The Eyes Tell the Story
of I'll Have Another's Pain...
This should have been a happy time when the Kentucky Derby and Preakness
winner, I'll Have Another would have earned his Triple Crown in Elmont,
New York at Belmont race track. Doug O'Neill should now be planning
a new campaign of races for a horse who LOVES to race.
In place of that crown the horse is being shipped off to faraway Northern
Japan to new owners who will use I'll Have Another for stud duty.
Many in the racing world, including myself, were not satisfied with
the reason given for I'll Have Another's withdrawal from the Belmont.
His trainer, Doug O'Neill, who is in the spotlight and fighting a suspension
resulting from 2010 when a horse Doug O'Neill was training had
a high CO2 level in a post race test. It was first suspected that
the horse had been "milkshaked" as a milkshake would cause high CO2
levels.
At the time, the CHRB (California Horse Racing Board) did not find wrong
doing on the part of Doug O'Neill. It seems that when I'll Have
Another was entered and close to winning the coveted triple crown, the
charges reappeared and news of a coming 45 day suspension hit the wire.
I was not convinced when Doug O'Neill claimed he was withdrawing
I'll Have Another due to possible beginning tendonitis. Normally,
with a caliber of horse like I'll Have Another the horse gets a vacation
and would come back to racing in the Fall, or even for a Spring 2013
debut.
It is hard to believe that a horse like I'll Have Another would be retired
from racing and sent far across the sea to Japan.
I was quite upset when I read the news reports that stated owners Paul
and Zillah Reddam decided to send I'll Have Another to stud duty in
Japan. The breeding farm (factory for equine) was located on the
northern Japan island of Haikkaido. That jogged my memory and
thoughts of another Kentucky Derby winner and Breeders Cup winner
came to mind. Ferdinand was his name. He won the 1986 Kentucky
Derby and was the highest money earner of the day. After being
unsuccessful at stud i.e. his progeny not living up to expectation,
in 2002 he was sent to slaughter.
Please read the article about the handsome chestnut colt and son of
Najinsky II.
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/17051/death-of-a-derby-winner-slaughterhouse-likely-fate-for-ferdinand
I think a lot of racing fans are asking themselves the question "Could
I'll Have Another end up like Ferdinand?"
The reason Paul Reddam gave for choosing Japan for I'll Have Another's
new career was THE MONEY! He felt that US breeders did not offer
enough money. Come on Mr. Reddam, did you get enough
money from the millions of dollars in purse money from the Derby and
Preakness alone? Are you so calloused that you would send this
faithful and wonderful horse to a country that is englufed in radiation
from the still leaking reactor in NORTHERN JAPAN at Fukushima?
If you are so concerned with the money, and have to choose Japan, why
not at the very least, sign a buy back clause. Understandably,
racing fans, including myself, are very nervous about I'll Have Another
heading for Japan in August.
I keep praying that a knight in shinning armour will come forth with
enough money to buy I'll Have Another back from the Haikkaido breeders.
For information on Ferdinand, please read the article below.
Thank you,
Patricia Doyle
http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/17051/
death-of-a-derby-winner-slaughterhouse-likely-fate-for-ferdinand
Death of a Derby Winner: Slaughterhouse Likely Fate for Ferdinand
By Ray Paulick
Ferdinand, the 1986 Kentucky Derby winner who went on to capture the
following year's Horse of the Year title with a dramatic victory over
1987 Derby hero Alysheba in the Breeders' Cup Classic, is dead. The
Blood-Horse has learned the big chestnut son of Nijinsky II died sometime
in 2002, most likely in a slaughterhouse in Japan, where his career
at stud was unsuccessful.
Reporter Barbara Bayer, as detailed in an exclusive story in the July
26 issue of The Blood-Horse, attempted to learn of Ferdinand's whereabouts
after a member of the Howard Keck family that owned and bred the horse
inquired about having him returned to the United States, where he began
his career at stud. As a racehorse, Ferdinand won eight of 29 starts
and earned $3,777,978, retiring as what was then the fifth leading money
winner of all time. His victory in the Kentucky Derby gave trainer Charlie
Whittingham his first success in that classic, and it was the final
career Derby win for jockey Bill Shoemaker.
Ferdinand was retired to stud in 1989 at Claiborne Farm near Paris,
Ky., where he was foaled. His initial stud fee was $30,000 live foal,
but he achieved little success as a stallion from his first few crops
of runners.
Sold to Japan's JS Company in the fall of 1994 at a time when Japanese
breeding farms were aggressively pursuing American and European breeding
stock, Ferdinand spent six breeding seasons at Arrow Stud on the northern
island of Hokkaido, from 1995-2000. Initially popular with local breeders
(he was mated to 77 mares his first year), Ferdinand was bred to just
10 mares in his final year at Arrow, and his owners opted to get rid
of him.
After efforts by the farm staff to place Ferdinand with a riding club
failed, he passed into the hands of a Monbetsu, Japan, horse dealer
named Yoshikazu Watanabe and left the farm Feb. 3, 2001. No attempt
was made to contact either the Keck family or Claiborne Farm.
Bayer at first was told by Watanabe that Ferdinand had been "given to
a friend." When she asked for more information, she was told Ferdinand
"was gelded and I think he's at a riding club far away from here." In
fact, records showed Ferdinand was bred to six mares in 2001 and then
two in 2002. He spent a period of time at Goshima Farm near Niikappu,
where a former handler at Arrow Stud had seen him.
Finally, when Bayer told Watanabe she wanted to see Ferdinand, the story
changed yet again. "Actually, he isn't around anymore," she was told.
"He was disposed of late last year." Ferdinand's registration in Japan
was annulled Sept. 1, 2002, Bayer learned.
"In Japan, the term 'disposed of' is used to mean slaughtered," Bayer
wrote in The Blood-Horse. "No one can say for sure when and where Ferdinand
met his end, but it would seem clear he met it in a slaughterhouse."
"Unfortunately, to those well-versed in the realities beyond the glitter
and glory of the racetrack, it comes as no surprise," Bayer wrote. "Ferdinand's
story is the story of nearly every imported stallion in Japan at that
point in time when the figures no longer weigh in his favor. In a country
where racing is kept booming by the world's highest purses and astronomical
betting revenues, Ferdinand's fate is not the exception. It is the rule."
"That's just disgusting," said Dell Hancock, whose family operates Claiborne
Farm, upon hearing the news of Ferdinand's likely fate. "It's so sad,
but there is nothing anyone can do now except support John Hettinger's
efforts to stop the slaughter of Thoroughbreds in this country. That
wouldn't change anything in Japan...to have this happen to a Derby winner
is just terrible."
While the Japanese are among the societies that consume horse meat,
it is more likely a slaughtered Thoroughbred would be used for pet food,
since the meat consumed by humans is a certain breed of horse raised
specifically for that purpose. The slaughter of no longer useful imported
breeding stock and many domestic Japanese Thoroughbreds is not uncommon.
Shortages of land and the high cost of maintaining a pensioned horse
are reasons slaughter is considered an alternate. As in the U.S., where
slaughter is also an option available for horse owners, a number of
organizations are attempting to provide homes for retired and pensioned
racehorses, stallions, and mares. The Japan Racing Association funds
one program that currently benefits 90 horses.
Among the people Bayer met and spoke with while trying to learn of Ferdinand's
fate was Toshiharu Kaibazawa, who worked as a stallion groom at Arrow
Stud during the horse's years there. He called the former champion "the
gentlest horse you could imagine. He'd come over when I called to him
in the pasture. And anyone could have led him with just a halter on
him. ... He'd come over to me and press his head up against me. He was
so sweet."
"I want to get angry about what happened to him," Kaibazawa added. "It's
just heartless, too heartless."
Read more on BloodHorse.com: http://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/17051/death-of-a-derby-winner-slaughterhouse-likely-fate-for-ferdinand#ixzz1zhSHLr64
Patricia A. Doyle DVM, PhD Bus Admin, Tropical Agricultural Economics
Univ of West Indies Please visit my "Emerging Diseases" message board
at:
http://www.emergingdisease.org/phpbb/index.php
Also my new website: http://drpdoyle.tripod.com/
Zhan le Devlesa tai sastimasa Go with God and in Good Health
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