of lovely Santa Anita racetrack in Arcadia, California. The learn-as-you-go plan is to completely replace the year-old Cushion Track artificial surface with a brand new Pro-Ride surface from Australia.

The Cushion Track surface was installed over questionable drainage systems and malfunctioned this winter, cancelling racing on several days when the winter rains hit the track east of Los Angeles.

Santa Anita Park announced today that its main track will undergo a complete overhaul beginning July 14, and will be reconstituted with a mixture of Pro-Ride synthetic. The project will include completely removing the existing asphalt base, adding a new grid base material, and treating the entire track with binder and fiber. It is anticipated the complete project will take six weeks to complete. During this period of construction, there will be no training at Santa Anita.

Santa Anita’s new Pro-Ride synthetic surface will debut with the beginning of the Oak Tree at Santa Anita meeting on Sept. 24. The 25th Breeders Cup will be run at Santa Anita October 24-25; it will be the first time that the Breeders Cup has been run on an artificial surface.

Racing officials and hierarchy are putting lots of faith eggs in the artificial surface basket, with permanent installations completed this year at all major California tracks, joining Keeneland and Turf Paradise in Kentucky and other tracks around the country in the experimental switch from dirt to fiber. The hope is that the surface will be safer for horses and more consistent.

Several Breeders Cup races are run on the turf and will not be affected by the surface switch.

Hoof-La Update from Dutrow: "It Still Wasn't the Loose Shoe"

Smoking Gun? The article in this week's Blood-Horse about Big Brown's loose shoe in the Belmont, shown in this closeup from a Russ Melton photo, has now been posted on the web; you can read the entire article by clicking here.

Big Brown trainer Rick Dutrow is sticking to his guns: the "loose shoe" is not the smoking gun in his horse's failure to capture the 2008 Triple Crown on June 7th. He was interviewed by the Blood-Horse when they decided to publish the photo you see with this post. (See following posts for more on loose shoes.)

Dutrow added that the shoe appeared to have spread and that it was pulled, along with his other shoes, the next day. His horseshoer still had to use his pulloffs to get the shoe off, so "loose" is a relative term. He also said that there was no pain reaction when the foot has worked on.

Dutrow also verified farier Tom Curl's report that Big Brown is now shoeless and jogging at Aqueduct, presumably enjoying a rest from all the hoof-la that attended his Triple Crown lameness issues.

Also, the toe grab in this photo is completely legal in New York. No states that I know of have banned toe grabs on hind feet. The Jockey Club's model rule change suggests toe grabs other than wear plates be eliminated on front shoes but there are no rule changes suggested for hind shoes, where toe grabs are standard equipment.

What Can a Loose Shoe Do? Remember Longfellow!

There's an expression, "Safe and Sound" that can be extended to the work that horseshoers do for their four-legged clients. They believe that they put on shoes to help horses run faster, jump better, raise their knees more (or keep them lower), to get traction on ice or on a smooth turf-y jump course.

But they also do their very best to make them safe. They check the nails. They check for loose clinches. They come back for a hot nail. They rasp off any sharp edges. You might think they are making it look pretty, but what they are really doing is keep that sound horse safe out there on the road, track, course, field, or arena.

One of the very most famous stories of a horse with a loose shoe in a race goes back to 1872. The great champion Longfellow was to run in the 2.5 mile Saratoga Cup against a longtime rival, a horse called Harry Bassett.

The 1872 New York Times record of the race begins with this dramatic sentence: SARATOGA, July 16. Never, perhaps, in the racing history of the Saratoga or any other track has such a scene been witnessed as took place today the scene attending the race between Longfellow and Harry Bassett.

On the way to the post, Longfellow's shoe came loose. The race was off, and at the halfway point, he lagged uncharacteristically behind. His jockey went to the whip; it was the first time the champion had ever felt its sting. He accelerated and almost caught his rival; he lost by only a length, and the record was broken for that distance.

When Longfellow pulled up, it was on three legs. The loose shoe had bent over double and was embedded in his frog. One report said he had puled off the heel of his foot. He had kept on running, and almost won. But he never raced again.

Of course, Longfellow's shoes were steel and Big Brown's are a very lightweight aluminum alloy. But that story does drive home the lesson that a loose shoe is a dangerous situation.

Big Brown's shoe was obviously loose...but not that loose. He was lucky. And today, a jockey would be wont to pull up a horse before the damage was done, but go to the whip as they did in 1872.

Beating a Dead Horse(shoe): Big Brown's Loose Shoe, Revisited

Photo links to ESPN's article on hind shoe revelation.


In the hours after Big Brown failed to win, or even really finish, the Belmont Stakes two weeks ago, majority owner Michael Iavorone of IEAH told the Blood Horse:

"His feet are ice cold, quarter crack not an issue. He had a very loose hind left shoe, but that’s not an issue."

Now we are left to wonder: did anyone check the right hind?

This week's Blood-Horse shows a loose shoe on what looks to be Big Brown's right hind foot...and the photo was snapped early in the race.

Please read the article on ESPN.com, and also go back and re-read the Hoof Blog's original post about the loose shoe. The Blood-Horse expose of the loose shoe is in the mail and will probably show up on their web site at some point.

The report of a loose shoe was a grave concern to me when I heard about it; some of the farriers I talked to were also quick to state that that might have been a problem, particularly with traction in the deep track. They were more concerned by a loose hind shoe than by a patched front foot.

But the Big Brown camp dismissed hind shoes as having played any role in Big Brown's uncharacteristic performance in the race of his life.

I know that someone out there will say that the closeup photo is showing a turndown style of hind shoe, but turndowns are not allowed in New York racing rules and the horse would have been spun before he even got to the paddock.

I also interviewed farrier Tom Curl, who rebuilt Big Brown's fickle feet in Florida this winter. Tom was with the horse after the Belmont. He did not consider the loose shoe to have been a performance limiting mishap when asked about it.

Of course, we'll never know what happened to Big Brown that day. The colt's not talking.

HOOF the Play: Barefoot Hoofcare Takes the Stage in London This Summer

Each year, planeloads of American tourists land at London's Heathrow Airport and head off on their pre-packaged tours of the London sights. A tour of the Tower, a peak at Buckingham Palace, a stare at Big Ben as he chimes the hour.

And in the evening, there's the obligatory tickets to the great theaters of London's West End, where plays like Phantom of the Opera got their starts. The theater district that brought us (for better or worse) Andrew Lloyd Weber, and where theater is...well....theatre. They even spell it differently. It's the real thing.

Tomorrow the Americans will board tour buses and head off to Stratford Upon Avon or Windsor Castle, but tonight, playbills clutched in hand, they settle in their sacred seats to the best London thespians have to offer. They've paid through the nose, so this better be good.

And this year it's...Hoof.

No. Not "Hair" but "Hoof".

The new play at the Lyric is described thusly: "A pony’s owner is growing up fast and TV has taken over from riding. When the remote control is unexpectedly dropped within hoof-reach, the horse’s lonely life takes a new tack. Her secret, night-time viewing reveals cowboy films and amazing adventures. She begins to realise she’s not just a dumb animal and a quest for a herd, humour and a life without shoes begins…"

The pony's story is enhanced with puppets, tap dancing hooves and nostalgic TV clips of Black Beauty and Champion the Wonder Horse.

That's right, barefoot hoofcare promoted from the stage in London.

Tap dancing without horseshoes might not have the same effect.

Note: there's also an improv theater company in Liverpool called Hoof! so this can be confusing!

If anyone has seen this play, please check in!

Big Brown's Part Owners Pledge Drug-Free Stable After October 1st

Here's a statement issued today by International Equine Acquisitions Holdings (IEAH), the partnership that is part owner of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Big Brown. The statement comes on the heels of a Congressional hearing held Thursday in Washington DC in which House committee members were highly critical of lax drug policies (among other things) in US horse racing.

This is the first announcement of this sort that has been issued, although there are probably racing stables and/or trainers who have similar policies without stating them. Remember that medication rules vary by state. For many years, New York had a much tougher medication policy than other states. Today, it is legal to race horses on steroids and other medications in most states.

The Jockey Club has been promoting a nation-wide ban on steroids by the end of this year, by the issuance of a model rule that would be adopted by individual states. They also have issues a model rule change outlawing any traction devices or toe grabs on front shoes. However, no one has the power to force a state to change its drug or horseshoe regulations.

From IEAH's statement:

"In an effort to re-build confidence and the integrity to the great sport of Thoroughbred horse racing in North America, IEAH Stables is proud to announce effective October 1 all horses in training and racing in IEAH silks will run only with Lasix. No other medication, drugs, or steroids will be administered.

"While regulatory standards and indeed legislation may be required to resolve most of the controversial issues surrounding our sport, we believe our announcement today is a step in the right direction. To the best of our knowledge, we are the first racing stable in North America to make this commitment. We encourage others to follow our lead.

"We have selected an effective date of October 1 as the official "free-of-medication" withdrawal date because our horses should be clear of all substances by that time. As of October 1, we will request all tracks at which our horses run to perform pre-race and post-race testing at our expense. These procedures have proven effective under racing conditions outside North America.

"Moreover, in the interest of fairness to the wagering public, we will request and strongly urge that race programs include data indicating which horses will run with medication, which will run free of medication. The programs should also indicate which owners/trainers decline to divulge this information.

"As a further test of our commitment, beginning October 1, if any of our runners test positive for medication other than Lasix, we pledge to donate our share or purse money to charities related to thoroughbred horse racing. We will specify those charitable organizations at a later date.

"We believe this change is for the betterment of our sport. In the long run, it will benefit all involved in the game -- the tracks, horsemen and most of all the fans."

(end quote)

(Note: Lasix, the one drug that IEAH says it will allow, is a diuretic anti-bleeding medication.)

An interesting footnote to this story is that Benny the Bull, owned by IEAH, won the Golden Shaheen, a tough international race in Dubai this fall. Dubai racing has a zero tolerance for medication and the Dutrow-trained horse managed to win impressively in spite of the drug ban, international travel, and searing desert heat, as did 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin.

IEAH's October 1 deadline means that their horses, if entered, would not run on medication for the 2008 Breeders Cup to be held in California later that month.