Updates

Brave Monarch worked four furlongs in 52.22 (164 of 172) on Friday at Belmont. He is scheduled to ship to Graham Motion’s barn at Palm Meadows within the next few days.

Mr. Fantasy continues daily turnout at Dr. Baker’s farm in Kentucky. Doc remains on schedule to x-ray his ankles in early January.


Phosphorescent remains on schedule to have his ankle x-rayed in early January by Dr. Baker.

The Defense Rests is set to work back within the next few days at Kirkwood.

Workout

Brave Monarch worked out on Dec 24th at Belmont going 4F in 52:22 123 of 131

Workout

The Defense Rests worked four furlongs in in 50:00 this morning at Kirkwood. Kip Elser said, "He went the first 3/8ths in 36 and change, and then got a little bit tired in the final furlong. This was a good blow for him and he should get a lot out of it fitness wise. We'll breeze him another four furlongs next week."

The Defense Rests remains on target to ship back to Mike's barn in New York in January

Updates

Brave Monarch worked four furlongs in 51:88 (27 of 32) on Sunday morning at Belmont. This was a mediocre work. Mike just has not seen the lightbulb go on with this colt. He has not progressed and developed quite as much as we’d hoped for. There is nothing wrong with him physically. He has quite a bit of turf influence in his pedigree. Accordingly, we want to position him in a place we can train over the winter on the grass. We plan to ship him to Palm Meadows in short order to trainer Graham Motion. Upon arrival to Florida, we will enable Motion to train him over the turf and assess his liking to the surface. Sometimes a change in scenery and a surface is change is what it takes to wake a horse up and for them to show their full potential. With this horse’s breeding suggesting he will take to the lawn, logically the nation's leading turf trainers came to mind in Graham Motion. Click here to read a biography and to visit his website. We had a similar situation arise earlier this year with West Point runner King Ting (Ire). He did not perform well at all on the dirt in his first two starts. We recognized the turf influence in his pedigree, and transferred him to Graham’s stable. He has run third in two maiden special weight races and is primed to break his maiden this winter. We are constantly evaluating our stable and looking for ways to improve our horses in their training and give them every opportunity to succeed. Motion has started over 2,600 horses on the turf, and his runners have earned over $25,000,000 on the green. Most notably, he trained 2000 Breeders' Cup Turf winner Better Talk Now and 2010 Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf Winner Shared Account. He has also trained graded stakes winners Bullsbay, Check The Label, Adriano, Rebllion (GB), Indescribable, and Globetrotter amongst many others. He has over 60 graded stakes wins in his career.Motion's stable is based out of Palm Meadows in the winter and Fair Hill Training Center in Fair Hill, MD for most of the year. Brave Monarch is scheduled to ship to Florida within the next 1-2 weeks. He will continue training at Belmont before shipping.

The Defense Rests is scheduled to work four furlongs on Thursday morning at Kirkwood. More to follow after the work.

Phosphorescent had a routine week of turnout on the farm and remains on schedule to be x-rayed by Dr. Baker early in the New Year. We are just under 2 months into the projected 3-4 month out of training period.

Mr. Fantasy had a routine week of turnout on the farm and will be evaluated by Dr. Baker in early January.

Workout

Brave Monarch worked out at Belmont Park going 4F in 51:88 27 of 32

Updates

Brave Monarch worked four furlongs in company in 52:02 (109 of 117) on Saturday morning at Belmont over the training track. Mike was disappointed with the effort. Our colt was down inside and was intimidated being along the rail. To remedy this, we are going to have to get a few more works into him in company to simulate race conditions to get him more comfortable. Accordingly, this will push his debut back until January.

The Defense Rests breezed three furlongs in 39:00 on Saturday at Kirkwood. Kip said, “He’s done very well with a ¾ shoe on his left front foot, so I am inclined to leave it on for a few more weeks before putting a full shoe back on, just to minimize the pressure on the area where he popped an abscess a few weeks ago. He looks great, and I’m very happy with how he is moving. I’ll likely work him again over the weekend.” The Defense Rests remains on schedule to ship back to Mike in January.

Phosphorescent continues daily turnout at Dr. Baker’s farm and remains on schedule to be x-rayed in January.

Mr. Fantasy remains on schedule to be x-rayed by Dr. Baker in January. He goes out during the day equipped with a heavy blanket to keep him warm before spending the nighttime hours in the barn.

2011 Stallion Pages

Mr Fantasy and Phos get mention in 2011 Stallion Register

Workout

Brave Monarch worked outh this morning at Belmont going 4F in 52:02 109 of 117

Updates

Mr. Fantasy remains turned out during the day at Dr. Baker’s farm. Doc will x-ray his ankles in early January. We are just over two months into the projected 4-5 month out of training period.

The Defense Rests is back galloping after popping an abscess. The farrier advised that we keep the ¾ shoe on to make the bothersome area is completely drained. A full shoe will go back on in short order. If he continues training forwardly over the next few days, Kip plans to breeze him over the weekend or early next week. We plan to keep him in the milder climate of South Carolina for an extra couple weeks as the intensity of his speedwork is increased. We will get him up to Mike’s barn in New York in January. He will have a few breezes under his belt by the time. A late February/early March return to the races looks viable.

Phosphorescent is on schedule to have his ankle x-rayed by Dr. Baker in January. Lupe had nothing but positive things to say about our turf lover on yesterday’s “Tuesdays at Two” trainer conference call. Click here to listen.

Brave Monarch Update

Brave Monarch had two short breezes out of the gate this week in anticipation of his debut toward the end of this month. Mike said, “He is a good gate horse who handles the process professionally and breaks sharply. I’ll likely breeze him from the pole on Thursday or Friday and that will give us a better idea of when exactly we can run.”

Updates

Brave Monarch worked four furlongs in 51:11 (45 of 52) on Monday morning at Belmont over the dirt training track. Mike said, “This was a good work. My exercise rider went the first 1/8th too slow, but this colt finished up strongly. We’ll get a few more works into him before looking for race. I think there is a good chance we will get his debut in before the end of the year at Aqueduct.”

The Defense Rests ended up having an abscess in his left front foot. Last week Kip and his team soaked the foot to try and draw out the inflammation and infection. The farrier thought something may have gotten lodged in one of his nail holes, and our colt’s body reacted by forming an abscess to try and get rid of the foreign body. He was outfitted with a ¾ shoe on Monday and jogged soundly this morning. It looks like we knocked this out. Kip’s farrier plans to put a full sized shoe back on him on Friday. If everything looks good, he will resume training over the weekend.

Phosphorescent had another IRAP therapy session on Monday. Click here to learn about IRAP. He’s been on stall rest for the past two days, and will resume turnout tomorrow. Don’t worry, on cold days he’ll head out with a heavy blanket on to keep him warm.

Mr. Fantasy had his final PRP treatment on Monday. He’s been on stall rest for the past two days, and will move into a small paddock tomorrow for daily turnout each day. He will wear a blanket to keep him warm while turned out, and will be brought into the barn each night.