Page 8 - June 2009 The Game

8 The Game, June 2009
A Tribute To Blue Exit
I rst heard about Blue Exit shortly after he arrived at trainer Jerry Hollendorfer’s Southern California stable from France in the fall of 2008. My friend, who was an exercise rider for Hollendorfer, told me about how much she and everyone else liked Blue Exit. He had come
Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
Bay Tot--Survivor
Though my home base was Suffolk Downs, my dance with Narragansett wasn’t over. I rode horses there for Wayne and Marie Lewis and for Juan Lescay. My favourite mount for Juan was Tim B Quiet who had set the track record for a mile and seventy yards and now ran for $2000 claiming.
One evening I was scheduled to ride a mare named
Bay Tot for the Lewises. I drove to Rhode Island full of con dence, singing along with Anne Murray on the car radio. I was having so much fun that I didn’t realize I’d missed my turnoff until I saw the sign that said, ‘Welcome to Connecticut’. I had forgotten that Rhode Island is the smallest state in the US.
I was ten minutes late for the jocks’ room but no one noticed because the women’s quarters were in a small trailer behind the saddling paddock. Our silks would be dropped from the window of the jockeys’ room one ight up and we had to catch them.
My rst mount for the night was Bay Tot in the second race. This was years before the Equicizer (inventor Frank Lovato was still riding real racehorses) and I did my stretches and running on the spot within the con nes of the tiny trailer. When I came out to the saddling paddock, a lly was creating havoc, dragging her trainer and groom across the paddock. Her name was Bunny’s Policy.
“Something’s going on with that horse,” Wayne warned me. “Stay far away from her.”
On Form, I had more speed and endurance than the wild lly. After Wayne’s ominous words, I was glad that she was not my mount—she was Tony Ricci’s problem. My mare warmed up beautifully and when I entered the starting gate, I could taste victory. The latches opened and we broke fast and clean. One horse from the outside came up beside me and we headed to the rail. Suddenly, a horse ew by on the inside and I saw Bunny’s Policy open up many lengths.
Fine, I thought, she won’t last. I tucked in on the rail
and bided my time. Bay Tot was moving comfortably and I’d have lots left for the stretch run. Tony was a good ve lengths in front, his horse running full speed and I tried to predict if she would stay on the rail or drift out. At such high speed, it was likely she would drift out on the turn and I could slip through on the inside.
Suddenly, my well planned race turned into a nightmare. One moment, Bunny’s Policy was going full speed and the next, she went down. Horse and rider were on the ground, the horse rolling directly in front of me. In ve lengths, the equivalent of one second, I checked out all my possible escape routes. The jockey beside me was standing up in
his stirrups as a horse galloped up on the outside of him
and blocked both of us from retreat. I looked to the inside. Going over the rail was not an option. I had to jump over the fallen horse.
I released my hold on the reins and let them slip through my hands. I knew a horse needed freedom in their head
and neck to balance over a jump and I hoped my mare’s natural instinct for survival would kick in. Bay Tot gathered her hind quarters beneath her and made a leap worthy of a Grand National steeplechaser. We sailed high in the air and
I reached forward with her effort. Her front end began to descend and for an instant, I thought we were clear. I let out a breath of relief and started to relax, waiting for all four feet to touch the ground so we could continue our journey.
At that precise moment, Bay Tot’s front legs tangled with the horse’s legs underneath us and she cartwheeled. For a moment, I was oating and didn’t know what was up or down. I saw the ground coming up to meet me
Continued Next Page
A Head at the Wire
A Series of Real Life Stories by Paddy Head
to the U.S. as a three-year-old, brought by his owners, Canadians Jim and Susan Hill, Dick Bonnycastle and Warren Byrne.
This is when I really became a fan of the horse. I followed him for a couple hours for three days, for his nal timed workout, afternoon schooling, and a 4:45 a.m. gallop the day before the race.
Already at this point Blue Exit was being called “the next Heatseeker,” in reference to the horse Hollendorfer trained to win the 2008 Santa Anita Handicap – the major race for horses aged four
With the opportunity to photograph Blue Exit in this setting, I captured pictures I never before had the chance to take. I couldn’t have asked for a better subject – a magni cent equine specimen that did not mind having a strange human standing around taking photos.
I didn’t miss much. He nished second-to-last.
I felt butter ies in my stomach before the race, as I always do before the start of the Big ‘Cap. Blue loaded without a single moment of hesitation. Listed at 12-1 in the morning line, he dropped to 6-1 by post time because of his good looks.
In his next race, three months later, they slapped on some blinkers and slapped some sense into him, and he easily won an allowance race at Santa Anita.
The crowd, as in past years, let out a roar as the gates broke open. Jockey Robbie Albarado placed Blue in a perfect mid-pack position along the rail. As they approached the far turn, Blue Exit started to slowly gain on the leaders with a con dent stride. I was focused on his orange #7 saddlecloth on the in eld big screen.
Now it’s getting interesting.
One morning at Santa Anita, assistant trainer Dan Ward called me over to tell me I better watch out for “Blue.” I asked if a light bulb had gone off in that win. Ward emphatically nodded and told me he’d win the Strub Stakes, in which he was to be entered.
As the eld entered the third turn, I saw his head bob. Then again. And again. He had broken down, fracturing his right front cannon bone and two sesamoids. His right front leg was fractured with one bad step.
Now I was excited. It’s always gripping to hear about a horse and then watch it ful ll its connections’ highest hopes.
Is this really happening, I thought to myself?
Ward said I could go see Blue Exit whenever I wanted, since he was easy to nd in the rst stall at the barn entrance.
I have seen breakdowns before, on TV and in person. The race always becomes a blur after it happens. This one was different. It was worse. I had never been this emotionally attached to a horse that broke down.
Never having owned a horse of my own, I’m not one to turn down the opportunity to spend a few minutes around my favourite animals.
Dazed and aimless, tears lling my eyes, I meandered back to the barn, where I overheard Blue’s fate. He was gone, humanely destroyed. I didn’t expect any differently, judging by how quickly he had stopped.
I stood outside the horse’s stall and he seemed to have an average personality – not a savage, but not a fall-asleep-on-your-shoulder type, either. He constantly tried nipping, but let me rub his ears and pat his neck.
How could the story end this way?
In the Strub, Blue Exit arguably ran the best race of any horse in the eld. He was closing on the winner, Cowboy Cal, after a troubled stretch run through tiring horses. After the race, Ward simply said with af rmation, “The next race is longer.”
Blue Exit was getting better and better. He was a beautiful and talented horse.
That next race he spoke of was the Santa Anita Handicap – the Big ‘Cap – which has a $1 million purse and is 11⁄4 miles in distance.
In a perfect world, no horse would ever get injured. In the real world, accidents happen in many different ways. Unfortunately with the equine anatomy, one misstep can spell disaster.
As for my excitement, well, it was hardly containable. I gured Blue Exit had a great chance to win because he was getting better and better.
Blue Exit’s fatal racing injury was the second this year on Santa Anita’s Pro-Ride track. That is a positive statistic.
At the same time, I had to pick a topic for a nal project in one of my journalism classes at Cal Poly Pomona University. The assignment was a photo essay and I wanted a topic on horse racing.
Blue Exit nished with four wins in nine career starts and earnings of $178,178.
I received permission from Ward to follow
Marcie Heacox is a horse racing enthusiast majoring in journalism at Cal Poly Pomona University in California.
and up at Santa Anita and, on a personal level, my favourite race of the year.
On the morning of race day, I went back to take photos of the detention sign outside of Blue Exit’s stall and his owners came in to visit. This was a great photo op as they petted and took photos of their horse and he seemed to revel in the attention. I told one owner the site where my photos could be found online and wished the group good luck as I left.
by Marcie Heacox
Blue Exit in his nal week of preparation for the Big ‘Cap.
Blue Exit in the Paddock at Santa Anita
Blue Exit was mal-behaved in the paddock, but it was not expected. He was schooled each day of the preceding week, but to no avail. He was having no part of the stop-and-go of the paddock, but once he stepped on to the track he became calm and con dent.
to expectations. Then he was entered in the Oak Tree Derby, but I didn’t get much of a chance to see him race in person because it was on the very crowded Breeders’ Cup day.
And it made me con dent, too.
Blue Exit was strong, smart, and big.
That morning, one horse had reportedly broke down at the end of its workout and three horses broke loose on the tracks and tore through the barn area during my time there.
I added Blue Exit to my virtual stable
and watched
live video of his U.S. debut from home on my computer. He ran fourth against a classy allowance eld, but it wasn’t quite up
There just seemed to be an odd feeling in the air.
Who knows what might have been with him? I’ll always wonder that.
Unfortunately, it’s two horses too many.
Rest in peace, beautiful Blue.
The Game JUNE 2009.indd 8
5/26/09 12:35:01 AM