Kentucky Derby (G1) winner MINE THAT BIRD (Birdstone) will undergo throat
“After Mine That Bird’s work this morning, we scoped him, and he’s got an
“The doctors think — there’s no guarantees — but the doctors think he’ll be
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Woolley said the brief procedure will be performed at about 8 a.m. (EDT)
Tuesday morning by Dr. Patricia Hogan at the Ruffian Equine Medical Center
across the street from Belmont Park, after which Mine That Bird will immediately
return to Saratoga.
“We could do it here, that’s not an issue, it’s the fact that the doctor down
there has a full-day schedule tomorrow, and there was no way for her to come up
here and get back and do her other surgeries,” Woolley said. “This horse
transports well. It’s not that big a deal, we’ll just haul him down there, spend
the night and do it, haul him back here tomorrow afternoon.”
Woolley said that the condition, in which the thin membrane lying below the
epiglottis (the fleshy tissue that covers the windpipe when a horse swallows)
moves up and covers the epiglottis, was discovered during a routine endoscopic
examination by veterinarian Dr. James Hunt.
“Every time, two weeks out, we always scope him just to make sure we don’t
have any problems,” Woolley said. “It’s just standard procedure with me, that’s
how I’ve done it in every race. At his two week-out work, we scope him. We had
no clue there was any problem.
“He came off the race track bucking and playing this morning. I never gave a
second thought to it. He finishes up in :11 3/5 the last eighth of a mile. I
mean, I would have never dreamed there’s a problem.”
The procedure, similar to the one Alysheba underwent 30 days before he won
the 1987 Kentucky Derby, will take a matter of minutes, Woolley said, after
which Mine That Bird should be able to resume training with little interruption.
“Basically, they’ve got a little hook with a kind of a sharp (piece) inside
of the hook, and they just reach in and they hook the little piece that’s grown
up over the top and slice it in two,” he explained. “And that thing will kind of
draw back away, and, for the most part, it will be gone.”
Mine That Bird, who was second to RACHEL ALEXANDRA (Medaglia d’Oro) in the
Preakness S. (G1), third to SUMMER BIRD (Birdstone) in the Belmont S. (G1) and
third in his most recent start, the West Virginia Derby (G2), is scheduled to
have his final tune-up for the 1 1/4-mile Travers next week.
“That’s our plan,” Woolley said. “I can miss a couple days of training
without any worry about the work. I mean he can still work on Tuesday if he
misses a day or two of training, that’s not going to make or break him. But he
does need the work and like I said, if he’s not ready, he won’t run.”
Woolley was clearly shaken by the turn of events but expressed optimism that
Mine That Bird would be able to keep his engagement in the Midsummer Derby, in
which he is expected to face Summer Bird, track-record holder QUALITY ROAD
(Elusive Quality) and perhaps Rachel Alexandra.
“It’s pretty routine — I’ve done a number over the years with great
success,” he said. “This horse, in particular, it’s a big deal no matter what
you’re doing to him. (The timing) stinks. You’d have loved to have another
week, but we don’t have that, this is what we’ve got, and this is what we’ve got
to deal with.”