surgery

[big ant]

     JB ,I was wondering if you had ever heard a procedure where they actually sew up the female genitalia ,to improve performance on the track.

[TGJB]

Very hard to answer this one with a straight face, but the answer is yes. I haven\'t heard of it in a long time and don\'t remember what the thinking was. Alan is trying to figure out what notation to put on the sheets-- no suggestions, please.

[big ant]

     I spoke to a friend of mine ,who knows a vet ,who had done the aforementioned proceedure.While explaining this to me ,he asked me not to laugh,and asked if i had ever heard of such a thing.I told him i hadn\'t .He continued ,that the horse in question was somehow blowin air out  of that area,and causing the horse to tire.At that point I just burst out in laughter.I walked away and realized that the idea sounded like the hair brained scheme out of \"Pope of Greenwich Village\" .I\'ll keep you posted on this issue.

[brent]

This is a very common procedure referred to as a \"Caslick\'s \",he being the veterinarian that first developed the idea and promoted it. A very thin layer of tissue is removed from either side of the female genitalia,essentially creating a wound that,when closed by sutures or staples will soon heal, extending below the floor of the birth canal, greatly decreasing the size of the opening of the external portion of the vagina. It\'s felt that some female horses can\'t maintain a good \"seal\"when running and the aspirated air can be very irritating,leading to problems such as colic,uterine inflammation,etc,.Most riders maintain they can hear when a filly is \"sucking wind\". This is also done to broodmares to help minimize infection during the breeding season and to maintain the pregnancy afterwards.They are \"opened up\" shortly before delivery and \"closed\" again soon thereafter. Cheers.



Post Edited (12-11-03 16:34)

[Mall]

Takach discusses the more common use of tape to deal with this condition in his video on physicality, & as luck would have it the portion where he explains how you check for same was playing when my wife came into the room to see what I was up to. Her assessment of the mental state of handicappers who do this is not something I can repeat here.

I didn\'t catch all of the details, but what I did hear sounded like SC got his wish, in that NYRA has apparently named a GRI, one designed to attract an international field no less, after Mr. Hirsch.

Speaking of international racing, the Hong Kong International Races, four of which are Group Is, take place this Sun. Anyone who\'s interested can get an idea of how far behind we are in this country at the sites for The Hong Kong Jockey Club, South China Morning Post, & Hong-Kong-Racing.com.

[big ant]

Thank you guys for the feedback.It is much appreciated.

[Michael D.]

Mall,
Sha Tin is a great place, but I don\'t think any racing in the world beats a BC or Bel Stks day at Belmont. they do pay out some pretty good bucks at those asian tracks though..... btw, Drysdale\'s Sarafan is out, tests positive for a banned steroid? that sure surprised me.

[P.Eckhart]

The JRA have some explaining to do on this issue having let him run in the Japan Cup.
They say on SCMP that this Sunday will be 54 days after treatment was administered and the drug has a 56 day withholding period. So what was Drysdale thinking sending it to Japan anyway?

[Mall]

I\'m sure you\'re right re the racing itself even though I\'ve never been there, but what I was referring to was something different: 24 hr 365 day per yr video of the barns, extensive independent vet testing of every horse, free timeform & speedpower(which includes the weights of the horses) handicapping products, extensive trip & fitness notes from experts, in depth coverage of works(including video for big races, such as those this weekend), detailed descriptions of any & all physical problems of each horse, the most comprehensive reports on equipment changes I have ever seen, comprehensive pre-race radio coverage, etc, etc. In reviewing these things, I thought it was kind of ironic that the HKJC bases it\'s report on the condition of the track using a soil compaction meter(the Lang Penetrometer) which you can purchase from an Ala Co for $189. And also, as you point out, the payoffs can be astronomical. The race Victor Espinoza won the other night was the 3rd leg of the so called TT, or triple trio, which requires that you pick the 1st, 2nd & 3rd horse in any order in 3 races. It paid HK$35 million.

P.S. Maybe Drysdale was thinking the same thing he was thinking when he ran Flying Dash in the Haw Gold Cup a couple of yrs ago. I read somewhere recently that his appeal of the positive is still pending & that the owner has refused to comply with the Ill reg body\'s directive to return the purse money.

[magicnight]

Mall;

Is that why they call it Happy Valley?

[Mall]

As Montgomery Burns might say re your question:\"Excellent.\"

One thing I also meant to mention is that the HKJC pays for all training & other horse-related expenses, as well as housing costs for trainers, who have to be invited to train there & are subject to being asked to leave after a warning if their training is not up to snuff. Interesting that the top trainers in this elite group usually have a win pctg between 15-20%, or approx what used to be considered a great pctg in the US before the advent of the so-called super trainers.

[Mall]

Surprising finish by Brooklyn Bobby trained Denon in the HK Cup, where he came home in front of 3 of the 14 starters. I assumed he\'d finish last, but he ended up getting pretty much a perfect trip.

[P.Eckhart]

Re: Sarafan\'s positive in Hong Kong

I mailed both the JRA and JLRC (laboratory of racing chemistry) to ask if either were going to make a public statement or if the matter was under investigation about why they either failed to detect steroids or let him run knowing he was positive. I got no reply from both. Hell it\'s only the second richest race in the world, lets just sweep it under the carpet and move on. Also, why aren\'t your journo\'s prodding Drysdale as to why he sent it to run in Japan knowing that it would almost certainly fail? (Only it didn\'t did it, or did it?) This episode sucks and nobody is even remotely interested.