Chief Stipe

“He Seemed Fine”: How Joe Pride Saved Ceolwulf From A Career-Wrecking Ban CEOLWULF, CHAD SCHOFIELD / G1 King Charles III Stakes // Randwick /// 2024 //// Photo by Jeremy Ng One of Australia’s best horses, Ceolwulf, will return to the races in the G1 Verry Elleegant Stakes a fortnight after he dodged a ban which could have spelled disaster for the rest of his career. At five, there could still be plenty of seasons for the two-time G1 King Charles Stakes winner – who has already amassed more than A$10 million in prizemoney – to race for big money.https://bitofayarn.com But at his last start, the Joe Pride-trained gelding returned to scale with blood present in both nostrils after finishing down the track behind the unbeaten Autumn Glow in the G2 Apollo Stakes. Such a scenario usually triggers a three-month ban from racing in Australia, and a second bleeding attack deems the horse must be retired. Connections didn’t want to have one strike, let alone the thought of being on the cusp of a second.https://bitofayarn.com But as Pride examined Ceolwulf after the race and observed the blood in both nostrils, he was perplexed. Ceolwulf wasn’t distressed, breathing abnormally, or even a little awkward on his feet. He seemed just … fine. What happened next was Pride’s quick thinking saving his horse’s campaign and has put the spotlight on how thoroughbreds are examined when external clues might not lead to the standard conclusion internally. JOE PRIDE / Randwick // 2023 /// Photo by Jeremy Ng Before driving the horse across Sydney back to his stables, Pride asked Racing NSW stewards if he could have the horse scoped on track. The regulator’s chief veterinary officer, Dr Carly Garling, watched the process unfold. “Every horse is an individual and I’d like to think I know my horses well,” Pride said. Pride suspected Ceolwulf hadn’t suffered exercise-induced pulmonary haemorrhage (EIPH), which is when blood enters the airways of a horse’s lungs. EIPH usually occurs after a strenuous gallop such as a race, and is manifested with blood from both nostrils. After inspecting Ceolwulf’s airways and lungs, vets couldn’t find any presence of blood. Stewards agreed there could be a possibility of further follow-up tests during the week to ensure Ceolwulf would be cleared to continue racing. On the other side of the world, chief steward Tom Moxon was attending the Asian Racing Conference in Saudi Arabia. He was being kept abreast of the unfolding situation with one of the best horses in the country, including the post-race request for it to be scoped.https://bitofayarn.com “It’s not something we would routinely do on tracks in NSW, but (Pride) was able to arrange for a vet to scope the horse on course,” Moxon said. “It was clear on the scope that the blood on the nostrils wasn’t a result of EIPH, meaning that it was clear it hadn’t come from the lungs and there was no blood in the trachea. I suppose we just wanted to make as informed a decision as we could with the horse’s welfare at the forefront of our minds.” What followed next was a nervous few days as Pride and Ceolwulf’s owners tried to jump every hurdle to make sure the horse was healthy and right to continue his preparation. On Pride’s instigation, Ceolwulf went for a CT scan at Randwick Equine Centre in the days after the Apollo Stakes. Ceolwulf was sedated under the supervision of an equine specialist. The examination assessed everything: the horse’s skull, soft tissue, airways, the list goes on. “We were looking for something in his sinuses where he might have had a growth, something that could have bled,” Pride said. “It might have been an obstruction. There was nothing. https://bitofayarn.com “The horse passed every examination we could have put him through. It was above and beyond what they asked us to do, but he’s a valuable horse.” Pride’s mentor John Size trains in the more extreme climate of Hong Kong, and is known for protecting horses once they suffer an EIPH bleed. Pride is similarly cautious with his gallopers, but his intuition told him nothing was wrong with Ceolwulf despite the presence of blood after the race. So, what happened? “The most likely explanation seems to be he’s had, and I would call it minor, a head trauma and he’s burst a couple of vessels,” Pride said. “What I have seen happen with horses is they might whack their head on a walker or in the pool, but nothing happens until you gallop them and the extra pressure they’re exerting through that area bursts those blood vessels. “The blood is coming from a very innocent place. “These are horses that are having ridiculously large amounts of money bet on them. The technology is there so let’s embrace it and use it and hopefully improve the game going forward. If something can improve out of this, that’s a positive as well.”

One.

No disrespect to your knowledge but as an athlete in my teenage years on the Coast I trained and raced at all four tracks. Omoto is also a swamp in the middle and any further development is constrained by physical barriers. Not to mention the periodic flooding from the Grey River which is one of those physical barriers. Yes Kumara is built on pakahi flats however many farmers and science has worked out how to turn it into very productive paddocks. Pakahi soil forms over hard iron pans. The soil itself isn't that bad but the problem is drainage. Crack the pan and put in good drains you are fine. The difference with Kumara is that there is acres of cheap land surrounding the existing course. Pakahi doesn't worry the building of infrastructure. You could very easily build a pseudo artificial turf track on the top of a hard iron pan. Westland missed an opportunity to promote West Coast racing.

FFS - you deliberately left the other clause out which is specifically aligned to the objectives of the Club. All other clauses are tested against those objectives. Geez spin around if you will. One minute you are saying it should be returned to the community that built it now you are saying stuff history it is what the latest community wants! When the assets were built up a long time before this latest generation came along!! The realised assets should have gone to Kumara to further racing on the West Coast. Not sold to developers to to reduce the rates of ratepayers of the Westland District Council. But just keep on perpetuating the poster child myth that the Westland Racing Club gave the finger to NZTR!

So the 150+ year paramount objective of the Club is over ridden with no consideration to those members who developed the assets to pursue their chosen sport of racing. I think you are deliberating obfuscating the point to suit an ill advised agenda. Racing AND the people of Westland could have benefited by the Club investing in Kumara which is officially in the District of Westland. You also ignore the clause immediately above the one you quote: In the event of the Club being wound-up or put into liquidation in accordance with (a) above, the property and surplus assets of the Club after payment of the Club's liabilities and the expenses of the winding-up must be disposed of in accordance with section 27 of the Racing Act, for racing, public, charitable, or other purposes in the manner that the Club, with the approval of NZTR, determines.

Not at all. But then I'm not promoting the myth that the "community" benefited from the "gift". Explain this - why would the Westland Racing Club act opposite to the objectives of their Club? The Westland District Council that received the "gift" also has the Kumara Racing Club within its territorial boundaries. The WRC could have invested in that course and got more meetings! Hell it is only 20 mins drive down the road and has a lot more shyte land to develop into a decent racecourse!

But why do it that way Murray? Why not keep your "Club" going and invest in a better facility down the road? Isn't the reason for the Club - Racing horses be they Thoroughbred or Standardbred? Rugby Clubs with equally long historys have had to bit the bullet and merge otherwise instead of one Club promoting and playing rugby there would be two or three bankrupt ones.

Only part of the community built it for the purposes of horse racing. Those that were interested in horse racing. For the majority of its existence it was only ever used as a racecourse and horse training facility. Except for the likes of local athletes like myself who did cross country training on the course. The objective of the Westland Racing Club as stated in its Constitution was: To hold and conduct race meetings and to promote, regulate and assist the sport of Horse Racing at the Club's course at Hokitika or anywhere else in New Zealand. As for it remaining a community asset it has been turned into a housing subdivision. I know someone who has done a bit of research on the deal and it isn't as nice and touchy as those with other agendas make it out to be. At the end of the day Racing on the West Coast lost out to age old parochialism rather than a passion for racing.

That the Westland Racing Club gave the assets to the local community in an act of virtuous benevolence.

Then those Club members have no interest in the sustainability of the industry nor for that matter being committed to the constitutional reason for their existence - to further the interests of the sport of racing. Why couldn't Westland have given the capital released by selling DIRECTLY to the real estate developer to Kumara rather than giving it to the local Council? My father donated thousands of dollars to the Westland Racing Club either in money or services from his business. I helped paint running rails and seats. He was a realist as a business man and also didn't suffer from the parochialism that holds Clubs back. He was born and bred in Greymouth - his wife was from Westport. He ran the icecream stall at Kumara selling Snowflake tubs out of large canvas bags. He raced horses all over the South Island. He would have seen the writing on the wall for at least one (if not two) of the West Coast Clubs. At the end of the day he and his friends of his era would have rather have seen the money invested in racing on the West Coast.

That's the myth that some are promoting. There were pre-arrangements not too dissimilar to other real estate deals done. Didn't Westland have the opportunity to invest in Kumara? The iconic racecourse 25km down the road.

But Hokitika wasn't sold by NZTR - the Club effectively gave it away. Although they did have prior agreements with local stakeholders.

LOL you aren't very good at the stats are you. Surely you are not suggesting he has more starters than Chris Waller, Gai Waterhouse, Ciaron Maher, the Hayes Brothers...

Well we gather you don't support much at all. I see yet another drive by emoji from @JJ Flash . You'd be pleased to know @Huey that so far this season Mark Walker has trained the mosr individual 2yr old winners in Australia and NZ.

So they haven't sold any yet as you inferred?

Which ones have been sold? By whom?

Ellerslie.

All three clubs have voted for it as well. Sadly Te Rapa has been let go and will get much worse. The biggest issue though is making the new site self-funding enough to maintain and eventually renovate their core operational assets. Hopefully it won't be like the AWT's and they have done a proper business case.

Random questions or are you both being smart arses?

Why? Surely you are not suggesting this transaction is done without then?

He told a story when commentating. I don't know how he managed to say so much so often and at the right time in a race. In those days we listened on radio as only the big races were televised. You could listen to Jack and feel like you were there. "Grand sight in sunshine..." "Jack Smolenski gives the dust sheet a tap or two and his charge is out by a length at the moment..." Every race was somehow different as in he didn't often repeat himself like some commentators do - Tony Lee and his last little bit, they're chasing a memory etc. Reon Murtha was good too but not as colourful as Jack.

The first and best commentator I heard on the circuit was Jack O'Donell from Greymouth. I memorised some of his race calls of my Dad's horses winning. I remember big fields in those days 18 or more horses going round. Real tactical events and an impressive sight. Especially a staying event where they turned for home up that uphill straight at Richmond. "...they're a great sight in sunshine as they make there way around the showground bend. Jack Smolenski immediately gives the dust sheet a tap or two and his charge is out by a couple of lengths, Canny Glen is the big danger, Tilford starting to make a run from the back...they straighten up and set sail for home Canny Glen is put under pressure, Tilford still making his run.....and here's High Chaparall making a big run down the outside, High Chaparall, there's a furlong to go and High Chaparral has swooped to the lead...High Chaparral bolts in - this will be a boilover!" Dad and Joe Hill once again pocketed great wads of $20 notes!

Why would I go "hunting" for those posts when there is @Newmarket , @JJ Flash , @Huey and @Comic Dog doing it for me?

That's a bit rich coming from someone who starts a Topic with the intention of bagging a horse that has just picked up a couple of Group 3 placings in OZ. I'm not arrogant enough to tell Mark Walker one of NZ's most successful trainers that he should race his horse for $46k at Kangaroo Island. Instead the Grp 3 OZ placing has added more residual value. I then stick my neck out giving an opinion on what I think that residual value currently is knowing full well that I will be on the end of trolling and derision. I then post a brief rationale of how I determined that figure. No one else as done that one way or another just like I provided an opinion backed by analysis on her performances. One troll from another site @Comic Dog read my residual value comment and supposedly rang a couple of bloodstock valuers to try and score points. Probably because they are not as knowledgeable as they make out to be or too lazy to do some research. Mind you the same types think Jamie Richards is doing really well in Hong Kong when the statistics show otherwise. 4 seasons to get 100 winners and has always been in the bottom half of the trainers premiership. If you want to be in a misogynist echo chamber where only those that agree with each other are allowed to comment or where the site owner bans you for posting the very type of post you just did then go for it.

I haven't EVER said I was NEVER wrong. That's not to say I'll never back up my statements with rational logical argument. Still waiting for @Newmarket and @JJ Flash to post something that does.