Joe's Barn Report -- Sunday, January 24th

Another week with CVF horses in three different states – so Joe reports about Sunday morning on the Belmont backstretch, and Steve adds some brief updates on the Virginia and Florida horses.

Almost warm at Belmont this morning. More trainers out by the rail at the training track.

We couldn’t find Talking Blues. Bruce Brown has 50 horses in training at Belmont now, so he’s expanded into a second barn, and TB has a new stall. Bruce is in Florida for a couple of days, checking up on the horses he sent to Gulfstream, so Bruce’s assistant showed us the new barn.

Talking Blues was acting like a happy horse. Maybe he likes his new neighbors. Bruce’s assistant and TB’s exercise rider (who is in love with TB) both think the sealed sloppy track was his undoing in his last race. They did say that Talking Blues has a true competitor’s heart.

Steve and Bruce are looking for TB’s next race. They’re thinking about a race on February 4 – a $15,000 NY-Bred claiming, at a mile and a quarter. Bruce will see how Talking Blues trains over the next few weeks and then make a decision.

We missed Strings and Arrows’ gallop on the training track. Leah rode him, and said he was still tugging her along after 7 furlongs. There are some NY Bred Maiden Special Weight races at a mile or a mile and seventy yards in early February that Steve and Leah are looking at.

If anyone wants to visit Talking Blues or Strings and Arrows some morning at Belmont Park, please let us know.

Diana McClure reports that the weather in northern Virginia has warmed up some, so Bagavond is spending most of the daylight hours turned out in the paddock. But his return to racing has begun. He's been jogging, and beginning next week, Diana and Michael will step up his workload. The aim is to have him ready to come back to the race track by the end of March, so he can have a few breezes before the turf season starts in late April or early May.

And in Florida, Bill Turner reports that Iguazu should start breezing again within a week, on the road to a start at Gulfstream before the end of February. Bill says that Iguazu is looking very strong, but Bill's preference is to call a halt to training whenever a horse has a minor ailment, and Iguazu has had a couple –first a cough, and then a little swelling in the ankle. Nothing major, and it's all been checked out by the vet, but it has set our target date for a race back quite a bit