Kentucky Derby Winner Mine That Bird Appears Healthy After Surgery
Two days after a minor surgery to repair an entrapped epiglottis, the Kentucky Derby winner Mine That Bird appeared healthy and happy in his stall at the Saratoga stakes barn and on target for a run next Saturday in the 2009 Travers Stakes August 29.
“We’ll scope him first thing in the morning (6:30 a.m. Friday) and if he’s good we’ll go to the racetrack (at 7:15 a.m.) and jog him a couple rounds,” said race horse trainer Chip Woolley, noting that the gelded son of Birdstone Mine That Bird will only have missed 2 days of training for the Travers if he gets back out on the track Friday.
Woolley has talked with trainers Todd Pletcher and D. Wayne Lukas about their experiences with the surgery, and both said it shouldn’t be a problem. Lukas told him Tank’s Prospect underwent the same procedure 5 days before winning the Arkansas Derby, Woolley said.
“The big thing is laying him down, getting him up; the surgery is minimally invasive, no big deal, but the big worry is infection,” race horse trainer Chip Woolley said.
Woolley said he considered one of the most important parts of the episode to be getting information out to the public and not trying to hide the problem.
“People deserve to know,” Woolley said. “Those people (fans) put on the show. If I lead him over for the Travers, people are going to bet $300,000, $400,000 on him. I wanted everybody to know this is what we’re dealing with.”
Horse racing news edited from www.nyra.com.
Tags: Mine That Bird
"Kentucky Derby Winner Mine That Bird Appears Healthy After Surgery" was posted on 20 August 2009 10:31 PM under Horse Racing News, Horses, Race Tracks, Special Features
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