The Harty Effect
 

This magical sounding name was stolen from one of my favorite movies, named "The Zero Effect".

The reason this post is being brought into existance is because of an obscure little story that I just read on bloodhorse.

It spoke of a horse that ran out in socal a few years ago that just had his first foal born recently. He stands in Canada, of all godforsaken places.

His name is Terrell. He was a Darley owned son of Distorted Humor. He won his debut like he was the reincarnation of Phone Trick, and then came back about a month later and he looked like On the Line.

At this point, the ol' Harty magic took over and he was sidelined for 11 months. When he came back, he was heavily bet, trained by Drysdale and ran way up the track.

He then ran again a short time later, this time trained by Mullins, and again stunk it up.

He had one more race left in his really sad career. This time, he was again trained by Harty and he ran a much improved second, though he still looked like a broken down claimer compared to his old self.

I just got done watching all of his starts again (at calracing) and got to wondering. Has Harty kept ANY extremely promising youngster together for more than year? I've counted more than I care to remember that he's either ruined or killed, but have yet to think of one that he was able to develop fully.

Of more concern, he seems to have a personal vendetta against my favorite horse, Indian Charlie. Not only did he and Baffert fail to keep him sound, he also, with great speed and effectiveness, ruined the 2yo filly in 2006 that probably would have won the bc juvie filly race. Now those connections have Zada Belle, which makes me fear for her life.

Anyways, I digress.

He reminds me of something between a cross between Alex Hassinger and that Bradshaw clown that trained Artax.

Can anyone think of a Harty trained horse that stayed in good form from 2 on up?

He had Street Cry as a 2yo.

But yeah, he's dreadful.

i remember that, of course. it was by far his worst season.

however, did he train him past 2? if he had him at 3, did he train him at 4?

Just at two I think.

I met the chick from my infamous shampoo bottle story when I went out tonight. She's now a waitress at the Outback Steakhouse.

She's had a kid and all---she came over and started talking to me.....I think she might be into me actually. Too bad I'm leaving for FLA tomorrow I guess.

KingGlorious and I were both very high on Terrell back in the old thoroughbredtimes.com forum days.

could have been an outstanding sprinter.

I dont know if its really Harty. he just does not get to keep his stock all that long from what I can tell.
seems he did ok with Street Cry at a young age. same with Tempera and Imperial Gesture.

isnt Harty a former Baffert assistant?

Fixed that for ya.

woah, movin on up into the world of fine dining, i see! is that the first time you've eclipsed $10 on a meal, or did you get the kids grilled cheese sandwich?

next thing you know you'll be eating uni, toro and even broiled unagi!

me, i'm thinking of becoming a vegetarian after years of eating nothing but raw meat. subway, here i come!

That's not true....he had a gourmet meal at the Beekman Street Bistro last summer.

Oh yeah, I forgot, I paid.

yeah, harty was a baffert assistant. i'm starting to think that's why IC had such a short career..

and if you consider tempera dying at 2 or just after turning 3 a good job, well, lets just say i disagree.

did harty really train imperial gesture? i dont remember that, but that was a nice filly.

And don't think that didn't make it all the more delecious!

i heard about that. i think that is what emboldened him to work his courage up to try outback.

I even supplied lovely table companions as I recall.

wow man,
what could Harty possibly have to do with Tempera dying shortly after being shipped from Dubai to Kentucky?
she was out of his care by that point. unless Im just remembering it wrong.

and yeah, Im almost positive he trained Imperial Gesture at the age of 2.
if you remember, in those days Harty had Godolphin's 2YOs based out in SoCal.
someone else(name escapes me) kept a string of the lesser thought of 2Yos at Arlington.
then once the BC was over, they left Harty's care and were shipped off to Dubai and trained by Suroor.

Perhaps you are right, but considering his long track record of messing up horses, I'll put forth the proposition that he had something to do with her dying in much the same way pletcher had nothing to do with that really nice horse left bank.

not much debate from me on harty training imperial gesture at 2, but i'm highly doubtful he trained her at 3.

he also ruined the probable bc filly winner this year, in imperial reign. after making a pair of really bone headed remarks, she ended up getting seriously wounded and then retired (pretty sure she's now retired).

hey druggie, do you remember those pair of harty quotes about IR this past summer and fall? one was something about being a small big filly, but i cant remember the other one.

well, no. he certainly did NOT train IGesture at 3.
and he did not train Street Cry or any other top Godolphin horse past the age of 2.
the program was set to where he only trained their better horses at the age of 2, and then they wintered in Dubai and were then under the care of Suroor.
but he did train Tempera to a BCJF win and IGesture and Street Cry also ran well in that year's BC.

as for Tempera's death, Im not sure Harty even saw her at the age of 3.
the last time she was with Harty, she was winning the BCJF.

hey, I dont know if the guy is a good trainer or not.
Im not a horesman.
and I dont know if he has trouble keeping his stock sound.
I would not know that kind of thing b/c again, Im not a horseman.

but Harty did do a decent job with the Godolphin/Darley 2YOs when they were in his care.
he enjoyed some level of success.

I think the supposed " decent job " Harty has done with the $100 million or so of 2YO horseflesh he has ruined, oh I mean been given, is yet another example of " a good horse can overcome a great deal ".

depends on your definition of a "decent job" I guess.

hes not TPletcher, but I dont think you can blame him for the death of Tempera or Terrell's failure to be an Eclipse award winning sprinter either.

Barbican, brother to Tempera, looked pretty promising this time last year before being sidelined...his race back wasn't exactly inspiring either.

After being off for a year, he ran really well at a distance shorter than his best against a decent allowance field..........but as he hasn't raced since, I suppose injuries have cropped up again. That is one jinxed family - Tempera dying early, a promising full sister suffering a career-ending injury in her debut, now Barbican with his injuries....

Probrably best noted for the Kentucky Derby and Preakness-winning campaigns of Silver Charm and Real Quiet in 1997 and 1998 as top assistant. Maybe Dubai Escapade's grade 1 win in the Ballerina at Saratoga was OK, but broke down prior to the BC.