Nick Hines

[Rileyoriley]

Originally Posted by eajinabi

Whatever happened to this guy? I have not seen him on TVG nor have I seen his horses run of late. Where did he go?

He was doing "The Finish Line" last night on TVG.

[ArlJim78]

I get the impression that they were pushing Signature Move, having already made up their minds that he would be their derby horse. Instead of doing as Carl Nafzger would say "we'll let the horse tell us when he's ready".

it just looked to me like he didn't belong and wasn't ready for the Santa Anita derby.

[Scav]

Originally Posted by ArlJim78

I get the impression that they were pushing Signature Move, having already made up their minds that he would be their derby horse. Instead of doing as Carl Nafzger would say "we'll let the horse tell us when he's ready".

it just looked to me like he didn't belong and wasn't ready for the Santa Anita derby.

Guillot new to the higher level of racing, he is good, and with Southern Equine Stables, he will be getting some good stock, so might be someone to watch in the next couple of years with his firsters

[ArlJim78]

Originally Posted by Scav

Guillot new to the higher level of racing, he is good, and with Southern Equine Stables, he will be getting some good stock, so might be someone to watch in the next couple of years with his firsters

yeah I know that, I just think they got a little ahead of themselves with this one.

[Scav]

Originally Posted by ArlJim78

yeah I know that, I just think they got a little ahead of themselves with this one.

Just like the unbelievable trainer Michael Pender with Polonius, can't fault in trying, but it takes trainers time too to adjust to the big dance.

Pender is a Los Al trainer for christ sake, and if I am not mistaken, he barely wins there. Polonius is going to be a good turf horse, hopefully they realize this and just get him back on the turf.

[PPerfectfan]

Southern Equine is owned by a guy from down this way in Lafayette,Louisiana. He has serious money and loves racing. And they are buying some very quality stock, so I wouldnt be surprised to see them in some big races for the next several years. As far as Sig. Move, he bled in the Risen Star, but I had not seen where they say he bled in the S.A. Derby also. I really liked the horse and hope he steps it up later in the year. They are really good connections and it would be great to see them with some really nice horses.

The guy is loooooaded. His company builds refineries and offshore drilling platforms.

[RolloTomasi]

Originally Posted by ArlJim78

I get the impression that they were pushing Signature Move, having already made up their minds that he would be their derby horse. Instead of doing as Carl Nafzger would say "we'll let the horse tell us when he's ready".

it just looked to me like he didn't belong and wasn't ready for the Santa Anita derby.

Its interesting to see how a horse's campaign can be derailed by a single misstep in management. At the time of the Risen Star, Signature Move was also being considered for the Robert Lewis back home at Santa Anita, which ended up having a 4-horse field (won by Crown of Thorns). But, with good intentions in mind, they thought the Risen Star was a better race because it gave him shipping experience and a race over a dirt surface.

Maybe the shipping to Louisiana had nothing to do with him developing a lung infection and like DrugS suggested maybe he sucks and would have gotten exposed in the Robert Lewis, too, but I wonder if the horse would still at the very least be a peripheral player on the Derby Trail if he had stayed in CA. I suppose will have to wait several months now to see if the horse can validate his early promise.

Guys like Bruce Headley and Dick Mandella take a lot of flack on these boards for not shipping their horses back East, but its easy to take a horse's general health for granted when cross-country transportion has become so easy to coordinate.