rockport tender hooved...again

[richiebee]

DRF online reports that Rockport Harbor\'s recurring hoof problems have flared up again.

I really hope the owner, and not John Servis, is keeping Rockport Harbor on the Kentucky Derby trail. I really hope the owner wakes up and gives this horse the 30- 90 days of R&R he probably needs.

Rocky is a hard trying colt with a lot of character, but obviously an animal with a fragile undercarriage. The owner must have a serious case of Derby Fever, and Servis keeps spouting the company line \"still on schedule\" etc, but it is obvious to all that this colt needs to be removed from the Derby Trail before he suffers (I hope not) any further injury.

John Servis is under a lot of pressure, I would imagine, because this owner (Rick Porter) has once before taken horses away from Servis and placed them with Nick Zito.

Actually we are probably looking at another 3YO who will be retired early and overpriced at stud. Just what the game needs.

[gvido]

I\'d have more respect for Servis if he lost the horse because he wanted to put him  on the shelf and made it public. My goodness, it was \"discovered\" that Baffy\'s Roman Ruler\'s [who has had foot problems] foot was rotted to the carona, the *******.

I believe the tide will turn on Unbridled\'s Song offspring. Bad feet are passed on to virtually all of them. I\'d never bring a mare to him and never at $125k. Alas, there\'s plenty of stupid money out there...

[TGJB]

Of the things that can go wrong with a horse, a hoof (same material as a toenail, as opposed to the foot itself), while annoying, is one of the least serious, given fiberglass patches and all the other advances of the last 15 years. Roman Ruler\'s situation had obviously gotten a lot more serious than the usual quarter crack problem, but if he has a good blacksmith, a little time (3 weeks still until the Ark Derby), and doesn\'t miss too much training, well, there\'s only one Derby. If things continue to go wrong, that\'s another story.

Victory Gallop got a quarter crack about 6 days before the Dubai World Cup, got patched 4 days out (by memory, could be off a day or two). He was slightly tender when they first put the patch on, and since it was his only race that year that wasn\'t a top, it could be why he got beat (third by 3/4 length). Ah well, at least it wasn\'t a big race.

[richiebee]

\"No hoof, no horse\"

Maybe more aggravating (and more indicative that Porter/ Servis have never taken enough time with RH) is the fact that the deep cut RH sustained in the Remsen has never healed totally.

One trainer I worked for, an old cowboy named Ronnie Warren (great horseman, low percentage trainer, the stories I could tell) was a believer in never letting a cut heal over, and his grooms were continually picking at scabs to let the wounds breathe.

Bernie Flint applied sauerkraut to open wounds with great success. This was along the line of the pitching coach of the 1969 Mets, who used pickle brine to toughen up Nolan Ryan\'s blister- prone fingers.

Maybe Galloping Grocer\'s biggest impact on the Triple Crown will be that he made RH run too hard in the Remsen.

Memo to Maktoums: This Desert to the Derby experiment isn\'t working. Just bite the bullet, buy Churchill and make Nick Zito your private trainer.