“Everything is great today,” said stable foreman Ed Madden. “This horse is
A successful two-year-old over the turf, Barbaro made his first start on the
Second-place Sharp Humor, who was making his first start around two turns,
Although conditioner Todd Pletcher was pleased with SUNRIVER’s (Saint Ballado)
“Saint Augustus didn’t have much excuse,” Pletcher said. “He was stuck inside
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The second-favorite, FLASHY BULL (Holy Bull), came home a well-beaten seventh,
but trainer Kiaran McLaughlin blames his poor outing on an electrolyte imbalance
known as “the thumps.”
“They call it the ‘thumps’ because the horse’s body actually thumps a little
bit when they are suffering from it,” McLaughlin said. “It was hot yesterday,
and usually the ‘thumps’ are caused by heat and/or dehydration in the horse’s
body. There are various things you can do, such as an addition of calcium in the
horse’s diet to prevent a recurrence of the condition, so as of right now, we’re
still pointed toward the Kentucky Derby.
“The horse came out of the race sound as he always was, but he ran a sub-par race
and we may have found a legitimate excuse for that performance.”