This may not be the most humorous blog I have ever written but it could be one of the more informative (which, admittedly, is a very low bar)
Pre-race drama
I got a call after the 2nd race from Peter. Sam Ewing, who was due to ride him, had broken his leg in the first race and we needed to pick another jockey. There were a couple of very good options, but Peter left it with me. I chose Darragh O’Keeffe who had won on him at Punchestown in 2021. What I didn’t know is that Darragh had been the first to text Peter to let him know he was interested. Better a volunteer, eh?
The race
I was kicking myself after the first hurdle when he jumped higher than he went forward; the reason being that he had never seen one of the One Fit hurdles in his life before. I had seen them listed in the Program book and omitted to mention to Peter; not that it would have made much difference as he doesn’t have any at home and there aren’t any on the Curragh to school over. The rest of the race was pretty predictable: he kept close tabs on Cash Back, went upsides three out and ran on strongly from the last to win by 4 lengths. He didn’t win as easily as we actually thought he might, but Darragh O’Keefe said that every time he asked, he came back on the bridle, and he had loads left. We had our photos taken, received the trophy and we went for a celebratory glass of champagne. All was good.
Later
I was just getting into my car for the now enjoyable 100 mile drive back to Kildare when Peter called to say the course vets had given him a painkiller as he was sore on his near hind. This had all happened after he walked out of the paddock as sound as a pound. “It may be nothing but we will know more when he gets home”
Over dinner, Peter got a video of him coming off the horsebox and, while certainly sore, he seemed to warm up a little after a few steps. More would be known in the morning.
Tuesday morning
Peter called and said that he was much more sore than the previous night and that Rachel, his vet, would be coming out around lunchtime. She actually got there about the same time as me and Peter was on the gallops so we quickly introduced ourselves. I had spoken to Rachel before when he had the small fracture in his pelvic area and, subsequently, after he had been scanned on his way to recovery. I knew Rachel erred on the conservative side but, even so, was a little taken aback when she asked me if he was back in full exercise yet. I said that he had actually run and won yesterday but, somehow, omitted to say this was his third run in just over four weeks. She x-rayed the area and then asked me to go into the stable to look at the x-ray. As you can see, you don’t have to be a vet with multiple years of training to see the break. “He’s broken his leg” she said and we need to decide quickly what to do, adding that it was unrelated to his previous injury and that he had been extremely unlucky. “What are the choices?” and she said either to put him down or to operate with a 50:50 chance of recovery. At this point, Ber came in, got caught up. For me, there was only one choice, but I did need to check on one thing: “even if he can’t race, will he be able to enjoy a retirement” Rachel said that would be very likely.
Peter had come in by now and, for him, it was an easy decision: to operate. For me, it was equally easy, so that’s what we agreed, and the horse was taken away and the operation took place within two hours of the diagnosis (including travel time). As I pointed out to Ian, one of my great friends in the UK, who has just had his knee replacement having waited over two years, this is not the UK NHS!
Later on Tuesday
Well, before we get there. The other issue on Tuesday, albeit of no comparison, was that Freedom to Dream appeared to have the wrong ballot number for his intended race at Wexford on Friday. It was clear to me that he should be 17 of the 20 and not 20. I spoke to HRI and, apparently, the criteria for elimination on their own website had transposed two categories and that they were right and I was also right (but, apparently, wrong to trust their website) He would be the last one in the race.
[The denouement of this particular episode did not come until Wednesday morning when, wouldn’t you just know it, the three horses I thought would be behind us, all got declared and ended up as the three reserves. Based on the website criteria, we would have been 1st reserve and now we are not even a reserve and therefore cannot run. You all know that one horse will come out and one of the reserves will run. That is the best bet of the week!]
Future plans are already underway – watch this space!
Back to Suprise Package: The operation went very well and Peter forwarded the x-ray taken immediately afterwards. Once again, I am no expert, but this looked a really good job by the vets at Troytown who I am indebted to (a situation that will formally continue until I pay the bill and, informally, for a long time afterwards). As you can see, the screws were above the ligaments and cartilage (which are clean) and that is a very good outcome.
Wednesday morning
Peter was feeling confident that the horse would come back and be able to race. Rachel had indicated it would be a year if he were able to come back at all. Peter, who I think is brilliant in his knowledge and understanding of horses, is adamant that it will either be 6-7 months off the track or he won’t be able to race at all; and that we will know the answer to that in the next 10 weeks after his box rest and when we can see how the bone has reset.
Rachel was also feeling good and had gone to take a look at him and sent this video along; reactions to this video were interesting. Peter and I were delighted at the movement; Kim said to get him off his feet and lying down and Ian was consumed by jealousy and waved his crutches around in frustration!
It's been a funny few days and, while I am very disappointed that Freedom to Dream isn’t running, I am still going to go down to Wexford as it gives me the chance to do something very important to me: catch up with Bay of Freedom. He is now 14 years-old and is loving life as a companion horse to mares and foals down near Enniscorthy. He is called Barney now and, despite that disrespect, is enjoying his life. This time next year I will either have one racehorse and two retired ones, or two racehorses and Bay of Freedom and, you know what, it will be great either way. (Preference for the latter though, if I’m honest)
I do want to thank the very many people who reached out with messages of support since this all happened; from friends, members of various racing forums and x- friends ( maybe, Twitter friends sounds better?) Racing is a great sport filled with some great people.
Finally, I am out with Peter and Ber tonight, so I had better post this blog before we meet as I’ll likely completely forget I ever wrote it otherwise.