Summer Bird dies from colic

[FantasticDan]

http://www.paulickreport.com/news/bloodstock/u-s-champion-summer-bird-dead-from-colic-in-japan/

:( :ThmbDown:

[RacingFan1992]

Rest In Peace Good friend
Glad to have had the opportunity to see him run in the Belmont, Travers, and Jockey Club Gold Cup. He will be missed.

[thespaah]

http://www.paulickreport.com/news/bloodstock/u-s-champion-summer-bird-dead-from-colic-in-japan/

:( :ThmbDown:
Colic can be a killer. I almost lost a horse under my care to colic.
It turned out be be partially digested hay that was impacted in the large intestine.
Luckily the vet was able to don a shoulder length surgical glove and manually remove the blockage.
Before the vet arrived, I must have walked that horse around the barns for about 5 miles..Or so it seemed.
The vet said the hay was too green. I had no idea. We picked up hay earlier that afternoon from the feed place.

[Bobzilla]

I'm very sad to read this. I wish he could have lived a good long life and had the opportunity to come home at the end of his stud career in Japan. I believe he was one of the better 3yos we've seen over the last ten years.

No way to ever know what the results of the 2009 BC Classic would have been if the race had been run at CD or Bel but the 6.80:1 odds would have been compelling, at least for myself, as I felt he was in very good form at the time. Certainly had respect for the actual winner. Might have been a similar finish to what we were treated with the following year, IMO.

[OntheRail]

I'm sad to hear of Summer Bird passing. Had just re watch his Belmont about three days ago.

R.I.P :(

[classhandicapper]

Sad, way too young.

[Thebigguy]

Very sad. RIP.
I lost a lot of $ betting against this guy with Quality Road. Travers and JCGC.

[cj]

Very good chance he would be a BC Classic winner if we weren't running on rubber at the time.

[PaceAdvantage]

He was one of the few horses that I actually really liked over the past decade...so I'm particularly saddened to hear of his demise at such a young age...

[andtheyreoff]

He'll go down as one of the most underrated, if not the most underrated, horse of the last decade. Rest in Peace, Bird.

[nijinski]

May his progeny carry on his stamina . Heartbreaking , RIP!

[classhandicapper]

Very good chance he would be a BC Classic winner if we weren't running on rubber at the time.

IMO, he fired his "A" race that day despite the synth. He finished ahead of everyone he should have finished in front of based on his dirt ability relative to their synth/turf ability. IMO the 3 horses that beat him were better than him in terms of "neutral surface" ability at "that stage". You just can't tell that from figures. IMO, on dirt he would have finished 2nd because 2 of the 3 would have gone backwards on dirt.

All of which makes his early loss more tragic. He may have produced offspring good on multiple surfaces.

Had he stayed healthy and continued developing at 4, he would have had a great chance the next year. He's an underrated horse for sure. He was getting really good when he got hurt. Tough loss.

[FantasticDan]

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[cj]

I don't buy that. If Blame could beat Zenyatta on dirt, I think Summer Bird could have as well. But we'll never know, because for some reason we ran back to back BCs on rubber.

[classhandicapper]

I don't buy that. If Blame could beat Zenyatta on dirt, I think Summer Bird could have as well. But we'll never know, because for some reason we ran back to back BCs on rubber.

We'll have to agree to disagree on this topic (as usual) lol.

I think the Blame that won the Classic was better than the Summer Bird I saw at 3. That's not a knock on SB because I think Blame is underrated. He did some special things to win a couple of his races.

I think the Zenyatta that beat Summer Bird was better than the Zenyatta that lost to Blame (in fact I think she was at her best the year before that).

I think the Zenyatta that lost to Blame was better than him and would have at least split with him over a 10 race series based on what I saw in the Classic. IMO her lack of seasoning on dirt was a big issue early against horses of that caliber, but it wouldn't have been soon after.

I think the Summer Bird I saw at 3 might have beaten both of them regularly if he continued developing rapidly like he was and got more seasoning at 4, but he would be an underdog against both at 3 even if he beat them here or there on trip.

However, I am not keying on figures in this analysis because of the varying surfaces, different paces, etc... that don't translate well. It's strictly the kind of comparative class, trip, and visual analysis I prefer with these high level horses.

It's a credit to him to be compared with those horses and to think he might produce kids that are good on multiple surfaces.

[precocity]

rip summer bird hell of a belmont, but kinda off topic with the move of mine that bird do you think if he was a bigger horse he would of got second over dunkirk?