BRIGHT IS BACK IN ACTION

This Says it All!  He is comfortable and healthy.  He covers ground effortlessly.  He s a pleasure to watch because he likes to run.

BRIGHT IS BACK AT THE TRACK!

Mom and I visited Bright at Santa Anita on Saturday (7-2-2011).  He looked fantastic.  He jogged.  HZ said that he breezed a furlong in 12.2 the day before without any urging.  Bright is happy to be back with his buddy Howard. 

JOURNEYS ARE RUNNING!

TODAY THE CTBA MAGAZINE CAME OUT WITH STALLION STANDINGS.  Good Journey hit the Board at number 26.  His stats are as follows:

Foals Born in 2008:   50  (First Crop)
Foals Named to Race:  39
Runners to Date:  22
Starts:   77
Wins:  12
Money earned:  $417,124
Percentage of Winners:  15.5%

Bright Journey is one of the 17 horses that has not yet run.  We expect that he will be ready in mid August.  The leading Journey runner right now is ThirtyfirstStreet with $241,400 in earnings.  The next is Diamond Journey with $82,420.

BLACK CAVIAR ROMPS IN MOONEE VALLEY 3-25-2011

As most of you know, I love watching and betting on Australian Horse Racing.  The fields are big and competitive.  Most of the races are run on grass and you rarely see an injury.  And they have a NO drug policy.  Here is the leading sprinter in Australia - a beautiful filly called Black Caviar.  Very often in OZ, the best horses are fillies and they run against the males.  There was Makybe Diva who won 3 Melbourne Cups in a row. There was Typhoon Tracy last year.  And now - Black Caviar who reminds me of Goldikova in the way that she flattens out like an arrow running.  She is Australia's version of Zenyatta - being unbeated in her career.  I love to see a talented filly. Just look at that Black Flash kick away from the field!  Pure energy and beauty. 

MOM AND BRIGHT 3-12-2011

This is the first photo of Mom and Bright together. Even though he's a stallion, I think she felt some confidence because she saw how sweet he was and that I could pick his feet up and rub my hands all over him.  He has such a nice spirit.  He's a sweet soul. He seems to want her to rub his ears.

 

BRIGHT STANDS OUT 3-12-2011

BRIGHT AT OAKMONT

Mom and I went to visit Bright Journey on March 12, 2011, at the beautiful Oakmont Ranch in Rancho Murietta.   He just turned 3 on February 26, and he looks great.  We fed him two bags of baby organic carrots.  He's got a lovely shiney coat on him.  He had just come out of the aquatred and his legs were rock hard cold and tight.  His tendons look super and you can't tell that he ever had any problem with them.  We hope to have him back to Howard Zucker at Santa Anita by the end of April.

NEW YEARS HEAD SHOT

Bright on January 2, 2011

GOOD AS NEW!

BRIGHT IS NOW HAPPILY HANGING OUT AT POPLAR MEADOWS IN SANGER.  WE VISITED HIM ON JANUARY 2, 2011 ON A DAY THAT WAS RAINING LIKE CRAZY.

Bright looks good.  I had Dr. Ford take a look at his tendon and he said that you can't tell that he ever had an injury.  Love that platlet replacement therapy.  So - he is back on the trail to get back to the races by the end of June.  We have to start him slow by hand walking.  But he is in really good hands with Carol Lingenfeldter - who is a pro at getting horses back in shape for the races. 

He will start on the Aqua tred in a few weeks.  Probably in April he will go back to Howard Zucker at Santa Anita.  Bigger, better and stronger than before.  He's really a big strapping, good looking colt now.  And he's still got a very nice personality.  Easy going and loves his carrots.

He's my Gio Ponti.  I can just feel it.  He is going to love the turf.

BRIGHT IS BIGGER!

HI EVERYONE,  I CHECKED IN ON BRIGHT TODAY AND I AM TOLD HE HAS GROWN! HE'S DOING GREAT. Leigh sent me this photo so you can see how he has filled in.  Remember, he is still a stallion too. He's very handsome.  He is walking perfectly fine and he gets 45 minutes of ultrasound vibration treatment a day on his tendon.  We should have him on the Aquatred by the end of December with an eye towards having him back on the track with Howard by the end of April 2011. (He will have been off 8 months and will need a couple of months of trotting and jogging first.)  But he's coming along just fine.

BRIGHT'S RECOVERY

HI EVERYONE.  I VISITED BRIGHT AT WINNER'S CIRCLE RANCH IN BRADBURY ON TUESDAY. He's doing alright.  It was hot but they had a fan on for him. I met with Leigh Gray and we talked about his rehab program.  Dr. Sheild performed the first of three Platlette Rich Plasma (PRP) procedures on him on Wednesday evening.  Dr. Shield wrote me that the lesion is in the lower 40% based on length and circumference. He suggests that there is a 65% chance of return to successful racing without re-injury during 5+ races. He also sent me video of the procedure which I will post on the Red Garland Extranet site for everyone to see.

I really like the Winner's Circle Facility and feel confident that Bright is getting the best care possible.  Go check it out.   You will be impressed. I will keep you posted. 

http://www.winnersranch.com/

BRIGHT WORKS A HALF MILE!

WORK OUT ALERT

Bright worked a half mile this morning in 49.6!  He cruised on the rail without hestitation.  Howard says he's a fast learner.  He's getting stronger and building stamina now.  Every week is a step forward.  The condition book has not come out yet, but we are heading him to a race in the last week of August or first week of September.  I will let you know as soon as I know we have entered him in a race.

RED GARLAND PLAYS COOLS JAZZ

THE DUDE COULD REALLY PLAY SOME HOT JAZZ.  WORTH A LISTEN!  IF YOU HAVE NEVER HEARD OF HIM, HE'S A GREAT MUSICIAN.
Check it out:  September in the Rain
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBLQMPtgGbU&feature=fvw

BRIGHT CAM AT DEL MAR

THE LINK TO GET ONTO THE BRIGHT CAM AT DEL MAR IS http://140.239.1.72:84/.
REMEMBER: Password is "jennifer" and code is "race".
All lower case letters.

GATE WORK

BRIGHT HAS BEEN DOING GATE WORK FOR ABOUT 10 DAYS NOW.  Howard says he's smart and knows what its about.  He wants to go hard out of the gate.  No problems at all.  Bright is a cool customer and takes it all in stride.  He will do more gate work at Del Mar to prep for maximum acceleration from the stand still.   But he's already figured out thats the score.  Bright is a very smart horse.  We named him well.

LEAVING FOR DEL MAR

HOWARD IS MOVING THE WHOLE STRING TO DEL MAR ON THURSDAY.  BRIGHT WILL WORK OUT ONE LAST TIME AT SANTA ANITA AND THEN GET ON THE BUS TO GO TO THE BEACH WITH HIS FRIENDS.  HE WILL WORK OUT AT DEL MAR NEXT THURSDAY AFTER GETTING USED TO THE TRACK. 

.24 AND CHANGE!

BRIGHT WORKED OUT LAST THURSDAY AND WENT 24.3 FOR 2 FURLONGS.  (Thats 440 yards).  That's racing speed.  He loves it.  Wasn't even blowing. 

Working Out and Getting Strong

This is Bright working with a partner last Sunday.  He seems to love working out.  He's getting an nice strong chest.  A picture says a thousand words about how a horse is feeling.  Bright is feeling good.

BRIGHT RUNS A LICK

HI RGR Group and Bright Journey Fans!
Bright worked at Santa Anita this morning a 1/8th lick in 13:4 with a buddy.
Howard Zucker says he is all business now.  Very professional.
HZ has hm on the Maryland Shin Remodeling Program so that Bright doesn't buck a shin
and so he gets strong bone for racing.
We also have him on bone supplements so that hopefully in about 3 months he will be strong to race. Next week someone fro Equix Bio in Kentucky is coming to make and analysis of his body and stride mechanics. I am excited to see what the analysis reflects, however, HZ already thinks that Bright strides out with good extension and that is a very good thing indeed.  Stay tuned.

BRIGHT GALLOPS

BRIGHT IS NOW SLOWLY GALLOPING WITH MANE A FLYING.  He looks happy.  He is going with a buddy and they are hard to tell apart except that Bright is about two inches taller with a bigger croup.  On his third go around, on the home turn, Bright did something really cool.  On his own, without any urging, he picked up his head and accelerated around the turn and past his running pal.  The jockey was a little surprised and took him back pretty solidly.  But Efrain said to me, "Hey did you see that?"  I said "Yeah.  What just happened?"  Efrain said, "Well its too early to say if he has any talent, but that was a move you like to see.  It was his idea to accelerate past the other horse on the turn.  You can't buy that....they have to want to do it - and I guess he does."   And thats a good thing. 

By the way, Bright is really looking like a stallion these days, if you know what I mean. He's got a good size neck and head.  His coat is shiney.  Efrain says he's the biggest colt on the farm right now.  Bright leaves for Howard Zucker's barn (59) at Santa Anita next week to start training harder to get ready for his first race in August at Del Mar.  How exciting.