Tuesday, July 18, 2017
What is it that European horsemen seem to have discovered that their American counterparts haven't?
Watching our country's races on TVG often, we constantly see fractious horses who refuse to get in the gate and have to be pushed and pulled and prodded by several assistants before they'll slip into that narrow space. Then we see the ones who go berserk waiting for the race to begin and dump their riders, often getting cast in the gate or flipping over backwards, and many times wind up being scratched. During the running of races, we see riders checking badly to avoid clipping heels, and others having to swing wide while being pushed out by the horse or horses inside, and riders standing up to avoid the two in front who have come together and closed up the hole. These are not rare examples - they are everyday occurrences.
TVG has given us the chance to watch the Europeans in action from many venues - Ascot, The Curragh, Sligo, Newmarket, Lingfield, Chester, Epsom, Goodwood and a host of others. If there's one thing we have taken away from this experience it's that we don't see horses acting up on the way to the gate, or having to be pushed into it, or leaping high into the air once they're in. And, no matter how many horses are in the race, often up to 20, there doesn't seem to be much checking and bumping and the like from start to finish.
The European runners seem to be much more well-behaved than the U. S. horses, and the jockeys help the situation by not venturing into places where they don't belong.
Somebody must know the answer to this dilemma. It's certainly not me.
MORE FROSH SUCCESS - The belated success of Florida's freshman sires has continued in July, with Pleasant Acres still leading the way by a wide margin via Treasure Beach and Brethren, and Journeyman Stud's Winslow Homer and Northwest Stud's Wrote both getting their first winners.
Treasure Beach remains in the top six nationally after the smashing victory of Vino at Monmouth Park. The colt owned and bred by Mr. Amore Stables ran away and hid by 7 1/2 lengths in a $36,000 maiden special at five furlongs that came off the turf. Four rivals made early bids at Vino, but he was much the best over the sloppy surface, and collected $21,600 for the effort that announcer Frank Mirahmadi called "a sparkling performance." Treasure Beach has surpassed $167,000 in earnings.
Brethren's third winner was Dunk, who had finished third twice at Gulfstream under Ramsey Zimmerman, then rolled by nearly nine lengths when paired with Emisael Jaramillo. The colt owned and bred by Arindel earned $34,000 for the score, raising his bank account to $42,400. Brethren has surpassed $102,000.
Winslow Homer's first winner was Chloe Raven, a filly bred by Darsan who went off at 4/5 in her debut at Louisiana Downs and was all alone at the finish - by 7 3/4 lengths - in an $18,500 maiden special. Wrote's first winner was High Providence, a colt bred by Nina Camperlengo who broke his maiden in his first try at Lone Star Park at odds of 12-1, coming from off the pace to score by 1 1/2.
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