Summer Squall

Summer Squall was foaled in 1987 by Storm Bird, out of Weekend Surprise (Secretariat). He went undefeated in five starts that included the Hopeful Stakes, Saratoga Special Stakes, and Bashford Manor Stakes as a two-year-old before forming a big rivalry with Unbridled at 3. The two went head to head 6 times, with Summer Squall coming out on top in four of the races, including the Blue Grass Stakes.

The Triple Crown came around that year and like most top 3-year-old colts, Summer Squall was pointed for it. He made a move from the pack around the final turn, but Unbridled came with him and pulled away for the win. In the 1990 Preakness, Summer Squall pulled away by 2 1/2 lengths to beat Unbridled. He did not go to the Belmont because Lasix was still banned in New York at that time. Besides the Preakness Stakes, Summer Squall won the Jim Beam Stakes, Pennsylvania Derby, and Kentucky Breeders' Cup Stakes at three.

Summer Squall returned for his four-year-old season, defeating Unbridled in the Fayette Handicap before finishing second in both the Washington Park Handicap and Pimlico Special. He ended his career with a record of 20 starts, 13 wins, and 4 seconds, and earnings of over $1.8 million.

Summer Squall was a ridgling, but that didn't stop him for a top-notch career at stud. He sired 37 stakes winners. The best known of these is Charismatic, 1999 Horse of the Year and Champion 3-Year Old Male the same year of his Kentucky Derby and Preakness wins before coming up short and finishing third in the Belmont. He also sired Storm Song, winner of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies and 1996 champion 2-year old filly; G1 winning Summer Colony; and Summerly, winner of the 2005 Kentucky Oaks. He was also the damsire of Stevie Wonderboy and Summer Bird.

Summer Squall stood at Lane's End Farm all his life and was pensioned in 2004 because of fertility issues. The 22-year-old stallion was euthanized September 22nd because of complications of the infirmities of old age and founder.

I have UPDATE!

So I finally got sick of waiting and remembered that there's one last source I haven't checked. So I went there. And guess what I've got?!

UPDATE ON KEUM H. LEE CASE!

On September 16th, Lee appeared in court. She has been released on recognizance and will return to court on October 26th.

If you, like me, have no idea what 'released on recognizance' means here are a couple definitions:

Method by which an individual is released in lieu of providing bail, upon his promise to appear and answer a criminal charge. The R.O.R. Procedure permits release on nonmonetary conditions, generally involving only the promise to appear, but sometimes involving special conditions (e.g., remaining in the custody of another, abiding by travel restrictions).

http://www.answers.com/topic/release-on-recognizance-r-o-r

It means that you are being released on your word that you will show up at court at the appointed times. It is used when there is little flight risk and the court system trust you will do the right thing. There is usually a bond that is being withheld and if you violate your release terms they can charge you.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_does_release_on_recognizance_mean_in_criminal_law

I'll keep watch and be back searching for updates on the 26th!

Cryptoclearance

Better Talk Now, my favorite turf horse, is retiring because of an injury to the suspensory ligament in his left hind leg. I'm depressed.

Cryptoclearance was born in 1984 in Kentucky by Fappiano, out of Naval Orange. He sold for $190,000 in the 1985 Keeneland September yearling sale. At two, Cryptoclearance destroyed a field of maidens at Saratoga by 12 1/2 lengths and went on to win a mile allowance at Belmont, defeating Gone West.

At the beginning of his three-year-old season, Cryptoclearance raced five times in Florida in preparation for the Kentucky Derby and placed first and second in all of them. The most prestigious of these victories was the G1 Florida Derby, where he had a tough trip when he was forced six and eight wide on the final turn and stretch. The stallion ran in all three legs of the Triple Crown, finishing fourth in the Derby, third in the Preakness, and second in the Belmont. He ended his three-year-old season with a 5th out of 12 runners in the Breeders' Cup Classic at Hollywood Park after making a bid from last place.

Cryptoclearance returned better than ever at four. He destroyed an allowance field at Gulfstream before coming out on top by a nose in the G1 Gulfstream Park Handicap. He finished second in the G2 Nassau County Handicap next out. The same year he dominated in the G2 Budweiser Hawthorne Gold Cup by 10 lengths and the G2 Paterson Handicap. But when the Breeders' Cup Classic came around, he once again finished a fast closing 5th.

Cryptoclearance returned for one last time in 1989 for his five-year-old season. He started that season off with a bang with a win in the G1 Donn Handicap, followed a win in the G1 Widener Handicap, and a repeat victory in the Hawthorne Gold Cup. His second-to-last start was in the G1 Jockey Club Gold Cup, a mile and a half race at the time. Cryptoclearance chased Easy Goer all the way up the stretch, the two horses drawing away from the field by 20 lengths. His final race was his third try in the Breeders' Cup Classic, where he ironically finished 5th after coming up from last place.

Cryptoclearance retired with 44 starts, 12 wins, 10 seconds, and 7 thirds, and over $3 million in earnings.

His stud career began with a bang when he sired Stategic Maneuver and Ride The Rails in his very first crop. Stategic Maneuver quickly proved herself as a top filly when she won several large stakes races at 2 years of age, losing out in the voting for top 2-year-old filly to Juvenile Fillies winner, Phone Chatter. Ride The Rails won the Foolish Pleasure Breeders' Cup Stakes at two and ran second in the Florida Derby at 3. He won 10 of his 14 lifetime starts before becoming the first son of Cryptoclearance to stand at stud.

Cryptoclearance's best offspring is Eclipse winner Victory Gallop, earner of over $3.5 million and top racehorse and stud. A stakes winner at 2, Victory Gallop went on to place second in both the Kentucky Derby and Belmont before going on to prevail in a thrilling 1988 Belmont Stakes where he denied Real Quiet a Triple Crown victory. Victory Gallop went on to shatter the track record in the Stephen Foster Handicap and defeat Behrens in the Whitney.

Another son of Cryptoclearance, Volponi, startled the racing world with a huge upset in the 2002 Breeders' Cup Classic.

As of 2008, Cryptoclearance had sired the earners of almost $50 million, including 3 champions, 13 graded stakes winners, 42 stakes winners, and 49 stakes placed horses.

The 25-year-old stallion stood for $5,000 for the 2009 season at Margaux Farm in Kentucky. He died of complications from colic surgery on Thursday.

RIP Cryptoclearance

Kona Gold

Anyone else think it's weird that there's been so many celebrity deaths lately? I mean think about it. Michael Jackson, Billy Mays, Ted Kennedy... Apparently that trend has hit the horse racing world. For the next week and a half I'm going to go back and pay tribute to these great horses.

Kona Gold was foaled March 19th, 1994. He was sired by Kona Gold and out of Double Sunrise. His pedigree included Slew o' Gold, Nijinsky II, Seattle Slew, Princequillo, Northern Dancer, and Bold Ruler. He sold for only $35,000 in Keeneland's 1995 September yearling sale.

Kona Gold raced for six seasons from 1998 to 2003. He made a total of 30 starts with 14 wins, 7 seconds, and 2 thirds and earnings of over $2 million. He won the 2000 Eclipse Award for top sprinter and set two records. The first was in the 2000 Breeders' Cup Sprint at Churchill Downs where he set a Breeders' Cup and track record for six furlongs, running the race in 1:07.77.

The gelding's wins include the:

1999 and 2003 El Conejo Handicap
2000 Palos Verdes Handicap
2000 and 2001 Potrero Grande Handicap
2000 and 2001 Bing Crosby Handicap
2000 Ancient Title Handicap
2000 Breeders' Cup Sprint
2001 San Carlos Handicap
2002 Los Angeles Handicap

Kona Gold was retired from racing at the age of nine. He spent four years as Headley's lead pony before retiring to the Kentucky Horse Park in 2007. He was humanely euthanized after suffering a severe fracture to his left front leg while exercising in his paddock. The handsome bay gelding was 15 years old.

RIP Kona Gold

Case Updates and News Tidbits

It's Sunday again which means tomorrow is the start of another week. Oh joy.

First some good news. Okay it might not be good news to all, but it is to me. Let's all remember than I am, in fact, a fan of horse racing, though that does not mean I support every decision they make.

Indian Blessing beat out Sara Lousie, aka the last horse to beat Rachel, by a head in the Gallant Bloom Handicap! No, I have not seen the race yet. But I'm going to.

Keum H. Lee -- I sincerely regret to say that I think they have succeeded in sweeping this one under the carpet. Unless someone here knows what happened to the case.

*sighs* No news again. I HATE not having news.

LAVA MAN'S BACK! That's right, my favorite gelding of all time is now back in racing! Story

If he's sound and happy, he should run! A horse wouldn't run if he didn't want to. Do you honestly think that a 100-pound man no matter how strong could force a horse to run and do well if the horse didn't love it?

Tom Hudson, manager at Magali Farms in Santa Ynez, commented that Lava Man's spirits were noticeably brightened by the return to training after months of relative inactivity.

See? I look forward to seeing his comeback to racing. I've been missing the old boy. :)

A slaughter rescue was shot and killed in Bismarck. Story

Animal abuse case is back in Jackson County District Court after Michigan Supreme Court decided not to hear their appeals. Story You can be sure that I'm going to watch this one. In fact, I can watch it directly. Horse abuse in my own back yard. I sure would like to know the whole story on this one.

Carriage Horses

This seems to be a popular topic lately. There are seem to be a lot of horse carriage/buggy related crashes. Here's PETA's side of the issue (no, I usually don't agree with them) and here's a recent story about a carriage hit near Central Park.

Let's talk about the carriage being hit first. Horse was caught unharmed, no one was in the carriage at the time, and the driver was taken to the hospital with minor injuries.

1. Carriage horses NEED to be properly desensitized. I'm definitely not saying this one wasn't because any sane horse would bolt if it's carriage was hit by a car. I know I would.

2. Drivers NEED to be more careful! (I mean the car ones not the ones controlling the carriages, but they should be on the lookout as well.) I'm sick and tired of hearing stories about Amish buggies and horse drawn carriages being hit by cars. Accidents happen, but they shouldn't be happening this often.

Now let's take a look at the issue behind this: whether or not horse drawn carriages should be allowed in cities. As said in the article, PETA is trying to get them replaced by classic cars. There is just one thing I want to say to that.

WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN TO ALL THE HORSES AND DRIVERS? The one thing that bothers me most about people that think entire sports should end is the fact that they never think about what would happen if it did end. This is similar.

Horses - yes, they're probably very well-trained carriage horses and awesome animals. But there are a LOT of horses like that out there right now for sale that no one can afford. Exactly how many carriage horses are there in Central Park? A couple dozen?

Drivers - Carriage rides are probably their primary source of income. By taking that away, you're asking them to give up what is probably all they know and what they love to do. So you're taking away their job, telling them they can't give carriage rides in Central Park anymore, and asking them to support a horse as well if they're the actual owner? If they're NOT the actual owner, do you think whoever that is is going to keep all their horses now that they're not doing anything?

If you want something to happen, you HAVE to think it through. Yes, it might save horse and human lives. But it's also affecting a lot more.

A carriage ride in the park with my mom at night is one of my favorite memories. I wish I still had the picture the driver took... Back then I was only able to touch a horse maybe once a month at most so a carriage ride was the highlight of my vacation. It wasn't in Central Park, I've never actually been to New York.

Second Arrest Made in Florida Horse Killings

I'm so sickened right now that I can't even think of anything to say. Don't read this story if you're easily distressed. No pictures, but it's not for the faint at heart.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/miami-dade/story/1246788.html

These guys better get a judge that's going to prosecute them as far as humanly possible.

Two Dozen Rescues Looking for Homes in Florida

Story This is the new case I'm watching. Two dozen horses rescued from a man in Florida are looking for homes. These include 21 Thoroughbreds and 2 Quarter Horses ranging in age from 7 months to 19 years.

Animal Services seized the horses from owner Lope Gonzalez, who was accused of failing to care for them properly, according to a press release.

When Animal Services removed the horses from a Morriston farm, approximately half were 400 pounds to 500 pounds underweight.

A judge allowed Gonzalez to keep 10 of the 33 horses on the property, according to the release.

The rest went to Animal Services. A criminal case against Gonzalez is pending.

I'd say they weren't taken care of properly! But WHY did they let him keep ten of the horses? They should've gotten them ALL out of there! I'd like to know if he cropped the tail on the horse who's picture is on the news story. Poor baby!

Case Updates and News Tidbits

I BRING GOOD NEWS!

An arrest has been made in the Florida horse murders! Story You know he's not the only one, but I hope he's prosecuted beyond the fullest extent of the law (because I don't believe we're hard enough on animal abusers) and that the rest of them are caught VERY soon and punished as well.

A horse in Aurora, Colorado was attacked by a bear. Story The horse is expected to fully recover, but the bear got away. Prints near the scene revealed that the attacker was a bear and not a mountain lion (which seems to be the more common non-human culprit behind horse attacks lately).

In a slightly related story, another horse has been attacked by an unknown animal in Minnesota. Story While some say the attacker may have been a cougar, others say it was dogs or coyotes that attacked the horse. There were no signs of dangerous objects that the horse could've injured himself on (as they are prone to do), predatory animal tracks, or a sign of a struggle.

And our final story for the day, all horses from Hoosier Park have been barred from all Kentucky racetracks after an outbreak of strangles at Hoosier. Fifty-seven horses stabled with the two horses with confirmed cases of the disease are in quarantine. Story

Now let's move on to the case updates.

Keum H. Lee - It's been four days since her supposed court date and I have NOTHING. I do not like the lack of updates on all three of my usual sources... Does anyone happen to know what's going on with this case?

*headdesk* I have nothing this week. Well, I have something, but I'm saving that for Wednesday. It's a new case.

Freedom's Flight - From Top Yearling to Rock Bottom

Read this story Sunday and had to share it. It's heartbreaking, but the truth.

Freedom's Flight was born at one of the best racehorse breeding farms in the world, Claiborne Farms. He was very royally bred, sired by Pulpit, a descendant of Seattle Slew and Secretariat, and his dam was Heather's Flight, a descendant of Nijinsky and Northern Dancer.

On December 22, 2007, Freedom raced for the first time at Calder. He raced only three times at two and then made his first start as a 3-year-old at Gulfstream. Seconds after leaving the gate, his front leg snapped and he continued to run when his jockey failed to notice. Despite the injury, Freedom went on to finish third, but his career as a racehorse was over.

Heinlein had a choice to either euthanize Freedom or send him to Marion Brill, a horse rescuer. Brill started to rehab the still-intact stallion, but the injuries were too daunting. She sold him to a man for $500. [Some horse rescuer, huh?]

It's impossible to tell what happened to Freedom during the next two months, but at some point in time he may have hobbled along on his broken leg as a riding pony for children. [Whoever owned him ought to have their leg broken.] During that time, someone finally gelded him.

Freedom was among several horses spotted on Manual Coto's farm in July 2008. Manual has been known to slaughter cows, pigs, and chickens without the proper permits -- which he was trying to obtain at the time. [Why didn't they bust him for that????] However, Coto denies that he slaughters horses. He bought Freedom a couple of days earlier for only $100.

An SPCA vet diagnosed Freedom's Flight with severe "rain rot," which made him lose most of his hair, bites, wounds, severe rashes, abscesses under his hooves, detoxing from steroids, a fractured right cannon bone, and strangles, a potentially deadly, highly contagious bacterial infection.

Yet sick as he was, "there was something about him," Waggoner said. "I didn't want to leave that horse there. He was still so trusting of people."

She offered Coto $200. He declined the money and allowed her to isolate the horse on his land until she could make other arrangements. Freedom's Flight spent the next five weeks in quarantine, getting treatment for strangles and, finally, his broken leg.

Cuoto adopted him two weeks after he was seized and the two have bonded. Freedom is recovering well now that he has finally received proper veterinary care and was even entered in the contest to be Secretariat in the new movie about him. I don't think he won -- but it would've been AWESOME if he had.

Margaret Peterson

Say hi to the latest addition to my case watch list: Margaret Peterson. Story

A Sultan woman accused of mistreating a herd of horses has spent 30 years caring for animals and her heart is full of love for them, her husband said.

She's a self-proclaimed rescuer in my book. They all say that and yet, they don't care enough to give them proper care. If they can't afford to care for the horses, euthanize them or sell them. It's kinder than starving them to death.

“I really have a problem with people coming in and charging someone for having sick horses,” he said. “They make it seem like a state of neglect, but it’s not.”

Not providing veterinary care is neglect. So is not providing proper food, water, and shelter. If a horse is emaciated, then you're either not feeding them or there's something very wrong. "Because he's sick" is not a good excuse.

“They came in here locked and loaded and basically said, ‘We’re going to take you to jail if you don’t let us take this horse,’” Ryan Peterson said, recounting the conversation officers had with his wife. “She was scared.”

But apparently not scared into taking proper care of her animals so they wouldn't have to come back.

During one visit, an officer said none of the horses had water. As the officer watered the horses, the animals were so thirsty, they fought each other to get to the water barrels, the court document said.

One mare was on her side, with green mucus draining from her nostrils and covering her legs, Davis wrote.

That's not healthy or proper care. The horses need water and the mare needs a vet right now.

He said his wife had taken some of the horse on as rescue animals and was breeding others for sale.

1. Self-proclaimed rescuer. She takes in horses thinking she's doing the right thing and finds herself in way over her head when she can't take care of them all.

2. When royally bred throughbreds aren't selling, you PANIC. You do not go out and breed more third-rate, grade horses unless you want them to end up in Mexico.

She's in jail now on $5,000 bail.

Case Updates and News Tidbits

I'm moving these posts from Friday to Monday. This way I can write up my week's worth of posts in advance, set them to auto, and don't have to worry about all this being old news if it's still posting on Friday.

Keum H. Lee - Court date is three days away! On Wednesday. Found this story dated 9/10.

"For a practicing physician, one usual consequence of a felony conviction, or even a misdemeanor conviction, is the suspension of their license to practice medicine. The State Board of Professional Medical Conduct will, upon conviction, review the case and make a judgment as to whether the physician will lose the license to practice or not, and if the license is revoked, whether this action will be permanent or temporary

Revoke it permanently. Why would anyone want to have a doctor that's been charged for starving two horses, one of which had a halter embedded into her head?

Ernie Paragallo - Well this isn't much of an update, but...a horse was stolen from the same farm that was raided in April. Story I'd try investigating the brother first. Common sense says "do not leave questionable man alone with horse." Why there are even still horses there is beyond me...

Mary Peterson - the newest addition to my case list. This one makes me want to bang my head against the desk. I'll tell you about it Wednesday.

Now let's see what's in the news this week...

Story Three thieves went into a pasture in broad daylight and stole five horses while the next door neighbor watched.

This is why you should at least know what your neighbors look like.

You can't ride her, so why else would they take them?"

I really don't think Mexico cares if they're 23-year-old pleasure horses. Harsh I know, but true.

"They've been stalking the place for at least two months," she said of the thieves. Neighbors had seen two men and a woman ride into the pasture on Saturday and release two "skinny horses," Swint said. They returned Monday to retrieve those two and five more.

I don't really get this part. They released two horses into the pasture, left them for two days, and then came back and took those two and the other five? And the neighbors didn't find this strange? What about the owners of the five horses? They didn't notice that they had two extra horses? I know that's kind of a common thing nowadays with the economy so bad, but still.

I'm still trying to figure out why the neighbors would just stand there and watch this. I'd like to know where the owners are during this whole thing too and why it took the cops so long to get there.

Story (I did not watch the video, but there aren't any pictures on the link unless you count the one on the front of the video. It's not graphic, but you know what it is.) I think the count is up to twenty now.

With no suspect yet arrested, the motive for the killings has not been confirmed

Honestly, there's only really one possibility.

"The horse community is getting edgy and very upset," Gustinger told ABC News. "We've started community watches, people are patrolling their yards with guns to the point where some of the horse owners are looking forward to it. They're starting to hunt these people... they want it stopped," she added.

I can't even think of a punishment bad enough for these monsters...

Story And a man that deserves worse received a six-month jail sentence and is not allowed to own animals for seven years after starving a wide variety of animals, including a horse named Missy that later had to be euthanized because of her condition. Wait a minute, Missy was found in December 2007. It took them a year and a half to sentence this guy?! 11 counts of animal cruelty and he only got six months...There is no justice.

Tidbits of News

I know I usually do these on Fridays, but since I missed Friday I decided to do one today.

I have no case updates today. Not because I didn't look, but because I couldn't find anything. Though Keum H. Lee's court date is just nine days away.

Tom Selleck won the lame horse dispute. Story Apparently he bought $120,000 horse to find out that it had a medical condition that wouldn't allow it to compete. I'm sure this kind of thing happens all the time (though not usually with this much money involved) and not always with this kind of result. Yes, it's the seller's responsibility to know the horse they're selling and not lie. But it's the buyer's responsibility to know the signs, be wary, thoroughly check out and ride any horse they're considering, and get a pre-purchase vet exam. You don't trust their vet, you bring along your own. At the very least get a trusted, knowledgeable friend to come along.

Original Story Story According to the owner of the horses, one of them had their throat slit and the others were shut in a corral with rat poison. Now it's believed that the horse got tangled up in some barbed wire (which shouldn't have been there in the first place), but that still doesn't explain the rat poison and graffiti.

Story I'm honestly not sure where to begin with this one. It's the guy that advertised for executioners for his horses because he was protesting a 90-day jail sentence for something that has nothing to do with the horses. 1. People that don't care what happens to their horses should not own them (meaning the investor ladies, not the guy). 2. I'm glad the county took the threats seriously and got the horses out of there. Nine mares and fourteen stallions. I hope those stallions weren't all together or it's a miracle they haven't killed each other. 3. This guy is insane. The horses had nothing to do with the jail sentence! It was for not cleaning up the junk on his property. Now the only question is: what is he going to do when he gets out? Expect to get the horses back?

Edward Gal's 90.7% Dressage Performance

Today I'm going to share something really cool. Edward Gal and Moorland Totilas 90.7% dressage performance in the KUR European Championship. It literally gave me goosebumps watching it. They are amazing and Totilas is only 9 years old!