Angels

[my miss storm cat]

Knights Templar.

Rest in peace, beautiful girl.....

From DRF.....
For Vella, a weekend of grief and cheer

ETOBICOKE, Ontario - It would be an understatement to say the past week has been bittersweet for Woodbine-based trainer Danny Vella.
Last Saturday, the Vella-trained Like a Gem registered a major upset in the $252,800 Wonder Where Stakes. But just two days earlier, Knights Templar, Canada's 2-year-old filly champion under Vella's handling last season, had to be euthanized following a battle with lymphoma, a form of cancer.

Knights Templar, a Kentucky-bred, and Like a Gem, an Ontario-bred, had both come into the 2006 Woodbine meeting with high expectations. Knights Templar raced only once, however, finishing second in the six-furlong Star Shoot on April 30.

Knights Templar, who spent her last days at the Woodlands Farm of Gail Wood, underwent a series of tests before lymphoma was diagnosed.

"I have to commend Gail Wood and her crew," said Vella, who also was a member of the partnership that owned Knights Templar. "They did an amazing job, keeping her happy and comfortable. She didn't suffer a lot."

Knights Templar had stamped herself a cut above her peers here last year with a 13 1/4-length win in the Grade 3 Mazarine, a 1 1/16-mile race. She went on to finish sixth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies at Belmont under Gary Stevens.

This year, Knights Templar opened with a sixth-place finish in Gulfstream's Sunshine Millions Oaks before returning in the Star Shoot. Overall, she won 3 of 9 starts and finished second twice for earnings of $329,117.

Like a Gem began her season in promising fashion, with the Woodbine Oaks on June 11 her prime target. Her preparations were compromised this spring, though, when a virus swept through the Woodbine backstretch, and she finished last of 10 as the 4-1 second choice in the Woodbine Oaks.

"She seemed to be all right going into the Oaks, but obviously she wasn't," said Vella.

After getting a breather on the farm, Like a Gem made her turf debut in the 6 1/2-furlong Ontario Damsel here July 29, when she finished six lengths back in sixth place.

"She had a nightmare trip there," said Vella. "It's amazing she ran as well as she did."

Like a Gem, owned and bred by Garland Williamson, recorded her first stakes victory in the Wonder Where. She also has placed in two stakes on the main track.

"She's in tip-top shape right now, and we can run her where we wish to," said Vella.

Possibilities for Like a Gem's next race include the $150,000 Duchess, a 7 1/2-furlong race for 3-year-old fillies here Aug. 12, and the $125,000 Ontario Colleen, a one-mile turf race for 3-year-old fillies here Sept. 2.

[my miss storm cat]

Early Ronan, trained by Gary Stute, suffered fractured sesamoids in her left foreleg this morning while working 4 furlongs on the main track. The 4-year-old filly was euthanized. It was the ninth equine death, the third during training hours, at Del Mar since the season opened, July 19.

Rest in peace.

[my miss storm cat]

Ms. Speak Freely.....

[my miss storm cat]

Lac a Rock, today at Mountaineer.....

Rest in peace.

[my miss storm cat]

Prime Time TV, last years Manitoba Derby winner.

[my miss storm cat]

Go Bye Bye..... a truly lovely girl.

[my miss storm cat]

Finally, something on the death of Adreamisborn.....

Excerpt from the San Francisco Chronicle.....

Hollendorfer says Sharp Writer could be the next Adreamisborn
Larry Stumes, Special to The Chronicle

..... Hollendorfer won the Grace with Adreamisborn last year when it was run on turf for the first time. Adreamisborn died because of an abscess in his pancreas soon after he finished fourth in the Grade 2 San Francisco Breeders' Cup Mile on April 29.

"He had a couple bouts of colic (earlier in the year), and we sent him to UC Davis," Hollendorfer said. "The vets went over him head to toe and scanned him everywhere and scoped him and couldn't find anything. And then he had another bout of colic, and we sent him back and they couldn't find anything again.

"Then the horse was training well and we ran him in the S.F. Mile, and he had another bout of colic and we sent him to the college again, and he died. When they did the necropsy, they found an abscess in his pancreas. It was probably something that never would have shown up."

And nothing Hollendorfer could have done anything about.

"Even though we train a lot of horses, we have a schedule that takes into consideration every horse's condition three times a day," he said. "Even though we do all these things, we still have problems the same as with any athletes with flesh and bone."

One of the best horses Hollendorfer ever trained, Adreamisborn had a running style and a career strikingly similar to Sharp Writer's so far.

Adreamisborn lost his first eight starts in 2002-03 before owner John Franks sent him from Kentucky to Hollendorfer. From early 2004 through his death, Adreamisborn won 11 of 25 starts with seven seconds and three thirds and earned $700,640. He won three Grade 3 events and finished second in the SF Mile in 2005.