The New York Racing Association has provided a transcript of a Saturday
morning conference call with Jimmy Jerkens, the trainer of Florida Derby (G1)
hero QUALITY ROAD (Elusive Quality).
Jerkens offered the following opening statement:
“It was decided just to give him a jog today because he hadn’t had much time
for the crack to dry out. So, instead of galloping him, which probably would
have put a little too much stress on him, we just jogged him a couple of miles
and he handled that very well and jogging obviously is a lot easier on the horse
in all ways, respiration wise and on the legs than galloping. It’s not quite as
good a conditioner…but it’s all we could do to be on the safe side and he came
back, the crack looked dry and there was no blood seeping from it, so we’re
planning on patching him at 7 o’clock tomorrow morning (EDT) and galloping him
at about 9:20 after the second harrow break.”
Question from Jennie Rees, Louisville Courier-Journal: “Jimmy, can you
comment on the composition of his feet? Does he have anything in his
hooves…that would make him susceptible to quarter-cracks?”
Jerkens: “You know, for a horse this size, the foot seems to have a nice
enough shape to it, it’s nice and round, but it is, in comparison to the rest of
him, a little on the small side and his walls are kind of thin, which might be
hereditary. I had a three-quarter sister to him, last year…and we had a horrible
time with her. We were forever patching quarter-cracks up, matter of fact there
got to be a point where we didn’t really think it was worth going on anymore and
she’s a broodmare now so it certainly looks like it could be hereditary.”
Question from Rees: “Did you have any problems with him as a two-year-old? Is
it connected in any way to the fact that he only raced once as a two-year-old?”
Jerkens: “No, no, not at all. The first sign of it was right around Florida
Derby time. Honestly, we didn’t have any problem at all with his feet up
until then.”
Question from Rees: “He had that really good three-quarter work last week (in
1:12.03 April 17 over Belmont Park’s training track), I mean how important was
(having that work) now that…you had to jog him today instead of gallop him?”
Jerkens: “Now it looks like it was good we had that work under our belt,
that’s for sure. But still, that was quite a while ago and we’ll definitely have
to do something by Monday to be prepared. A mile and a quarter against the best
horses in the country, you don’t want to be going in there short of condition,
that’s for sure.”
Question from Tim Wilkin, Albany Times Union: “How confident are you
this horse will be ready to run a week from today?”
Jerkens: “Well, the way things are going, pretty confident. I’m usually
negative about everything by nature, but the way he responded off of the last
one, and Ian’s (McKinlay, hoof specialist) reassurance, and the fact that he
hasn’t been sore, weight-bearing sore on it — he’s been sore on just that one
spot on top of the hairline when you press it, but he still has no soreness
whatsoever when he’s bearing weight on it, which is a big thing.”
Question from Wilkin: “How much can this affect him a week from today?”
Jerkens: “Well, it shouldn’t affect him at all — if we put the patch on and
he works well with it and comes out of it without any problems, we shouldn’t
have any problems. Usually when you get the patch on, you have no problems; it’s
almost like having a regular foot.”
Question from Jerry Bossert, New York Daily News: “The forecast in
Kentucky calls for a lot of thunderstorms, and possibly rain, will that play any
part into it with the hoof and the patch and everything?”
Jerkens: “No, once we get that far up to race day…you mean as far as running
in the mud worsening the quarter-crack, is that what you mean?”
Question from Bossert: “I just mean, with a quarter-crack and moisture, I’m
not a hoof specialist, so I’m just curious how it all works together.”
Jerkens: “I wouldn’t worry about the existing quarter-crack in the mud. I’d
be worrying about maybe a hard mud causing another one.”
Question from Bossert: “Well, what happens if they seal the track and make it
hard, would that put more pressure then on the hoof?”
Jerkens: “Yeah, anytime a base is hard, it puts pressure on anything on a
horse. The foot’s the first thing to hit the ground, so it’s going to absorb
most of the shock, that’s for sure.”
Question from Joe Drape, The New York Times: “I want to make sure I’m
clear — you said something about you need to get some work into him Monday, so
what is the next two days and what will decide if he goes or not?”
Jerkens: “Tomorrow he’ll have to get a patch applied and then he’ll have to
respond good to the patch, which he should because there’s no infection in
there. But sometimes when you do put a patch on and they exercise on it, some
pressure builds up underneath it if the patch isn’t stabilizing it enough, it
will cause some friction and then you’ll get some pressure, you’ll get some
soreness.
“So, he’ll have to get the patch tomorrow, and gallop sound, and come out of
the gallop sound, and if he comes out of the gallop sound, I would be really
surprised if he was to work on it and have any problem. So tomorrow is the big
day as far as finding out where we’re going.”
Question from Drape: “Is there going to be another breeze, let’s say he comes
out sound, and would that be here (at Churchill Downs) or there?”
Jerkens: “Well, that would be Monday (in New York) if the race is only
Saturday. What I’ve been doing with him in all his races is just let him breeze
a quarter down the stretch the morning before and that’s probably what we’ll do
this time, but it depends on a few things. If the track ends up being sloppy or
something like that, I might forego that. But I would like to have him stretch
his legs down the stretch the day before, I always like to give horses a little
blowout like that before they run, especially when they’re running long.”
Question from Churchill Downs notes team: “Will there be anything different
as far as shoes go with this horse, given the problems?”
Jerkens: “Nope, we’ve got our standard shoe, XP, on him. We don’t even have
him three-quartered, sometimes you’ll three-quarter a horse — (put) a
three-quarter shoe on the inside to keep pressure off the quarter — but in this
instance, where the crack is, Ian thought it would better to have a full shoe to
further support the foot to keep it from spreading, so he’s got a regular full
size shoe on both feet in front. Matter of fact, he’s shod now the way he’s
going to run for the Derby.
Question from Dick Downey, The Downey Profile: “It’s been reported
that you noticed the first quarter-crack he had in the winner’s circle after the
Florida Derby and I just wanted to see if that was completely accurate?”
Jerkens: “Yeah, he came into the winner’s circle and he had a trace of blood
on the hoof in behind that you could see.”