KOREA, Busan Friday: Race-By-Race Preview (January 17)by gyongmaman |
The last weekend of racing before the short Lunar New Year’s break gets underway at Busan on Friday with 12 races from 11:30 to 18:00. Here are thre previews:
Race 1: Class 6 (1300M) Allowance / KRW 40 Million
The first on the card will see a field of twelve Korean-bred maidens take to the track where either their sire or dam raced on Korean soil. (2) JUST WIN looks hard to beat after his debut. The Tamna Ace gelding ran an eye-catching second after sitting wide throughout over the 1000m. His dam has thrown some good horses but none better than 2011 Oaks winner Useung Touch. Just Win looks to settle just off speed and hit the line strong in a race that lacks early speed. (12) PINEUI KKUM has improved with each run and looks the likely pacemaker in the event. He was sent out at short odds last time in a similar strength event where he finished second. Expect him to cross shortly after the start and give them something to run down. (8) NAMYANG SEUGNI showed an impressive turn of speed last start when second behind Ultra Phoenix. The Chapel Royal colt has lacked early speed at all three starts to date but will be flying home. (4) THUNDER BAY lines up for his tenth start yielding four top-four finishes to date. He looks a place chance with a well-timed ride.
Selections (2) Just Win (12) Pineui Kkum (8) Namyang Seugni (4) Thunder Bay
Next Best 3, 6
Fast Start 12
Race 2: Class 6 (1000M) Allowance / KRW 25 Million
Quite a weak maiden here so we can draw a line through the performance of (6) PARTY LION when stepped up to a mile last start and she sunk without trace. Prior to that she had shown promise though, with two 3rd placings over the 1300M. She looks nicely in here and while her propensity to be a touch sluggish out of the gates is a concern, she looks the one to beat. While we are drawing a line through things, we’ll do the same for (3) MAGIC STEALTH’s latest two. She drops back to the minimum distance today which is what she has done her best work over and she should go better. (1) CHEONJI DOKJU and (10) HUIMANG SOYEO are two others who while inconsistent, should be figuring in this company, however, the main danger could be a first-time starter. (2) KINGS LANDING was slowly away in her trial but made up very good ground. She’s likely to be ridden more forward on debut here and she has every chance of going very well first-up.
Selections: (6) Party Lion (2) Kings Landing (3) Magic Stealth (1) Cheonji Dokju
Next Best: 10, 5
Fast Start: 2, 4, 12
Race 3: Class 6 (1300M) Allowance / KRW 40 Million
A field of twelve inexperienced three-year-olds will go over the 1300m in the third. (5) BARBARIAN was extremely green on debut when bombing the start and switching back to the inside up the straight. Taking that into account, he displayed a nice turn of speed to finish fourth in one of the stronger form lines in this race. They ran a fast time for this class in that race and the Competitive Edge colt will be suited by barrier five in this assignment. (6) BANJIUI MAGIC comes out of the same race where he tried to lead throughout at his second start running fourth eventually. At his first start they ran a slick time where he finished second behind Raon Yeogol. He looks one of two pacemakers and he is drawn better so expect him to find the fence first. (12) STRONG MIND was good on debut when finishing third behind Secret Illusion over the 1000m. The colt ran on strong suggesting a cold ride from Jung Do-Yun will suit him again. The one concern is how big the deficit will be at the top of the straight. (10) GLOBAL TOP ran second on debut in a race that was relatively weaker than the aforementioned horses. Seo Seung-Un will be able to put her into the race early as she is the other galloper engaged with early speed.
Selections (5) Barbarian (6) Banjiui Magic (12) Strong Mind (10) Global Top
Next Best 8, 3
Fast Start 6, 10
Race 4: Class 6 (1600M) Allowance / KRW 40 Million
Three-year-old maidens here with all but two of the nine stretching out to a mile for the very first time. One of those two, (5) B.K. EUAN is set to be the top pick. The Alternation gelding has tackled this distance twice already and only came up short by a nose on his latest outing on December 29th. If anything, that was a stronger race than this and from gate 5 he will be expected to lead from the start and this time to not get caught. (7) POWER TRAIN has shown promise over three starts so far with the only problem being that by the time he’s hit his stride the race has been over. He should appreciate the step up to a mile today and can run on strongly. (8) MR. VALOR is another who looks like he will appreciate a bit of distance. He didn’t do much on debut but ran well for a close 4th three weeks ago and should be a contender here. (2) TOP SKY hasn’t done an awful lot on two starts so far but he’s another who tries the mile for the first time and the Kim Young-kwan/Seo Seung-un combination will tempt plenty. (9) ADELE CLASSIC was able to do very little from gate 14 last start but despite being drawn the widest again, should be able to get a prominent early position here and hold on for some prize money.
Selections: (5) B.K. Euan (7) Power Train (8) Mr. Valor (2) Top Sky
Next Best: 9, 1
Fast Start: 5, 9
Race 5: Class 6 (1600M) Allowance / KRW 25 Million
There doesn’t appear to be any superstars in the making in this fifth as a field of twelve will go over the mile. (2) LATINUIHYANGGI looks a main chance after running second at her second start last time out. The filly hit the racing scene as a three-year-old last year when finishing midfield on debut. She then improved last start to finish second albeit beaten fifteen lengths by Blue Power. Quite a few of these runners come out of that race where she held them off safely. (11) GIANT’S HEART showed significant improvement last time out when finishing third to Ultra Phoenix. The chestnut will step up to the mile for the first time where his previous starts indicate he should run it out okay. (4) THE SUN OF GOD is yet to place at his six career starts to date but has ran fair times at his past two starts. This assignment looks an easier take and he can run into some money. (5) GOLDEN RAIN was well beaten last start when sixth behind Monopoly in a slightly stronger race. There will need to be some improvement as he struggled to run the mile out strongly last start.
Selections (2) Latinuihyanggi (11) Giant’s Heart (4) The Sun Of God (5) Golden Rain
Next Best 10, 4
Fast Start 5
Race 6: Class 5 (1600M) Allowance / KRW 40 Million
It took (4) BLUE POWER five goes to get his maiden win but when he managed it, he did it in style, running out a fifteen-length winner on his first try at a mile on December 6th. He found things less easy on his first try at this class two weeks ago when 4th to the very… Read more of this post
Breeders’ Cup Issues Report on Mongolian Groom Injury
Mongolian Groom | Benoit
Officials at Breeders’ Cup Limited have issued a 25-page evaluation report from Dr. Larry Bramlage on the fatal injury suffered by Mongolian Groom (Hightail) during the final stages of the 2019 GI Breeders’ Cup Classic. His was the only injury among the 229 horses that raced during the two days of the Breeders’ Cup. The entire evaluation as delivered to the Breeders’ Cup Board of Directors can be viewed here.
In trying to address the issue of why the injury happened, Bramlage stated that Mongolian Groom was “harboring a fine stress fracture in the bottom of the LH distal cannon bone,” and goes on to say that, in actual fact, “he had small stress fractures in both hind cannon bones.” Bramlage says “there is no evidence that the horse’s injury was ignored or covered up,” and that the horse was unaware of the condition during the race–that “his adrenaline levels wiped out any impediments to performance.”
Bramlage also reports that Mongolian Groom’s out-of-competition testing yielded no prohibited substances and that all pre-race medication stipulations were adhered to. Mongolian Groom was treated with a muscle relaxant, Bramlage said, when his saddle slipped during an Oct. 27 workout and that “there is no reason to believe medication played any role in the horse’s injury. The problem was the stress fracture that escaped identification, but not because it or the affected joint had been treated in any fashion. Dr. Bramlage’s evaluation report identifies six suggested process improvements aimed at refining safety and evaluation protocols for future events which he believes will yield continued progress in ensuring the safety of its participants.
In summarizing his findings, Bramlage wrote: “It is hard to fault a process that had a 99.6% accuracy rate, but there were opportunities to remove Mongolian Groom from competition that were missed due to time constraints or process deficiencies that could be made more prominent. The bilaterally lame horses are most problematic. Unilaterally lame horses are easier to identify and to pass judgment on. In my opinion, the key opportunities for process improvement are to improve the quality of the on-track observations and to introduce the ability to jog horses in need of “extra scrutiny” in circles at some safe location on the back side of the racetrack. This should help separate the significantly lame horses from the horses that have routine soreness. It would also create the threshold for
requesting radiographic or ultrasonographic imaging prior to clearance for competition for horses of concern. The advantageous use of video footage of horses training prior to the event as part of the routine veterinary examinations should also help select horses for “extra scrutiny”. All three of these processes’ improvements would likely have helped clarify Mongolian Groom’s status. Since we are dealing with biologic beings and not inert machines, we will never eliminate
every opportunity for an occult injury to manifest and will never reach 100% accuracy. But improvement in process should make us better next year than this year and continual refinement
should yield even better results the year after that. The process was good; it can be made a little better with some re-organization.”
Chairman of the Board of the Breeders’ Cup, Fred W. Hertrich III, stated, “The Breeders’ Cup is committed to taking all actions to ensure our equine and human athletes compete under the safest and most transparent conditions possible. The Breeders’ Cup Board of Directors appreciates Dr. Bramlage’s thorough evaluation, and will review Dr. Bramlage’s recommendations for improvements to the processes that were in place for the 2019 World Championships and discuss them in detail at the next board meeting for adoption at future events. We will also discuss these recommendations with the Thoroughbred Safety Coalition, so the recommendations will have an even broader and more beneficial impact on our sport and reducing injury to our athletes.”
fonte : TDN
