Mike Smith - Unique Bella

[menifee]

How does he keep this mount? He's given this horse two terrible rides. What was that? I get the bad break, but why rush her up like that. He did the same thing to Abel Tasman. They are not machines.

[Immortal6]

Watched the replay and I feel like Smith did what was necessary to try and win. Had he taken Unique Bella back and let Farrell walk up front the fractions set might have been completely different and Farrell might have been the winner, never know. For me it's hard to know who is at fault at the break? Did the jock not anticipate the gate opening or is the onus on the horse to break cleanly?

Either way, one thing I've never noticed is Unique Bella's size...maybe it's just my eyes but she looks considerably larger than Farrell and the others in the field.

[Tom]

I was watching TVG2 all afternoon, waiting for this race.
Then the @#%$#^&#morons who run TVG move it to TVG and I miss it.

Do these useless idiots purposely try to piss off their viewers?

At least I didn't have to listen to Todd Schrupp at all today!

[GMB@BP]

Vic said she stood there but she went to her knees watching the replay, I have no idea how the rider stops that but if you watched the video from yesterday she refused to load for 5 minutes, clearly not a happy horse going into the event.

[cj]

Vic said she stood there but she went to her knees watching the replay, I have no idea how the rider stops that but if you watched the video from yesterday she refused to load for 5 minutes, clearly not a happy horse going into the event.

She actually looked to kind of brace against coming out of the gate. I don't think there was much Smith could do after that. She is pretty headstrong and fighting her wasn't going to make things better.

[RunForTheRoses]

I didn't play at all today, so, was the rail really bad? Very wide trip on UB not that the 2 was not really rolling at the end.

[Fager Fan]

Vic said she stood there but she went to her knees watching the replay, I have no idea how the rider stops that but if you watched the video from yesterday she refused to load for 5 minutes, clearly not a happy horse going into the event.

Bingo. Something's up with her.

And to the person who noted her size, it was really noticeable today, not just that she's bigger, but that she almost looks like a draft breed instead of a Thoroughbred. Not very attractive.

[Tom]

Lady's Secret syndrom?

[cj]

She actually looked to kind of brace against coming out of the gate. I don't think there was much Smith could do after that. She is pretty headstrong and fighting her wasn't going to make things better.

My wife got a pretty good shot of the break:

https://twitter.com/emmilkowski/status/984996470737833985

[GMB@BP]

Great work team CJ!!!!

Like I said on Twitter, running second after all that may have been better than it looked. Not sure I would be shipping much with her. She may be a tough mare to please.

[Pensacola Pete]

Unique Bella's head was sideways before the start. The starter didn't wait for the horse to settle down. When the gates opened, Unique Bella was shifting around and almost went to her knees. It didn't look like Smith's fault.


At least I didn't have to listen to Todd Schrupp at all today!

I stopped watching TVG when I saw Schrupp and Nakatani's golf match for the 10,000th time.

The commercial of the dog and woman making annoying high-pitched noises to each other was another gem.

Honorable mention goes to the Thorograph commercial and the actress with the sing-song voice "And we know this becaaaaauuuuussssse?" It looked like the guy wanted to reach over and swat her.

[SharpCat]

Unique Bella's head was sideways before the start. The starter didn't wait for the horse to settle down. When the gates opened, Unique Bella was shifting around and almost went to her knees. It didn't look like Smith's fault.

You got it wrong mate. Unique Bella's head was straight and she was settled. Only thing that happened here was that she absolutely blew the break. No ones fault just something that happens on occasion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpgkygmqes4

[Pensacola Pete]

You got it wrong mate. Unique Bella's head was straight and she was settled. Only thing that happened here was that she absolutely blew the break. No ones fault just something that happens on occasion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpgkygmqes4

As the video shows, her head was pointed to the left before the gate opened. She was antsy for a quite a few seconds up to that point. The starter could have waited at least a few more seconds to see if she settled down. When the gate opened, the sound probably spooked her. Her head jerked all the way to the right, and she fell against the grandstand side of her stall.

[owlshead]

Great work team CJ!!!!

Like I said on Twitter, running second after all that may have been better than it looked. Not sure I would be shipping much with her. She may be a tough mare to please.


no expert, but she just appears to be a Cali girl?

[Ruffian1]

You got it wrong mate. Unique Bella's head was straight and she was settled. Only thing that happened here was that she absolutely blew the break. No ones fault just something that happens on occasion.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vpgkygmqes4



When the tape first starts and a few seconds before the break, watch her suck back for a moment putting all her weight on her back end. Her ears quite pinned as she is obviously upset with something. After a quick second, she redistributes her weight so as to be standing somewhat OK. Then at 02 seconds her right ear unpins and she is starting to be somewhat OK with things. Her left ear starts to unpin slightly it seems but then it pins again. She is really worried about something on her left side, probably the gate guy or maybe the way he is holding her. She then starts to suck back and shift all her weight back again and just as she does, the gates open, catching her standing with too much weight moving backwards and in a refusing type position.
That is what caused her to break so badly. Like what you see a cat do when the first get scared. She was not a happy horse in there. That's for sure. I would look for a much better break next time as they will probably stand her in the mornings quite a bit before her next race. Only way that does not happen is if she is always bad in the gate but you guys would know that not me. Pretty sure the rider was helpless this time.
Hope that helps.

[exactatom]

Her effort yesterday is indicative of a trend I am seeing more and more: horses in stakes races not acting well in the gate. Last Saturday at Keeneland it took over 6 minutes to load a field because 2 on the outside did not want to load.

DRF TV showed vide of Unique Bella being schooled at the gate Thursday and not wanting to load, breaking through the gate and then hesitating to load again. The XBTV people, notably Zoe Cadman and the Mig acted like it was no big deal and Zoe rambled on about how great she was. The DRF TV analyst correctly stated this looked like a problem.

Fast forward a day and she stands in the gate. You can't blame the jockey for this. He did a great job getting her relaxed and caught up to the group. Nobody complained when he did the same with Arrogate at the 2017 Dubai World Cup.

You have to blame the trainer. He knows she has a history of gate issues and how many gate works do you see in her pp's?

Why?

Is it because trainers want to work horses in the dark early before the gate schooling sessions start?

Why ship a horse half way across the country and not have her primed to leave the gate?

This is on the trainer and not the jockey.

[Ruffian1]

Her effort yesterday is indicative of a trend I am seeing more and more: horses in stakes races not acting well in the gate. Last Saturday at Keeneland it took over 6 minutes to load a field because 2 on the outside did not want to load.

DRF TV showed vide of Unique Bella being schooled at the gate Thursday and not wanting to load, breaking through the gate and then hesitating to load again. The XBTV people, notably Zoe Cadman and the Mig acted like it was no big deal and Zoe rambled on about how great she was. The DRF TV analyst correctly stated this looked like a problem.

Fast forward a day and she stands in the gate. You can't blame the jockey for this. He did a great job getting her relaxed and caught up to the group. Nobody complained when he did the same with Arrogate at the 2017 Dubai World Cup.

You have to blame the trainer. He knows she has a history of gate issues and how many gate works do you see in her pp's?

Why?

Is it because trainers want to work horses in the dark early before the gate schooling sessions start?

Why ship a horse half way across the country and not have her primed to leave the gate?

This is on the trainer and not the jockey.

Can I ask... in the video did she actually break from the gate or was she walking through it with the doors either open or being opened by hand with no bell?
I can help explain the gate work question but that info would be a great start.

[exactatom]

When they got her in the gate, she broke through a la Barbaro.

When they were trying to load her in the gate, the gate stalls were closed.

[GMB@BP]

no expert, but she just appears to be a Cali girl?

well, the brains dont always match up to the talent of the horse.

[Jeff P]

During pre race warmups - at several points I saw her holding her head at a subtle angle followed by tossing her head (small quick upward movements) that suggested (at least to me) she was anxious about her surroundings.

Didn't know about the gate incident the day before. So I had no idea what she was ticked about. Only that she was ticked about something.




-jp

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[cj]

During pre race warmups - at several points I saw her holding her head at a subtle angle followed by tossing her head (small quick upward movements) that suggested (at least to me) she was anxious about her surroundings.


-jp

.

She was agitated in the paddock as well. Unfortunately with the bad weather, they had to saddle them inside. It isn't a very nice paddock. Usually for the big races they do it outside. I would guess it all started there.

[cj]

Here is the TimeformUS chart of the race. I found the pace figures interesting, particularly the change from the 1/4 to the 1/2.

[Pensacola Pete]

She arrived Wednesday for her first race outside of familiar confines of Santa Anita and Del Mar. It was probably her first long-distance trip, colder weather, an off track, unfamiliar surroundings, and a race starting in front of a vocal crowd. She didn't want any part of it. If Hollendorfer takes the clue, he'll either keep her in SoCal for the rest of her career or ship her to a race out of state a lot earlier than two days before that race, so that she can get acclimated to her surroundings.}

Here is an article, foreboding what happened:

https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/226933/unique-bella-ships-in-for-apple-blossom

[Ruffian1]

When they got her in the gate, she broke through a la Barbaro.

When they were trying to load her in the gate, the gate stalls were closed.

Wow. That is not good at all. As a matter of fact, that is borderline terrible. And probably a problem that if it has gone on with her for a while or is becoming a problem all of the sudden, it is liable to stay a problem, which is obviously not good at all.

OK, let me explain .

There are horses that break bad because they hate the gate. As you try and stand them in the morning, in many cases they only get worse. So the starter will work with the trainer to come up with a plan that seems to be the best of a bad situation. Like a blindfold, of padding on her hips, or whatever. From that point forward everyone tries to do the same thing. So with a horse with this type of importance, no doubt a phone call was made, prompted by the trainer so the starter where the horse calls home base, can relay any info to the starter at another track. This sounds like a work in progress that is going from bad to worse. What will prevent this from happening next time is for a guy on the gate crew to " tail"her. That is, once she is in the gate, you hold her tail up so she cannot bring her weight back. Hopefully that has not failed yet. I just don't know.

If they load just OK but truly hate the gate, standing in the morning which is what you saw, is supposed to be something like walk in, stand, back out, and repeat several times, and then after the last back out, be led around the gate and she gallops off or hand open the gate and let them walk out the front. No breaking at all. Breaking with the doors closed and the bell ringing usually makes things much worse.
That might be why you are not seeing gate workouts in the morning. Those will make an upset horse that needs to calm down turn into a lunatic. Mainly because it is not physical , it is all mental and the horse can't think straight if they get flustered.




There are others that break bad because they are conically muscle sore behind. They actually do not mind the gate, it just seems like it because they always break tardy. But it is the tightness of the butt muscles or back leg muscles or lack of muscle from the horse getting off that area by throwing their weight forward while exercising over a period of time. Often you will see these horses coming over in a blanket on its butt area even if it is not cold out. Not summer though. They will typically have a liniment on them as well. It might look like their rear end up high is wet.
A ton of jogging, not galloping as a warm up all the way until post time if necessary will be about the best you can do with a muscle sore type. You usually see these horses running for claiming prices and have a history of coming from pretty far back.




Lastly, there are indeed those that just break poorly for seemingly no reason at all. Those types DO need to practice breaking and that usually helps quite a bit. But unfortunately, it almost always seems to be the first reason I mentioned. And those cases can really be tough to crack.


Hope this info somehow helps down the road and clears up why you don't see horses like her working from the gate more often.



Quick story if you care. I had a horse I ran at the Meadowlands or Belmont, can't remember and he was claimed by Johnny Campo from me for about 25k. At the time, Campo was BMOC and had Pleasant Colony training up to the Gold Cup in NY. The horse he claimed from me was a real knucklehead at the gate. Typically, if a horse is claimed the barn that is turning over the horse to the new trainer will alert them of a problem that could seriously hurt the horse or a rider as a courtesy. My groom tried to tell the people taking the horse but they blew them off and were saying go back to Md. and stuff like that. So they wouldn't hear of anything we tried to tell them. A couple of months later I read that my old horse stepped all over Pleasant Colony leaving the gate as a rabbit for a workout and ended his career. Damn shame nobody would listen.

[JohnGalt1]

I thought Unique Bella was the second best horse in that race.

I bet Farrell to win.

I was so right, then so wrong.

[mfactor]

I didn't play at all today, so, was the rail really bad? Very wide trip on UB not that the 2 was not really rolling at the end.

Thought the rail was good but I was all over Telekinesis and that Jack horse closed and stuck it up my ass.......ruined a 48 dollar double multiple times

[davew]

Bingo. Something's up with her.

And to the person who noted her size, it was really noticeable today, not just that she's bigger, but that she almost looks like a draft breed instead of a Thoroughbred. Not very attractive.

Do they still allow anabolic steroids in racehorses?

[Fager Fan]

Do they still allow anabolic steroids in racehorses?

Apparently at least in CA to train on, as we learned about Ron Ellis.