September 20001

Facts and Arguments

• "Horses that are not the 1st, 2nd, or 3rd betting choice by post time, three starts in a row, are running in the wrong races."


• Higher purses at Woodbine are attracting the attention of American owners who are now choosing Woodbine as their racing destination. This is great news for our industry but it also means that competition will be tougher than it has been in the past. As a result, local owners must be prepared to spend more on their initial investment these days.


• An owner's job is to have fun, not to interfere" – Rick Pitino


• The most important element of a horse's form for evaluation purposes is to look at who he/she has defeated. This is a better indication of their talent than looking at who he/she has been defeated by, and better than the beyer number or the type of race won.


• When doing your matings for racing purposes the most important stat is the comparison of the AEI to CI. The AEI must be higher than the CI for that particular stallion to be genetically superior. The stallion is a common denominator and his contribution may be far less than the mare and the environment that the foal is raised and broken in.


• When reading the stallion ads, donŐt forget that in most cases the farms and advisers are in the business of raising cash, not in raising racehorses.


• It is better to find a trainer who has had success in purchasing horses at auction to buy on your behalf rather than a bloodstock agent. The trainer has to live with that horse through the training process and get him/her to the races.


• A Canadian-bred 3 year old who is not eligible for an Ontario Sire or Yearling Sale Stakes is worth a lot less as a racehorse the moment after he/she runs in the Breeder's Stakes (the third part of our triple crown series for three-year-old Can-breds) than the moment before.


• There is a lot of purse money to be won these days in the claiming ranks as well as allowance and stakes levels. Some trainers like to have mostly claiming horses as their strategy for success. We like to develop 2 year olds who can perform to their potential when given the opportunity. This requires patience and not all trainers have this characteristic. We see the development of two-year-olds as a challenge but one that can result in great benefits for the connections down the road. We look forward to a new group of two-year-olds each year. They hold the promise for the future and hopefully the next three-year-old champions.


• The foal death syndrome has been a devastating loss for many of us and it is important to find the reason. It is more important to realize the true solution for the problem; Artificial Insemination. Can you imagine next year not having to ship your mares to Central Kentucky and reducing your stud fees by 90%. We need to get out of the dark ages. The people with a vested interest in the stallions who are not allowing AI, are taking care of their bank accounts not the overall long term health of the industry. It is amazing that the industry is asking for handouts from the state yet the breeders' expenses within the industry have risen.


• John T. Ward, trainer of Monarchos was quoted after winning the Derby this year as saying "From the first time we come in contact with a horse, we treat them like a champion and train them like a champion, and make them disappoint you. That's essentially the old way. Take your time with them. If something doesn't work, go back and do it again." This is the principle that Reade uses in his training methods. It can mean disappointments are inevitable but it is the only way to allow the horse to find his optimum potential. Sometimes the horse just isnŐt good enough to compete at high levels and you have to change the plan for him. It all depends on the horse.


• Stallblindness – An owners inability to recognize problems in their own horse.

back to contents

What started as a joke quietly became a competition amongst owners at the barn during the summer months as we referred to the client whose payment arrived first as Owner of the Month. So in the spirit of the game, here is a list of owners of the month. Congratulations but most of all, thank you!

The following owners are new to the stable but not new to the horse racing scene. Kingslane Farm owned by Earl O'Neil and Paul Rocamora have been involved in racing for a number of years and Duncan Taylor of Taylor Made Sales Agency in KY, has been active in all aspects of the industry for years. We welcome them to barn.

Earl O'Neil
Paul Rocamora
Duncan Taylor

Back to contents

Check out our photo gallery on-line and view our stable horses in training.

In this edition of ask a vet, we interviewed Dr. Dubro Zerajic, DVM about his acupuncture therapy for racehorses. Dr. Zerajic has always been around horses. He was riding since the age of eleven on flats and over jumps. He was educated in Croatia graduating from Veterinary College in 1963. In 1967, Dr. Zerajic immigrated to Canada and gained veterinary certification to practice in Canada. About 30 years ago, he began to read about acupuncture and in his words, he "got hooked". He started to experiment with methods used on humans but found he was not getting the results he should. Success with the horses was sporadic. That was when he decided to make the journey to Japan. He chose Japan over China because Japan had the racehorses. In 1978 Dr. Zerajic went to Tokyo where he learned how to apply acupuncture on racehorses, by Dr. Kirisawa. Dr. Zerajic says, "You cannot learn how to do acupuncture from a book. I spent a short time with him (Dr. Kirisawa) and then returned to Woodbine and introduced myself to trainers." Some of his successes include the 2-year-old champion filly Sundae Star. "She was going to be retired until we tried acupuncture. She won the Princess Elizabeth Stakes." Other notable patients were Rainbow Connection, Elated Guy and Ashboro. Trainer Reade Baker uses Dr. Zerajic for acupuncture on some of his horses that show signs or soreness. Reade relates one such case "I have a two year old filly who won the first time I ran her. A few weeks later when we ran her back she did not run well. We scoped her and found that she had bled and so we placed her on the medication Lasix. She improved off that treatment and was second in the Nandi Stakes. A couple of weeks later when she returned from galloping one morning the exercised rider mentioned that she seemed to be a little off. The usual checks were made on her legs, knees, hocks, ankles, and feet. She showed no visible signs of irregularity. We got Dr. Zerajic to give her an acupuncture treatment and by the next day she went fine (no soreness)." Not all of the patients are this obvious with the results of acupuncture because a horse may not show signs as clearly as the filly did. Sometimes they just aren't performing to what you think their potential is. So it is worth the try." Dr. Zerajic is not an acupuncturist, he a veterinarian. Acupuncture is just one treatment used in his regular practice to support traditional western medicine and is most often used when dealing with gray areas. He relates a favourite analogy, "Sometimes you will see a horse walk and he is walking wide or to one side, one might thing it is his knees, but it could be muscle soreness. If someone hit me in the back with a big plank I would walk a little different too!" A demonstration is provided for me to view. He runs his hand along the nerve points of the hind end of the horse. There is movement and flinching. He is feeling for muscles that are cramped. He stabs a surgical steel needle (longer than any I would care to be too familiar with myself) into a nerve point. Another one goes in a short distance from the first one. The horse reacts to the intruders by stiffening the muscles. Dr. Zerajic then attaches tiny clamps that resemble a miniature version of battery cables, to the exposed part of the needles and applies a low voltage electrical impulse into the horse. The muscles quiver. This procedure stimulates the muscle for a few seconds then he may more to another nerve point and stimulate that area. After a few seconds and with just the right amount of stimulation the muscles begin to relax and the horse is comfortable. He goes from the hind to the neck area and then when one side is complete he repeats the procedure on the other side of the horse. A treatment can last a few minutes to a total of _ hour depending on the amount of muscle soreness in the horse. Acupuncture works through electrical stimulation of the nerves to influence muscles to relax. When the muscles relax, blood circulates better, brings nutrition, oxygen and removes products of metabolism out. The needles never go to the veins or draw blood; they are strictly in the nerve points. Different nerve points are used depending on the symptoms being treated. Acupuncture has been used to treat colic, pneumonia, and as well as founder. A complete knowledge and understanding of horse anatomy along with many years of practice are essential in the professional applying the treatment. The treatment is advised for horses the moment they show signs of soreness and is not diagnosed as a traditional injury. The treatment lasts 5-7 days, and then the vet re-evaluates the horse and applies more treatments if required.

The registered Canadian-bred foals increased by 2% in 1999 over 1998 figures. Although not all of the foals born in 2000 are registered yet, in Ontario alone, there were 1010 foals registered as of July 16th, 2001. That number surpasses the total registered foals in Ontario for the entire year of 1999 by 17 foals, almost 2%.

Registrations Issued for Foals Born in Canada

Stats compiled by the Canadian Thoroughbred Horse Society, National Office. The stats for foal registrations in year 2000, are as of July 16th, 2001 and are incomplete.

 

PROVINCE	2000	1999	1998	1997	1996	1995	1994	1993	1992	1991	1990
ALTA.	339	545	493	506	555	566	552	591	568	579	588
B.C.	419	635	688	643	648	663	660	701	689	718	744
MAN.	94	131	141	131	156	158	219	182	224	204	253
ONT.	1010	993	901	862	925	929	1018	1109	1166	1338	1431
QUE.	14	13	18	25	20	30	34	38	43	65	66
SASK.	38	67	90	88	77	80	94	88	82	117	110
N.B.	0	2	0	0	1	1	2	1	2	1	0
N.S.	0	1	4	2	3	1	1	1	3	2	1
P.E.I.	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	2	1
YUKON	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TOTALS	1794	2387	2335	2257	2385	2428	2580	2711	2777	3026	3194

Back to contents

Horse racing on TV first became available to homes in the Toronto area in 1999. Racing fans wishing to cheer their favourites to victory can do so from the comfort of their own home. The home viewer needed a satellite dish and a subscription to The Racing Network. This was a little bit inconvenient not to mention costly for the fan who also subscribed to cable TV. Good news is on the horizon. Rogers Cable is getting ready to launch a sports package which will include The Racing Network. You can continue to view The Racing Network on satellite if you prefer, but now you will have the choice to go cable or satellite! Look for this to happen by October 2001.

I recently read an interview in a major horse publication where a bloodstock agent from Ocala was asked why he did not take the next step and train horses. He responded by saying that he knew how difficult it is to train horses and how hard it is to be on the list of the top 20 trainers. That got me thinking about where Reade stands on the list of trainers and to evaluate his career to-date. Equine Line provided the data. The data goes back to 1989, the year in which Reade first trained horses and that data was available on Reade. The following graph shows total purse earnings for each year that data was available. The growth has been very positive. As for his standings at Woodbine, out of more than 300 licensed trainers at Woodbine, Reade stood 13th on the trainers list in both 1999 and 2000. In 2000, Reade achieved a record year for purse earnings with a total of $1.396 million at Woodbine, ($1.642 million including Ft. Eries) and 3 stakes winners. His total number of wins to-date is equal to the same period last year and the total purse earnings are higher than this same period last year. This can be directly attributed to the fact that we are competing in higher-level races than last year and benefit from the higher purses in those events. Typically September and October have been the best months for wins and purse earnings. As fall approaches, and with three months left in the Woodbine race season Reade is confident that his wins and purse earnings will be higher than they were in 2000.

PURSE EARNINGS 1989 - 2000

We are pleased to announce that we survived the foal death syndromne in Kentucky with seven live foals. Here is a list of foals bred by Reade Baker for 2001. The mares have been bred back to Matter of Honor, Ascot Knight and three went to Cape Canaveral.

Wagering Levels
Wagering trends during the first three months of 2001 have been encouraging with total wagering up approximately $8 million over the same period in 2000, or 4.6%.

Slot Revenue
Slot revenues for the 3-month period were significantly up on the same period in 2000, with both Woodbine and Mohawk slot facilities operating during 2001. Revenues were $15 million over 2000 and $1.5 million ahead of budget.

Purses
Purses generated for the three-month period were $8 million over 2000, which represents a 29% increase over the same period. This significant increase reflects the combined effect of purses generated from slot machines and the Corporation's increased wagering. These improving trends continue to increase confidence in the racing industry and those who may wish to invest in the sport.

Congratulations to the directors and staff at the Ontario Jockey Club/Woodbine Entertainment. Bravo!

Back to contents

Reade Baker is keeping his fillies and is offering partnership opportunities in his Canadian-bred colts. There is one yearling colt and three weanlings. The yearling colt is named Just Watch Me after the Trudeau quotation made famous during the FLQ crisis. He is out of Windkist who is the dam of Master Stuart. Master Stuart is a four year old, and has to-date earnings of $268,000. The first weanling colt named Proudfoot is named after the Toronto Star reporter and racing enthusiast, Jim Proudfoot. He is a _ brother to both Master Stuart and Just Watch Me. The next weanling colt is named Covet. He is the first foal of the Mt. Livermore mare Forbidden Love who is out of a Roberto mare named Borishka. The final weanling colt is named Lake Ontario. He is by Lac Ouimet who is the sire of Synchronized who won two stakes for us and the dam is Ruth Ann d'Or. Lake Ontario is the _ brother to Matter of Law who is a two-year-old. She won her first time out this year and was second in the Nandi Stakes.

Back to contents

Yes the purses listed here are in Canadian dollars, but remember that the monthly training expenses are also in Canadian dollars!

The LongRun Thoroughbred Retirement Society is looking for caring loving homes for retired thoroughbred racehorses. These horses would make great companion horses. If you or anyone you know can provide a good home, or would like to make a charitable contribution, please contact LongRun at 416-675-3993, extension 3440.

Calendar of Events

September 4	Registered Canadian-Bred Yearlings Sale, CBS, Woodbine
September 27	CBS second sale at Woodbine
September 10-22	Yearlings Sale, Keeneland
October 15-16	Yearlings Sale, Keeneland
October 22-23	Fall Yearlings Sale, Fasig-Tipton, Lexington
November 2-11	Royal Winter Fair, CNE Grounds, Toronto
November 4	Selected Fall Mixed Sale, Fasig-Tipton, Lexington
November 4-18	Breeding Stock Sale, Keeneland
November 7-8	Adena Springs Mixed Sale, Lexington
December 2	Woodbine Thoroughbred Season Ends
December 14	Sovereign Awards Dinner

Back to contents

Please note that in the December 2000 issue of our newsletter there was an error in identification. Owner Derek Cornelius was shown with his wife Karen and family alongside of his colt named Wolverine. His children were identified incorrectly as Austin and Alexis. Their full names are Derek Austin and Alyssa Alexis.