Three Jewels enjoyed a nice relaxing day out at Silver Springs. With the track closed today the colt jogged in the fields and posed for the camera. The farm staff reports he’s doing all the right things on a weekly basis and is really starting to shape up.
Ein Gedi breezed five furlongs in company this morning with stablemate Classic Vinyl (workmate from last week), covering the ground in 1:02.40 over the Tapeta at Fair Hill. Breezing on the outside of her stablemate, Ein Gedi worked well in hand throughout most of this breeze only receiving some minor encouragement in the final sixteenth. The barn reported she has been very straightforward since joining their barn and came to them in great physical order.
Ein Gedi will be targeting a one-mile turf maiden special weight on Dec. 3rd at Tampa Bay Downs. Entries will be drawn on Nov. 30th.
Night Combat worked a half mile earlier in the week for trainer Chad Brown in Saratoga. The breeze yielded a slow time — 51.70 seconds — and the barn said the 2-year-old filly lacked a willingness to engage in the work.
Chad had his stable veterinarian complete diagnostics on the filly to rule out any physical issues. We sent the results of those radiographs to our resident vet, Dr. Jeffrey Berk, who provided us with a report based on his findings. The left fetlock (ankle), where she had chips removed in the summer, is exhibiting joint inflammation and is displaying the very beginnings of degenerative joint disease. A bone spur has also developed on top of the P1 bone and there is sharpening of the sesamoids proximally.
Dr. Berk explained that even when diagnostics and treatments (in this case surgical removal of the chips and the necessary time off post-surgery) are done in an “excellent and timely manner,” some horses do not respond positively once they are back in serious training. Unfortunately, this is the case with Night Combat. He said it is very unlikely that the progression of the degenerative joint disease would be able to be therapeutically managed nor would time off be the solution because putting her back in training would only bring her to this point again.
Unfortunately, because of this diagnosis, Dr. Berk doesn’t believe the filly will be able to withstand the rigors of training and racing and he has recommended that she be retired. Based on his recommendation, our team and our partners, Saratoga Seven, have sent Night Combat to Silver Springs Farm in Lexington, Ky. where will be placed on paddock turnout.
The current plan is to enter Night Combat in Keeneland’s January sale as a broodmare prospect. Of course, our team is disappointed by this turn of events and know you are too, but we believe beyond a doubt that this is the right direction to take with the filly.
Ein Gedi will be making her much-anticipated debut on Thursday, September 22nd in the first race at Belmont at the Big A. The six-furlong turf Maiden Special Weight drew a field of 10 juvenile fillies (as well as four also-eligibles), with Ein Gedi drawing post seven. She will be ridden by Manny Franco. Post time is 2:05 p.m. ET. If you are interested in joining us for the day at Aqueduct, please click here to enter the paddock lottery.
Night Combat is progressing nicely at In Front Training while galloping daily. Mike Schrader commended Dr. Patty Hogan on the job she does keeping horses fit during their time off, as they have no trouble getting back in to a training routine. We will follow up later in the week to establish more of a timeline as to when Night Combat may return to Chad Brown’s barn.
Ein Gedi was set to breeze on the main track yesterday morning at Saratoga when an incident occurred (not related to her), forcing her to leave the track and hopefully work over the Oklahoma training track when it opened at 9:30. When Ein Gedi returned back to trainer Chad Brown’s barn, Chad explained that the 2-year-old filly began to show signs of colic. Chad believes the anticipation of breezing, the traffic of the main track at the time, and then not breezing stressed Ein Gedi out enough to cause her to show signs of colic. Chad had his vet come and treat Ein Gedi immediately and was happy to report that she had settled down and returned to her stall. Unfortunately, her breeze will be delayed for at least the next few days before Chad is sure that Ein Gedi is ready to return. Additionally, we are happy to report that Ein Gedi returned to the track this morning for a routine gallop, which Chad said he saw nothing wrong. We will follow up in the next few days once her breeze has been scheduled.
We reported last week that Three Jewels would be picking up a gallop this week, however, the Silver Springs team felt it was best to push it back a week due to him being such a heavy horse. An extra week of jogging will help him shed a few pounds before picking up the pace.
Ein Gedi galloped about a 1 ¼ miles this morning just after the first break on the Oklahoma track in Saratoga. Chad Brown said he is very pleased with how quickly Ein Gedi jumped back into training after missing almost a week due to the fever she was fighting and has been happy with her latest two works, including her half-mile move on the dirt on Aug. 27 in which she covered the distance in 50.16 seconds. Chad also added that she is close to a race and is most likely to run on September 22nd at Aqueduct in a $95,000 Maiden Special Weight at six furlongs on the grass.
Three Jewels has been progressing well at Silver Springs Farm and finished his last week of jogging yesterday. As Three Jewels looks to take the next steps in his training, he will begin to pick up to a gallop starting tomorrow.
Unfortunately in racing plans can turn on a dime. As we reported earlier this morning trainer Chad Brown was planning on entering Ein Gedi for her career debut on August 4th. However, just around entry time Chad’s staff noted the inflammation in Ein Gedi’s ankle had returned. While not uncommon with superficial cuts, it will postpone a scheduled breeze tomorrow as well as Ein Gedi’s career debut. We don’t expect this to take much time to resolve and will begin looking for another race for Ein Gedi’s debut once it’s cleared up.