UPDATE FROM OHIO

Its been a while since Ive written though I have been working with the horses. Beauty, when pushed, came up with a hot tendon…not bowed but if I were to continue putting pressure, I think it would. She hadnt shown much speed and I found a good home for her. After all the work it was clear she would nt hold up to the rigors of racing!
Prediction continued galloping and going to track weekly. At first she bore to the outside and I had to send her with a pony on the outside of her to hold her in.
Secret was training well though we again always had to send a pony with her to go to track. She would argue and fight the rider…her nature was contrary. She did useful works and was ready to look for a race. She must have heard me say lets look for a race since she promptly put her leg through the fence and was out for months.
It seems she always finds a way to foil me! Eventually we got her going and I loaded them both up and headed to Ohio.
The trip went well and horses arrived safely. Big problem at the track was Secret. She went ballistic everytime we took Prediction out to track. She would kick the wall and carry on and damage her shoes! To correct the shoes we needed to sedate her…what a difficult filly! She would work well when against other horses and was very hesitant to run when sent alone..(not easy to always find company.) I put her in a race and she was competitive for about half the race. My plan was to continue using races to get her comfortable until she found her spot. She was getting better at the track and she was not a good candidate for shipping in and living at the farm. She was very thin skinned. She was never off her feed and ate hay like a horse.
My friend in Presquisle had an empty stall and because of the hassle everytime I tried to train Prediction, I thought she would do well there…where she didnt need back shoes and might really like that surface. I took her up and left her…she seemed to be okay for a short time and then became ill. It remains to be seem how she will fair…she has not adapted well to her new site. Im waiting to hear and will pick her up if it doesnt work out!

We have been to the track every Sunday and there have been improvements. Beauty breezed a mile yesterday and clocker got her in middle of breeze …five furlongs in 1:04 and change…she was pretty consistent the whole way. With that breeze, I finally put on shoes and will put a jockey on her next sunday and break form gates and look for a race. I had turf shoes put on and that might help her even on the dirt for the breeze.
Prediction went with blinkers for the first time and seemed to be a little easier to handle. Rider feels she hasn't "awaken" up to her speed yet but I think we keep going to track on weekends and gallop at farm in between…she is young and big…time will tell.
You can see snippets of horses on my Facebook page…Janet Delcastillo

Catching up with horses

Just letting you know we have been going to track once a week with Prediction and Beauty. That darn Secret has managed to twist her hock after being almost recovered from laceration a month ago. I think she heard me say that we were ready to go back to track so night before she again twisted ? maybe her hock. In any case she is again lame. I am continuing with antibiotics and am hoping that there is no infection.
So with Secret on the bench, we are looking to start Beauty first as she is training well. She shows no speed and our plan is to try her on the grass in first race. She might be better on grass and Florida has restrictions as to who can run on grass. (Maidens 16 to 25 k). So if I start on dirt cheaper she won't be eligible.
Prediction is hard headed and difficult to guide when on track…maybe just insecure..so we send her with pony and do easy gallop until she is comfortable. We go at least two miles and then go to gates.
Patience is a virtue! The filly is large and may need time to grow into herself. She is only three.

We went to Tampa Bay Downs today with Beauty, the now four year old filly and Prediction, the now three year old. Beauty got her gate card last week but shows no speed. My plan is to gallop her an easy mile and in the second mile let her breeze out to full speed down the lane. She did that today and we will escalate the breezes until she becomes more fit in that second mile. I think three or four trips and then we look for a mile on the turf. We can hope that the turf might move her up a little and we want her fit enough to try the mile in her first race. If she showed any early speed I would approach this differently and use shorter dirt races but she seems to need distance and if we try dirt under 25k we will not be eligible for turf races. So we can try to see how she does on turf before dropping her in price on the dirt. That is a problem we all have here in Florida. Other tracks allow horses better chances to try turf even though they may have started in cheaper dirt races.

Since Prediction was all over the track and hard to guide in last trip (tongue was over bit), we tried different bit and dropped noseband on farm and planned to also add a tongue tie at track. She has not been a problem to handle at the farm and has been controllable  but was a different animal at track. I don't want her getting bad habits and found a rider willing to work with me at track. He will take time to let her figure it out. Today she galloped two miles very easy with pony at side and then went to gates where she waited and watched activity until her turn to be walked through the gates various times. Once done she then galloped another easy mile and came off track cool and collected. She was on track more than half an hour and was not rushed.

We will follow the development of all the fillies…you will see how much time it may take to get the horse to the races soundly!
Next week Secret, the trouble maker, should be ready to go back to the track. She will be ridden a few times on farm and then back to the track!

More about Secret

Since Secret heard me talking about looking for a race, she immediately injured herself! Today she is doing "Physical Therapy"…walking for an hour to keep hock lose and healing. She won't go to track this sunday but probably will next week!
Well take Beauty and Prediction to do long gallops. I think Beauty has gate card so it is just making sure she is fit enough to try a mile on the turf in first race...

A NEW UPDATE FOR 2015!

Susie is on the fillies. It is now january of 2015! The fillies have been going to the track to learn the routine. Secret went with me to Ohio this summer and was ready to run when she managed to tear herself up in the trailer. She is truly a difficult child! I never got her going in Ohio as she needed to heal from tearing her hind leg and lacerating it to tendon. Fortunately she has recovered well. Beauty, the Indian Ocean filly, was turned out for the summer to grow. She is now breezing at Tampa but shows no speed so we will aim for training her for distance, with hopes that she can stay. We plan to try her on turf when she is ready…that may make a difference.
It's frustrating that we have to do the ground work and foundation before we know if we have a real runner but that is typical of this business. We can at least try to keep them sound in the process of training.