Round Pond Retired
 

She has been retired with a knee fracture, i was expecting big things out of her this year, she was not the same in either start and now she is retired, it makes you wonder if something was wrong from the start of this year ?

i believe " something was wrong " since her delaware start if not sooner. always has been a fragile sort.

Filly has been in the barn of not one, but two Kentucky Derby-winning trainers – John Servis and Mike Matz.

I was under the understanding that she's always had hoof problems... not sure if this is related to a knee fracture, though.

The owner of this horse, while probably a nice person and fan of the sport, is living in fantasy land. His horse, while a nice little filly is certainly not one of a kind and a great race horse in terms of historical context. Is there an owner who has more hyperbol then this guy? He should be thanking his lucky stars she was able to get the ideal circumstances to win the Distaff or she would have a different nickname.

i find it interesting that rick porters horses have an excuse every time they don't win. it's amazing...really.

i was anything but surprised that they announced this. am i being too cynical in thinking there will be another announcement that surgery absolutely won't be needed?

While I'm not in the business, nor do I pretend to be, (and no I'm not a member of the owners website) I have had the pleasure of being around Round Pond on more than one ocassion and she was/is a special horse. When I listened to people talk about her it was a double edged sword. On one hand the discussion would be around her unlimited ability and the other hand it was discussion about her being as fragile as she was. I don't think she has been right since the Azeri last year when she dueled Happy Ticket from gate to wire. Hopefully she is in for a full recovery and will pass down that talent for many years to come.

Happy Ticket ran a lot of horses into the ground. She was the genuine article, game hard trying, solid racemare.

I will miss her dearly....and I still wear the hat bearing her name...that you were so kind to send me.

Sure was, and so was Round Pond.

I know some will differ on this site but I thought she was fantastic.

I don't imagine it will be too long before there is another one in your mailbox. Some nice ones on the horizon....or so it looks.

I always thought Round Pond to be a very nice filly, but Ticket was my special girl. I saw her up close and personal at LA Downs and got several pictures, which I've framed and hung in my house. Your post nails some of the reasons why she was so special to me.

Oh she was a good one...the kind of horse that if she's not in front rest assured someone is looking over their shoulder for her, cuz if she's in it there is gonna be a race before it's all over. Leggio is a salt of the earth fella as well. HT ran like he is....as true as it gets....

I loved her too.

i agree with you if you look through her pp's, in my opinion, she did nothing wrong untill this year where she came back and obviously was not right

I just wish that BC exacta didn't have to be tainted by the favorites breaking down. The saddest moment of joy I've ever had at a racetrack. :(

"Her win in the Acorn was just an unbelievable last few 100 yards, where she blew by those horses when I didn't think she was going to make it," said Porter. "Then, of course, there was the bang-bang race in the Azeri with Happy Ticket. And the ultimate was just blowing those horses away in the Breeders' Cup, showing how good she really was."

Is he serious??? The same race in which the two best filly's did not finish??

It seems as if everytime a FOx Hill Farm constituent opens their mouth, it smells more and more like bullsh!t..

Like I said, even though they were bet to favoritism didn't mean they were the "best" two fillies in the field. The best 2 fillies finished 1-2 (after the DQ).
Fleet Indian was the biggest phony to ever be voted a "champion." I've been at this game a long time and I've never seen a horse improve so markedly after a trainer switch from the ages of 4 to 5. Pine Island, while certainly a quality 3YO filly whom I respected greatly and was distraught when she went down, was the best of a bad 3YO lot and was a huge underlay at 5/2. She didn't run a single race in her career good enough to win the BC Distaff.

Give the horse some respect. On her best day, she was the best filly in the nation, and she fired her best shot on the biggest day.

I'll second that.

That was truly sad . I was a HUGE Pine Island fan. The DQ cost me what would have been a huge TRI, but with the breakdowns it didn't bother me as much. I was more concerned about the horses and Javey at that point.