Page 14 - The Game July 2006

14 The Game, July 2006 Your Thoroughbred Racing Community Newspaper
PETER’S WOODBINE MEMORIES - CONTINUED FROM PAGE 12 ....(now, of course with Global TV) and John Saunders, (who
has struck it rich with ESPN). I got Wells to call a race of the three of us attacking the buffet.
“They’re at the roast!” bellowed Wells, more than happy to have some fun at his own expense,
“They’re off! It’s a good start with Tatti reaching for a plate, while Saunders and Gross grab some bread. Now Gross takes the lead at the salad, but Tatti is right alongside with some chicken and vegetables. Saunders is between rivals, with a thick slice of roast beef’.”
It’s a hilarious piece of tape. You’ll have to believe me. I don’t think there’s a copy of it around.
I do wish I could have completed a personal trilogy which I would have called the Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but, sadly, I only accomplished two parts of this personal triactor:
The Good:
I actually won a harness race at Woodbine. Author George Plimpton was helping the North American Harness Marketing Association by staging media races at the bigger tracks. On a muddy track, with all the contestants in exercise bikes, I had a huge advantage - I weighed at least 100 pounds less than each of the other celebrity drivers, Plimpton, wrestler Angelo Mosca and hockey stars Eddie Shack and John Ferguson .
I won by two lengths urged on by the sound of 10,000 screaming racing fans ecstatically chanting my name at the wire (well that’s how I tell the story).
The Bad:
Woodbine eventually abandoned the celebrity driving idea after the year five or six of us wandered all over the backstretch like a pack of drunken sailors. In recent years, the track has asked us to embarrass ourselves by guest-calling a race.
In June 2000, I was doing quite well with the first race on the
Thursday before the Queen’s Plate. I picked out every horse in order, tossed in a few funny lines and as the 3-5 favourite Winoneforthezipper started to pull away in the stretch, I screamed with total confidence that “Winoneforthezipper and Patrick Husbands are going to win it easily.” However those words were barely out of my throat when, Roseanna’s Intention the longest price on the board came flying up the inside. Flustered, I tried to improvise.
“Winoneforthezipper will win it by A DIMINISHING NECK!” I announced, except I was wrong. The 25-1 shot ridden by Terri McTurner won by a nose and I had just told every person in attendance that the favourite had won. I remember bolting down the elevator and straight to the parking lot hoping no one would recognize me and cause me harm.
The Ugly:
I swear to you I really would have done it. In 2000, I turned 50 and I approached the track with an irresistible promotion. I would ride a thoroughbred against retired super jockey Sandy Hawley. We would draw a huge crowd for such a daring stunt. Maybe we could incorporate a charity angle. Hawley, perhaps not believing I was serious, played along, suggesting how he would use his horse and substantial skills to protect and advise me during the race.
Of course, it never happened. When Woodbine President David Willmot heard about it, he said to me, “Can you imagine the positive exposure we would get if a 50 year-old reporter broke his neck for a publicity stunt?”
Mr. Willmot was fearful that I would fall off the horse. He didn’t like the idea of a completely inexperienced, unlicensed person trying something so dangerous. His fears, of course were completely unfounded.
One way or another, I’ve been on the ponies for 40 years.
POWER LUNCH FOR YOUR HORSES
By Ginger Rich, Ph.D. with Bonnie Kreitler
Think of the possibilities if your horses went to the starting gate packing roughly 25 percent more energy than their race rivals. That’s the caloric energy edge that hulless oats have over conventional hulled oats. Overseas, trainers at tracks in Japan, England and Dubai long ago discovered the go power in this hulless wonder feed. Canadian oat growers are betting that North American trainers are going to like them too.
Conventional oats have a kernel or groat covered by a thin skin which is the source of oat bran. Conventional oats are usually rolled (“crimped”) to crack the fibrous hulls enclosing the bran-enveloped groats. This makes the oats more readily digestible but adds to their cost.
Hulless oats need no crimping because their extremely loose hulls fall away from the kernels during harvesting and stay behind in the field. You might say they are self-milling. The oats arrive at the grain elevator or feed mill as plump, ready-to- eat kernels. But oat breeders have created
more than a hulless kernel that reduces the number of steps from field to stable and lowers processing costs. They’ve also managed to pack more protein, more fat, a better balance of amino acids, more antioxidants and more phosphorous into hulless oats. It’s their nutritional profile that makes hulless oats the breakfast of champions.
FAT CITY
Indigestible hulls make up as much as 25 to 30 percent of the weight of conventional oats. Hulless oats are 95 percent digestible. With 25 to 30 percent more calories per pound than conventional oats a serving of hulless oats constitutes a real power lunch for racehorses.
A high percentage of that extra food energy in hulless oats comes from the oil or fat in its kernels. Fat provides 2-1/4 to 3 times more digestible energy than an equal weight of cereal grain. Hulless oats currently on the market contain 7 to 9 percent fat compared to conven- tional oats with only 4 to 5 percent fat. There are hulless oat varieties still undergoing field tests that contain 9 to 12 percent fat. Trainers already supplementing their horses‚ diets with fat sources such as liquid vegetable oil often find oils messy to feed. They can also affect feed palatability, especially as they approach about the 10 percent level. Hulless oats offer an alternate way to add fat to a horse’s diet using a time-tested feed source horses love.
CONTINUED PAGE 24 - SEE HULLESS OATS
Fuel Your Horse’s
POTENTIAL
“You have to put first-rate feed in front of horses to bring them up to their full potential. All natural Equavena hulless oats are bred to be better. You can see the quality in these firm, meaty, easy to digest oats. And Equavena’s high oil content not only helps horses stay in good flesh but also gives them what every jockey hopes for—that critical bit of stored energy to call on as you round the last turn.”
Horseman and seven times Hall of Fame jockey Ron Turcotte who rode Secretariat into Triple Crown history knows what it takes to make a winner.
“Feed the Oats Bred to Give a Winning Edge”
For detailed feeding information and a list of distributors, contact Semican at 866-SEMICAN (866-736-4226) or go online at www.equavena.com