Summer Bird to Japan Cup Dirt

[pba1817]

Originally Posted by NTamm1215

ARCADIA, Calif. - After traveling from Arkansas to Kentucky, to New York and New Jersey, back to New York and then to California, Summer Bird next will be discovering Japan.

Tim Ice, the trainer of Summer Bird, on Monday said that an invitation has been accepted to run Summer Bird in the Japan Cup Dirt on Dec. 6. Summer Bird, who finished fourth under jockey Kent Desormeaux on Saturday in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita's Oak Tree meeting, will remain at Santa Anita until flying to Japan on Nov. 17.

"I'm filling out my paperwork right now, and Kent is coming by to do his later this morning," Ice said Monday morning. "We're going to try to get Birdstone some international recognition."

Birdstone is the sire of Summer Bird - who won the Belmont, Travers, and Jockey Club Gold Cup - and also of Mine That Bird, the Kentucky Derby winner who finished ninth in the BC Classic.

The Japan Cup Dirt is run one week after the better-known Japan Cup, which is on turf. The dirt race is run at Hanshin Race Course, at approximately 1 1/8 miles, and is on a right-handed course. The purse of the race is approximately $2.8 million.

Summer Bird's campaign this year - three Grade 1 wins, including one against older rivals - has made him the overwhelming favorite to be named champion 3-year-old male.

Ice said he was satisfied with the way Summer Bird performed on Saturday. Summer Bird was beaten three lengths by Zenyatta.

"Zenyatta deserved it. She ran a hell of a race," Ice said. "She beat me, but it was fun to watch her run, to be a part of it. I'm proud of the way my horse ran."

Summer Bird removed doubt about his ability to handle a synthetic surface. He had been based in California one year ago with trainer John Sadler, but was said at the time to not be handling the Pro-Ride surface at Santa Anita, so he left the circuit. Drs. Kalarikkal and Vilasini Jayaraman, who bred and own Summer Bird, turned him over to Ice, who has had a breakout first year as head trainer.

http://www.drf.com/news/article/108826.html

NT

This seems to be what happens when a trainer gets his first decent or good horse.. he runs them all over the place, shows no patience(Wooley comes to mind too), and basically ruins the horse before its time.

Dude, give your horse a break, he had a fantastic season and will be very good to you next year if you are good to him now...

[slotdirt]

I sincerely doubt it's Tim Ice making all of these decisions. There is an owner involved here, after all.

[letswastemoney]

Originally Posted by pba1817

This seems to be what happens when a trainer gets his first decent or good horse.. he runs them all over the place, shows no patience(Wooley comes to mind too), and basically ruins the horse before its time.

Dude, give your horse a break, he had a fantastic season and will be very good to you next year if you are good to him now...

Umm Wooley?

Mine That Bird barely ran this year. he had 2 prep races for the BC and that was it. He was kept out of the Travers. I wouldn't exactly call that having no patience

[Cannon Shell]

I dont understand why they would run there. You have the 3 yo champion coming back (supposedly) against a terrible group of older horses and a thin bunch of fellow three year olds. You have run an ambitious schedule since March and just ran a good but not outstanding 4th in the Classic. Perhaps your horse is starting to feel the effects of the campaign and tailing off? You are going to run on a plowed field against 15 horses across the pond in a race that is really of little signifigance except for the purse.

What is the point?

[pba1817]

Originally Posted by letswastemoney

Umm Wooley?

Mine That Bird barely ran this year. he had 2 prep races for the BC and that was it. He was kept out of the Travers. I wouldn't exactly call that having no patience

He was kept out of the Travers because he had surgery...

8 starts(all the TC legs) in 8 months at 6 different tracks with a surgery thrown in is not patience...

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by pba1817

This seems to be what happens when a trainer gets his first decent or good horse.. he runs them all over the place, shows no patience (Wooley comes to mind too), and basically ruins the horse before its time.

Dude, give your horse a break, he had a fantastic season and will be very good to you next year if you are good to him now...

A reminder that trainers don't own these horses. Owners do. That's why they're called owners... The Jayaramans waited a long time to have a horse like this, put a lot of money into the game and want to enjoy going where you can go with horse like this. They were invited to Japan and think it would be a fun experience.

Runs them all over the place and shows no patience? That's comical. Summer Bird has been brilliantly managed by Ice start by start, bringing the horse into each venue three weeks early and honing him to terrific performances everywhere. He's thrived on the work and has gotten better as the year has gone on with each start. Even over the synthetic Saturday, as surface he wasn't supposed to handle and didn't really relish, he managed a 107 Beyer beaten three lengths by Zenyatta and a length by the 2 turf horses.

While I wouldn't make this trip if I owned him, no one can say a bad word about the decisions made by the connections up to now or how Tim Ice has handled the horse the 2009 3yo champion colt/gelding.

[CSC]

Tim Ice has impressed me alot this yr, in particular his handling of Summer Bird and not to mention how he comes across while being interviewed, this guy has a bright future in the game. This Japan venture did sound abit like an Owner's call and frankly speaking it is their right to do so, I just hope if the horse looks lethargic prior to shipping to Japan, Tim will call an audible at the line of scrimmage, I don't know him but I have no doubts he would pull the plug. The fear of running a tired horse this good, a horse that always tries and thus maybe hurting himself is far too risky.

[pba1817]

Originally Posted by Kasept

A reminder that trainers don't own these horses. Owners do. That's why they're called owners... The Jayaramans waited a long time to have a horse like this, put a lot of money into the game and want to enjoy going where you can go with horse like this. They were invited to Japan and think it would be a fun experience.

Runs them all over the place and shows no patience? That's comical. Summer Bird has been brilliantly managed by Ice start by start, bringing the horse into each venue three weeks early and honing him to terrific performances everywhere. He's thrived on the work and has gotten better as the year has gone on with each start. Even over the synthetic Saturday, as surface he wasn't supposed to handle and didn't really relish, he managed a 107 Beyer beaten three lengths by Zenyatta and a length by the 2 turf horses.

While I wouldn't make this trip if I owned him, no one can say a bad word about the decisions made by the connections up to now or how Tim Ice has handled the horse the 2009 3yo champion colt/gelding.

I am saying this is a stupid choice.. up until now they have done pretty dang good.

Why wasn't he supposed to handle or relish the surface at SA?

[slotdirt]

Trained on it early in his career and was unimpressive. Thought it was noteworthy that he was also considered for the turf. Sounds like these guys just really wanted to run in the Breeders Cup in some form or fashion.