Lukas and Azeri—My Final Thoughts….

[Silver Charm]

I have found all the discussion and scrutiny about Wayne taking over the unretired Azeri, after the fine job done by Laura D, very interesting. Bill Finley on ESPN.com wrote an excellent piece two weeks ago about the circumstances and it was fair and balanced. As in there are two sides of the story and perhaps only time will tell who is right, perhaps not.

What was most interesting were the comments about Vets, about the mares physical condition, discussion about the extent of the supposed(??) injury. This is something very unusual in the racing industry, where even trainers will hide the extent of an injury (quartercrack, burned heels, inflammation, etc) from an owner much less their being public discussion or debate in the newspaper or other publications. Where is this information coming, certainly not Lukas, and why is there such an urgency to investigate and report in this situation. Maybe it is because Azeri is very important to a lot of people, was and is a Great Champion.

Regardless I would like to present the following scenario to everyone. What if Azeri had run a dull Fifth and afterwards Lukas had said she was a little more short than he thought and they were still on track for Oaks Day and Sightseek. Then on Oaks Day she was again up the track and Wayne declared she still WASN'T a candidate for retirement.

Don't you think he would be absolutely BARBECUED BY THE MEDIA??? How about if ten months later she was still in training and Wayne was bitching about being screwed by Racing Secretaries and the weights she was being assigned. Still talking about where she would run next. I think racing fans would be OUTRAGED, the Media screaming for HIS HEAD and I can't say that I would blame any of them.

But let me asked you this—Isn't this precisely what is going on right now with SARAVA. You remember him the Belmont Stakes winner don't you. Did you see how bad the horse looked last year at Del Mar???  Didn't he Colic and almost die afterwards??? What if Azeri had run like that on Saturday and was LYING DOWN ON HER DEATH BED TODAY???

And please don't give me the Wayne has a history baloney, one thing Baffert proved with the comeback of General Challenge, he's no Michael Dickinson. And his current four year old crop of Vindication, Kafwain, Bull Market, Chief Planner, Indian Express, Icecoldbeeratreds, Composure, and Santa Catarina, well I'm expecting really big things out of them this summer.

Or maybe we are learning that the HEALTH AND WELL BEING OF A BELMONT STAKES WINNER ISN'T REALLY THAT IMPORTANT. I doubt that TGJB feels that way having BOUGHT ONE HIMSELF and I can only imagine his OUTRAGE if what is going on with Sarava had happened with Victory Gallop. Things got so bad for me that in the last three months of Silver Charms career I COULDN'T WATCH.

Perhaps the same questions that are being asked everyday about Azeri need to be asked at someone else's barn. I'm not holding my breath expecting it to happen anytime soon. Never has and never will.

[Chuckles_the_Clown2]

Silver Charm wrote:

> I have found all the discussion and scrutiny about Wayne taking
> over the unretired Azeri, after the fine job done by Laura D,
> very interesting. Bill Finley on ESPN.com wrote an excellent
> piece two weeks ago about the circumstances and it was fair and
> balanced.

http://espn.go.com/horse/columns/misc/1762325.html

As in there are two sides of the story and perhaps
> only time will tell who is right, perhaps not.
>
> What was most interesting were the comments about Vets, about
> the mares physical condition, discussion about the extent of
> the supposed(??) injury.

Regarding the Vets. A Vet is like a fish when he works for you. He\'s gonna swim within the confines of the stream. He\'s not gonna jump up on the bank to make a point. These are obviously hired vets, like Frankel\'s Eastern connection. What are they gonna say?

> Where is this information
> coming, certainly not Lukas,

Its coming from Laura. She is adamant that the mare has issues.

and why is there such an urgency
> to investigate and report in this situation. Maybe it is
> because Azeri is very important to a lot of people, was and is
> a Great Champion.

It's also because Lukas has an entrenched reputation for running a horse until it cracks. No one doubts that and you\'re right, no one wants him to crack this mare.
 
>
> Regardless I would like to present the following scenario to
> everyone. What if Azeri had run a dull Fifth and afterwards
> Lukas had said she was a little more short than he thought and
> they were still on track for Oaks Day and Sightseek. Then on
> Oaks Day she was again up the track and Wayne declared she
> still WASN'T a candidate for retirement.
>
> Don't you think he would be absolutely BARBECUED BY THE
> MEDIA??? How about if ten months later she was still in
> training and Wayne was bitching about being screwed by Racing
> Secretaries and the weights she was being assigned. Still
> talking about where she would run next. I think racing fans
> would be OUTRAGED, the Media screaming for HIS HEAD and I can't
> say that I would blame any of them.
>

The hidden implication is that the one win against moderate competition means Laura\'s concerns were without merit. I\'m not sure you can reach that conclusion. Winn Dot Comma ran a bang up Swale and broke down on the track in the following days.
 
> But let me asked you this—Isn't this precisely what is going on
> right now with SARAVA. You remember him the Belmont Stakes
> winner don't you. Did you see how bad the horse looked last
> year at Del Mar???  Didn't he Colic and almost die
> afterwards??? What if Azeri had run like that on Saturday and
> was LYING DOWN ON HER DEATH BED TODAY???
>

Sarava was a reclamation project where it was KNOWN he was injured. It\'s different with Azeri. The thing with Azeri is a preventative issue. It\'s a \"due care\" issue. With Sarava it was trying to get a significantly injured horse back with full knowledge that he was injured. It might be time to retire him if he\'s not as close to death as you say. I have no knowledge about that.

> And please don't give me the Wayne has a history baloney, one
> thing Baffert proved with the comeback of General Challenge,
> he's no Michael Dickinson.

Michael Dickinson proved with Tapit that he\'s no Michael Dickenson. Granted the Da Hoss and Al Huevo things count in his favor.

And his current four year old crop
> of Vindication, Kafwain, Bull Market, Chief Planner, Indian
> Express, Icecoldbeeratreds, Composure, and Santa Catarina, well
> I'm expecting really big things out of them this summer.

Since I know some of the above horses are done, I\'m assuming your implication is that they are all done. I didn\'t know that, but how many of them broke down racing or died on the track? But when you consider that consider horses like Thirty Slews and Real Quiet who were all ouchy horses and were managed with care. There's others too, Silver Charm, Conagree and more.. Baffert gets more runs outta his horses cause he knows when to lighten up on them. Lukas is gonna have to learn that trick now too.
>
> Or maybe we are learning that the HEALTH AND WELL BEING OF A
> BELMONT STAKES WINNER ISN'T REALLY THAT IMPORTANT. I doubt that
> TGJB feels that way having BOUGHT ONE HIMSELF and I can only
> imagine his OUTRAGE if what is going on with Sarava had
> happened with Victory Gallop. Things got so bad for me that in
> the last three months of Silver Charms career I COULDN'T WATCH.
>

Silver had some tough races in him. He may have just reached the retirement age. His third to last race he ran a bang up race for third. His penultimate race was his 2nd Dubai Cup attempt and he fizzled. Baffert gave him time and one more attempt and then decided it was time. It sure looks like good handling to me. I think he retired "sound".:

http://www.drf.com/tc/trail/2004/derbywinners.pdf
 
>
> Perhaps the same questions that are being asked everyday about
> Azeri need to be asked at someone else's barn. I'm not holding
> my breath expecting it to happen anytime soon. Never has and
never will.

I just don't think Baffert has killed near as many racing. I can only recall one. (I could be wrong about that) I could post a long list of Lukas track dead. Azeri is the horse to redeem Lukas or essentially end his career. I don't know that he understands that. If she's not right and he breaks her down. Let me rephrase that...IF SHE BREAKS down in his care, no amount of P.R. is gonna save him.

CtC

[bdhsheets]

Watching the head on replay, it looked as though she wasn\'t running a straight line down the stretch. I\'m betting she doesn\'t make it to the BC.