Weds Update

Mr. Fantasy came out of his last work in very good shape. He is set to have his final breeze before his next race on either Sunday or Monday. We are all set for the "two other than" allowance going 6 furlongs on September 4th at Saratoga. It looks like Alan Garcia will have the mount.

Brave Monarch developed a quarter crack earlier in the week. A quarter crack is a vertical split in the hoof wall that does cause irritation if not treated. They have been treating the foot, and Mike is going to have the foot specialist come out and patch up the crack later in the week.
The quarter crack developed in the left front leg, the same leg as the splint. The two minor injuries are not related. There was some swelling in the leg, so Mike held off on having the vet freeze fire the splint. Once they get the foot taken care off, they will treat the splint. Mike did not want to bombard his body with too many treatments at once.
Accordingly, we will miss about another 7 days of training with this horse. That would put him back in training in about 10-14 days

The Defense Rests was x-rayed by the vet at Stonewall Farm and they were pleased with the healing in his knee. He had one tendon that was slightly inflamed, so they went ahead and x-rayed it. There was no structural damage, and the swelling has gone down. They think he may have just banged himself.
He will be shipping south this week to Kip Elser's Kirkwood Farm in Camden, South Carolina instead of David McKathan's farm. He will resume light training upon arrival to the farm. Terry has known Kip for over 15 years, and he is an excellent horseman who runs a top class facility. We are excited to team with Elser and have him work with our horses before they return to their respective trainers.
Once The Defense Rests arrives to the farm, he will resume light training. We will hold a conference call with Kip in about thirty days and have him discuss his progress. The plan is for him to rejoin Mike's string when he ships down to Florida in early December
Phosphorescent's fever remains down and his coughing is down. He walked today. The vet is going to draw blood tomorrow morning just to make sure all of his parameters are normal before he goes back into training. If his bloodwork is normal, and he is not coughing in the morning, he will likely go out and jog. We will have a better idea within the next few days if the Turf Monster remains a realistic target. Lupe thinks this horse is plenty fit for the race, but does not want to run him if we miss much more training. We will send out an update tomorrow on his status.