Racebrook Stables

I don't think there's a chance that you'll get anywhere near 2-1 on Journalism. I get the feeling that there's a fairly solid chance that he dusts the field tomorrow.

@SaratogaGoose @ry_metzger @TommyKaytheDJ 👏 (i can feel your)

@ry_metzger @TommyKaytheDJ What is their biggest hit? As a high roller with YouTube Premium I can watch commercial free.

Vertical Horizon and Fitz And The Tantrums for Belmont on Broadway 2026

This dumbass at Keeneland doesn’t get it. I don’t care how difficult a horse is being while loading. Do not do this on camera no less. And then get shown with your energy drink. Racing doesn’t have a license to do this shit. Optics matter.

@Tinky47flat You talk about the irrelevance of “morning of” and then argue the state as of the Mr Prospector? Seems a little weird.

‡ The Dubious White Abarrio Lawsuit As many are likely already aware, the owners of White Abarrio recently revealed that they have filed a lawsuit in connection with the late scratch of their horse, prior to last year's Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. While I am not a lawyer, I characterize the suit as being dubious because I believe that it is fundamentally flawed, and for rather obvious reasons. I wrote in-depth on the related complaints, lodged publicly by the owners soon after the Breeders' Cup, including relevant and supporting video clips. Those who are interested in the issue are encouraged to carefully read the post linked below, as it touches on a number of important aspects. x.com/Tinky47flat/st… In this post, I will outline the reasons why the arguments presented in the lawsuit appear to have very shaky foundations. Below is an excerpt from Point 1, taken directly from the lawsuit. You can read the full lawsuit through the link in the embedded tweet. Note that all bold emphases are mine: But just minutes before the start, as White Abarrio was warming up in the post parade, Defendants decided to “late scratch” White Abarrio because of his “choppy” gait, which they described as “unsound in the LF,” barring him from competing for a share of the $1 million purse I have yet to see any evidence produced by WB's owners that contradicts the claims made by the regulatory vets. They (the owners) have gone to great lengths to argue that the horse was travelling no differently than usual, but to my knowledge, they have not produced any video clips of the horse being inspected by the vet(s) on the track, just before the race. So how could they possibly know that he was moving normally (for him) during those crucial moments? I believe that they are intentionally attempting to conflate the way that he galloped, or cantered in the days leading up to the race, with that particular afternoon at Del Mar. They are doing it for tactical legal purposes, attempting to argue that if he was moving consistently all along, the vets therefore had no basis on which to scratch him at the 11th hour. But anyone who knows a fair bit about horse racing and horse safety, would easily see through that tactic. I say that because it is a simple fact that horses can, and at times do experience changes (in terms of soundness) from one minute to the next, let alone hours or days. It does not matter how White Abarrio was moving in the days leading up to the BC, nor even the morning of the race. Those events were rendered irrelevant if the horse was "off" in his left front just prior to the race, as the vets claimed, and if that was the case, then they obviously made the correct decision. Point 2: Defendants’ conduct was not a mere exercise of reasonable veterinary judgement. It had no rational basis and constituted multiple violations of the regulatory rules and written protocols—including those implemented by the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (“HISA”) Rules, the California Horse Racing Board (“CHRB”) Rules, and Defendants’ own Veterinary and Horsemen’s Guides—that govern how a Breeders’ Cup horse can be scratched. By ignoring those requirements and relying instead on a last‑second, subjective impression No rational basis? It wasn't rational to scratch a horse that presented evidence of perceived unsoundness to a vet/vets who are experts at making such judgments? Relying instead on a last‑second, subjective impression? Every single time that there is a scratch just before a race, it is a result of "last‑second, subjective impressions", as there is no time for anything else! Those who filed the suit might as well have argued that all late scratches should be abolished, on the same basis. Point 3 essentially presses the argument that White Abarrio was moving no differently in training, racing, or during vet exams, than he had previously. But it is easy to demonstrate that he has in fact, moved noticeably differently at different points in his career. For example, consider the video clips in the four links below. Note that the first two were of pre-Breeders' Cup training prior to the contested scratch, and the following two were from earlier in his career. One needn't be a vet, or expert at watching horses move, in order to discern that the horse was moving more fluidly earlier in his career. No experienced horseman or vet would suggest that the first two and second two were the same. Oct. 26th: youtube.com/watch?v=kkY7zC… Oct. 28th: youtube.com/watch?v=g7wYdh… youtube.com/watch?v=LrsIA0… youtube.com/watch?v=n32RUO… The following was excerpted from Points 4 and 5: ...for seven straight days before the race, Defendants’ veterinarian team had inspected, tested, and scanned White Abarrio. They noted his gait. Yet every day they declared him “racing sound.” Nonetheless, on the basis of nothing more than a cursory visual inspection, Defendants ignored and contradicted the substantial and objective medical evidence of White Abarrio’s soundness that Defendants’ veterinarian team had collected before the race, and scratched him because he had the same gait that he had successfully raced with his entire career. Those claims strike me as being easily refuted. The clips above alone, and I am sure that there are others floating around, demonstrate that the horse's gait has, in fact, changed, and to significant degrees, over his career. And again with the "cursory visual inspection" nonsense. It's literally the only way that horses can be judged with a few minutes to post! *** Beyond the weaknesses in the above arguments made by White Abarrio's owners, which are essentially the basis for the lawsuit, consider these additional points: • There is video evidence, consistent with the vet(s)' claim that he was off in his LF, which I included in my original post on the topic. He appears to be "nodding" while escorted off the track by a pony. His head goes down slightly down when he puts pressure on his (sound) right foreleg, and raises slightly up when the pressure is switched to the leg in question. That is a classic "tell" that a horse is "off", and is consistent with a LF issue. And if that asymmetry is discernible on video, while he was carrying no weight, would it be difficult to imagine that the favoring might have been even more obvious with 126lbs on his back, when the BC vets made their decision? • White Abarrio did not work for 52 days after the BC scratch. He was also scratched from the Mr. Prospector Stakes in late December. Does that strike anyone as being consistent with a horse that is asserted to have been sound in early November? • After he finished second to his stable-mate Skippylongstocking in the Pegasus WC at Gulfstream in January, his trainer, Saffie Joseph expressed great emotion, and palpable relief, in a widely circulated post race interview. He spoke about how relieved he was that White Abarrio had completed the race safely, and literally said: "How White Abarrio ran with the preparation that he had...he didn't have preparation to compete like how he just did." So the trainer himself, with what certainly appeared to be emotionally charged candor, admitted both to having had significant concerns about the horse's safety in a race run ~84 days after the BC scratch, and that his preparation for the race was far from ideal. Now why would that be the case with a sound horse that was perfectly normal in early November, as the owners claim? *** Finally, as I have pointed out more than a few times over the past couple of years, owners and trainers of horses entered in big races are highly susceptible to bias. Forced scratches are embarrassing, and complaints are not uncommon. For that reason, such complaints should always be taken with a grain of salt. There is also a growing body of evidence that a significant percentage of the vets' decisions are justified. Of course they are not always correct, and at times likely too cautious, etc. But the statistics clearly suggest that their work is very important, and that they discern issues that their trainers (and certainly owners) may have missed. And they do so under immense pressure, in big races. Unless some shocking, explosive evidence of intentional wrongdoing emerges from this lawsuit, I would expect it to fail. And without such evidence, I would argue that lawsuits of this kind are a blunt, and questionable tool to use in efforts to address the perception amongst owners and trainers that the system is not working well, and needs to be changed.

Very sad. I nurtured one through their last days with this and it was miserable. RIP to a really good one.

@Domsavides I think she emulates her sire quite a bit, particularly around the head.

When I start thinking of names for a foal at 2 weeks old…I know I’m in trouble... What a beautiful filly she is and her momma is just so proud and strong. Little Nyquist filly has some attitude and poise .

The only thing Kernan should be thinking about sending back is that cheapass rug on his head.

@IslesDen I’m wondering how you would articulate his major achievement during the 13 years. I’m not sure it would stand up as outstanding in any way.

Tough reality approaching final few games of the season, Would be nice if Anders Lee can be honored at some capacity, maybe a first star if they can get a win. All things considered, what a run him these last 13 years. #Isles

@stefen_rosner @TheElmonters Nothing looks better to me. Change the captain. Change the culture and the BS decade long "we need to do better"-speak.

Two games. New coach. Same pressure. Some things look better under Pete DeBoer. Some things… don’t. 20 takeaways from the #Isles first two games of the DeBoer Era @TheElmonters ⤵️ theelmonters.com/p/islanders-pe…

@poniesNpucks @stefen_rosner You need both experience and youth. Horvat, Barzal, Schaefer, Pelech and Ritchie are the current-club build arounds...everyone else could conceivably go. But, three years of Pageau, Schenn, Palat and Soucy are what we got.

@stefen_rosner I hope Darche realizes he cannot win with Lee, Cizikas, Pelech Pulock, Mayfield, and Barzal, Sorokin as a group. They’re just not good enough. It’s about building around Schaefer and this core will be too old when the youth is ready in a few years

#Isles fans, what’s on your mind after this shutout loss with the season on life support?

3-0 OTT

End of one #Senators 1 (Greig SH) #Isles 0 Isles up on shots 8-5. After getting 2 PPG against Maple Leafs, Isles look terrible on two PP chances in first period, give up shorthanded goal and get nothing working on second try.

@RubenFanDuelTV Patience. Been there. If you don’t push it, It does have the ability to go all the way away…for years. (Decades!).

Anyone fully recovered from shoulder impingement/bursitis? I haven't lifted for about 2 months, pain nearly gone, but still hurts when I raise my arm from down all the way up 180 degrees Anything else to do besides rest? Being over 30* years old is awful

Dottie Pepper a-ok in my book. Knows @TheMasters as well as anyone. Right a whole lot more than she’s wrong

This war (actually two distinct wars) has ALWAYS been an Israeli land grab. Meanwhile, Americans: Iran, Iran, Iran

@RubenFanDuelTV Not sure I understand why we expect OP to lead in field size with no turf? Thinking there is at least a minor shift toward turf pedigrees...

Foal crop is a zero sum game as long it is stuck in a Positive Feedback Cycle (self-reinforcing) of contraction

This is why we can’t have the Masters in Saratoga. (Go Rory!)

@stefen_rosner I'm (a little) worried that this firing/change has rhe potential to mess with a young kid's (48) mind. Hoping that Matty Martin can help him through this.

Ok #Isles fans, what's on your mind after today? Have some time.

@nbensch33 @stefen_rosner It would have exactly the same value.

@racebrookstable @stefen_rosner "As players, we take no responsibility for this" would have been better?

#Isles captain Anders Lee: “We underperformed at a tough time. It's on us as players. It's us on as a group in its entirety, and it's just disappointing. But this is a part of the business, unfortunately, & we all have to look in the mirror a little bit, like we have been, but take onus of this & take responsibility for it.”