She ran a strong race.  Nice job by Motion.

Compare the field that Rachel ran against to the field that, say, Summer Guest had to run against.  And look at the difference in distance.  Not all Woodwards were the same calibre, but Rachel\'s performance none the less was very, very brave.

First race as a 3 yr old was an experiment to see if he would rate.  It didn\'t work.  He ran 9f in 1:45 4/5 if I am not mistaken in one of his preps at GS.  Bled badly in the Haskell.  Came back to win the Monmouth Inv over older horses in stakes record time.  Retired with the discovery of more chips, I think.  Could be wrong there.  The horse was an impressive front runner.  If people want to slight him, they can.  But his two loses came with valid excuses.  And he ran a wicked first 6f in the Jersey Derby and when they came at him he held them off. Creme Fraiche then won the Belmont after losing to Spend A Buck.

At those odds, there is no reason not to put a wager on her.  What do you have to lose?  But she is in quite deep and there are many Euro fillies in there with superior form.  The plus is that the course is quite firm at the moment and should help her.  But you have Ervedya, Lucida, Found, Irish Rookie, Yasmeen, Arabian Queen and Osaila all have better form in my opinion.  Good luck!

I\'m not sure I agree that it was such a fruitless endeavor.  The horse has a stone bruise, if I read correctly.  It happens.  Would he have won?  I highly doubt it.  But he may have surprised and given a good account of himself and that would not have hurt his reputation at all.  I thought that if he could somehow crack the top 5 it would be a good run. He had two top jocks work him.  They both thought he was a quality horse and both said he was still a bit hesitant running uphill. But his last work, he finally changed leads like clockwork and was finally getting the hag of it.  Rae Guest said CC was a very tired horse when he came to his yard. He obviously did not respond to training as quickly as they would have liked hence missing his prep for the POW.  And now he is not starting in the POW.  But, the horse got plenty of rest and great care and a lot of turf work.  He certainly should be fit and rested and ready to run.  So, I wouldn\'t call it a waste as the horse got the R&R that he obviously needed. The shame is that he would get ground that would favor him as it is good to fast, which is firm to them.  It was a gamble and whether you appreciate the gamble or not, we need more people to take gambles in racing. Racing should be about challenges and not about playing it safe.  I would like to see more take that gamble.  There are a few horses I would love to see in Fabre\'s barn.

Not really a fair assessment of Sky Lantern as she did not have a good trip and was shuffle back at a crucial point due to traffic.  There are other Euro\'s that could be mentioned who did flop.  I just would not include Sky Lantern in that group due to her trip.  As far as Vorda is concerned, she has a ton of class, is a small, athletic filly, has speed to get better position and has a finishing kick. The two negatives will be her odds and whether you feel she can get an American mile, which on a fast Santa Anita course should be much easier than a European course, straight or not.  Just my opinion.

Ok.  So here is my question.  If it is healthier for the horse to run on Lasix and Bute, does that mean that the European horse is less healthy than the American horse?  It doesn\'t seem that way to me, but the way many on this site talk, it must be.  What is it about American racing that makes it so much more stressful for the horse than the racing in the countries that do not allow raceway meds?  Why do they not feel that it would be healthier for their horses to run on meds?  I\'m not trying to be a smart-ass, but I\'m trying to understand why it is only a necessity here.  It can\'t be the breeding, per se, because American breeds run all over the world without raceway meds.  So it can be done, but the prevalent attitude seems to be that it can\'t be done here.  Is there anyone that has experience with American racing and European racing who could comment on this?  Thanks.

I agree, miff.

made Excelebration look ordinary.

Sorry this comment is late.  This is a beautiful tribute to a brilliant and brave woman.  This is so full of love and compassion, you can\'t help but tear up.  She will always be with you in your heart and thoughts and in that way she will be there blessing your wedding. Celebrate her and keep her close, and I\'ll bet you will feel her presence whenever you need to.  Thanks for sharing this.  My Mom is 89 and I bless every day she is still here. Best wishes for your wedding and know she is with you on this day.

Thanks. I am assuming that there is no difference between bleeding with Lasix and without it as far as the damage the bleeding causes.  Lasix lessens the frequency of the incidents.

It is interesting to me, and has cleared many things up for me, to hear from the people in the industry.  Since I am an outsider, hearing the pros and cons of people in the industry has softened my stance on Lasix.  I have another question.  If horses train on it, and then are not allowed to run on it, does Lasix xtill have a beneficial effect on the horse during the race or does it need to be in the system during raceday to have the beneficial effect?

That was also part of my thought process.

When Miss Alleged was a 4 yr old, the rumor in Europe was that she was bleeding. Since the automatic use of Lasix wasn\'t permitted for Euros at that time in the US, if I remember correctly, she was shipped over here to run in a race and bleed so that she could run on Lasix for the BC.  Euros want to use it when they are here because they want the same advantages the US horses have and want a level playing field.  No horse can have it in their system in Europe by raceday, so that is their level playing field.  If it is as beneficial as you feel, then they should be lauded for using it in training, which is the only way the are allowed to use it there.  Since so many Euros ship here, when they do they want to run on it, because the American horses are running on it. I can\'t judge if they are hypocritical or not.  When in Rome.......

You have good points.  I\'m just not sold on all the virtues of Lasix.  I\'m sure it has made it easier to try to control the issue.  I guess I see the trend of our society overmedicating overflowing into other realms.  Maybe my perception is off.

Thanks for the response.  I\'m not that knowledgeable of Australian racing, and I do know that cheating and experimenting happens everywhere.  I do know that in Europe, according to the rule, any foreign substance found in the blood is grounds for a DQ.  Is it upheld everytime?  Probably not.  Thanks for breaking down the problem for the smaller outfits.  I can understand that.  I\'m not trying to be a purist.  But when I first started following racing, in the early 60\'s, I would always go to Arlington Park.  They still had cheap claimers running and no meds were supposedly allowed on raceday.  Did they just test the stakes races back then?