GOLDEN GLIMPSES #52 GOLDEN GLIMPSES #52 TRAINER FINDS UNEXPECTED DEATH ON ORIENT EXPRESS
Mike Mitchell arrived in Hong Kong with the favorite for a rich international race, and left with the best horse he ever claimed tragically dead.
Comininalittlehot, an $80,000 claim last February, had already won himself out with two stakes victories and owned a track record, but a chance to showcase the horse internationally on all-expense paid trip to the Dec. 8 International Bowl at Sha Tin race track seemed a worthwhile opportunity.
"We did find a little high white (blood) count when we first arrived, but the vets didn't feel it was uncommon, based on a visit to the other side of the globe," Mitchell related. "We weren't really concerned, but we started him on antibiotics anyway. After the third day, his blood looked great and he looked good, so we galloped him that day, a Tuesday, five days before the race. He galloped strong and people were impressed with how he looked.
"That afternoon, about 4 o'clock, we took him out of his stall and walked him around, and he was fine. Then that night, I stopped at the barn just before six and noticed he was breathing a little hard. That's what puzzles me even now. We caught this early. He was just starting to get sick. So I called the vet and he treated him with a medication that still would have enabled us to run.
"On Wednesday, the horse didn't eat a thing. By then, I wasn't even thinking about making the race. I was just hoping he'd make the plane trip home, and I instructed the vets to do what they had to get the horse well. But it never entered our minds that we might lose him.
"Thursday, he looked good and was eating and drinking. But two hours later he was on the ground, washed out and really had me scared again. The veterinarians could hear fluid in his lungs, and they wanted to tap them.
"But when you go to those lengths, although you might save the animal, it's pretty much finished as a race horse. We tapped his lungs anyway, but he never got any relief. Then late they night, they told me they felt they should put him down.
"It was as quick as I've had a horse get sick," said the 48-year-old Mitchell, a 14-time training champion who began his career in 1974. "I don't know if the horse became stressed from the plane ride or what, but I thought he'd be a very good candidate to ship, because he was a very strong horse, a good eater, and never been sick a day that I had him. He was just a perfect horse to run in a race like this. Thank God the (Hong Kong) Jockey Club insures all the horses that ship in for their big races. Bad as it was, it would have been a total loss otherwise."
Mitchell, understandably, was more disappointed for his owner, Gary Burke, than he was for himself.
"I would make the trip again," Mitchell said, "but I don't know what other precautions I could take. This horse had passed every test and was ready to run. That's what makes it so hard. I usually don't ship horses that far, maybe to New York or Louisiana once in a while, but I never had a horse get sick on me like that. I just don't know what I could have done to prevent it."
GOLDEN PICKS
MR. PETER P. -- Hard-hitting sprinter's last win came for $50,000 under Mitchell, who lost him for that price last January. The horse was ambitiously spotted in subsequent starts, then was throttled down in a $32,000 race he should have had the lead in on Dec. 12. Mitchell reclaimed him, knows him best, and will have him back in winners' circle.
PACIFICBOUNTY -- Handled allowance maidens on off track, but won with such authority he should be able to repeat on any surface.
THE HOMESTRETCH: Gary Stevens knows the Jockeys' Guild and racing face many obstacles as he succeeds guild president Jerry Bailey. "Horse racing needs to come together and work for the common good," the 33-year-old rider said. "It's important for jockeys, owners, trainers and track management to work together. There's a lot of infighting, and that's no good." Stevens concurs that the major problem is too much racing. "There's an over-abundance and fewer horses running now. The more races we have, the less the numbers are going to be, and the reason is horses are basically just wearing out. They're afforded the opportunity to run every seven days, and everyone knows that's too much. You can't do that year-round. It's going to take its toll." . . . Trainer/attorney Darrell Vienna, representing Patrick Valenzuela in Santa Anita Municipal Court on Dec. 12, pleaded not guilty for his client on two misdemeanor charges. Valenzuela, arrested for vandalism on Oct. 31, will have a pre-trial hearing on April 29. Vienna has spoken to the jockey and said he is doing well, considering the emotional stress he is under . . . How tough is it on the Southern California circuit? Matt Garcia considered quitting at Fairplex in September and is living in his van on Hollywood's parking lot. "Sometimes it gets discouraging," the 26-year-old said, "but I know if I keep working, it will pay off." Garcia credits his new agent, Vince DeGregory, trainer Mel Stute and tutor Rene Romero with his resurgence, which had him winning at a nearly 10 percent clip. The personable Garcia, who has been accused by fellow jocks of using poor riding judgment, didn't help his cause when he overzealously tried to grab Victor Espinoza's whip after dropping his own in a stretch duel. "I know I can compete on this circuit; it's just a matter of getting the mounts," Garcia said. "But it's hard to win when you're riding horses named Chicken Lips."
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