NEWS
VIDEO - Ice convinced Summer Bird will handle synthetic
Posted: Sunday, November 01, 2009 4:47 PM
by Jeff Lowe
Like every other horse in the Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) without a previous start at Santa Anita Park, let alone on any synthetic track, the surface will be a subject of speculation with no definitive answer in analyzing Summer Bird.
Dirt is no question after Summer Bird fired off wins in the Belmont (G1), Shadwell Travers (G1), and Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) Stakes, becoming the tenth horse to win those three races in the same year and the first since Easy Goer in 1989.
After watching Summer Bird train at Santa Anita for nearly a month, trainer Tim Ice is convinced the track will not be an issue. The Birdstone colt has turned in three five-furlong workouts since he shipped West from Belmont Park on October 12. He was timed in 1:02 on October 17, 1:00.40 on October 25, and :59.40 on Saturday.
“He’s handled the track from the first day we had him over it,” said Ice, who was an assistant to trainer Keith Desormeaux in Southern California. “All three workouts, I’ve thought he worked well over it. He’s fit in out here like he’s been out here forever. That’s his norm. He comes in and makes his home. He’s doing super.”
The wrinkle is that Summer Bird has been at Santa Anita before. He trained there for several months as an unraced two-year-old with trainer John Sadler. Following a six-furlong workout on December 30, owners-breeders Kalarikkal and Vilasini Jayaraman transferred the colt to Ice at Oaklawn Park.
Sadler told Daily Racing Form in June and reiterated on Sunday that when Summer Bird was with him, he seemed to struggle with the Pro-Ride surface. Ice said the move from Sadler had nothing to do with the way Summer Bird was handling the track.
“I know the reason he was sent to me wasn’t because he didn’t handle the synthetic,” Ice said. “I never thought he would have any problems.”
Sadler said he has seen Summer Bird on the track since he returned to Santa Anita, but he has not had a chance to watch him train.
“I don’t think he was loving this track when he was here, but that doesn’t mean he won’t love it now,” said Sadler, who no longer trains for the Jayaramans. “He’s an older horse and has been running all year. He looks good. It’s a good question.”
Summer Bird adjusted well prior to his first big win in the Belmont Stakes. Ice was openly dissatisfied with his first workout at Belmont.
“When we first got to Belmont we had to change a few things with his shoes as far as him being able to get hold of the track,” Ice said. “After we’ve done that, he’s taken to it, which is one reason why we like to get him somewhere early, just so he can adapt and get acclimated to it. He’s responded. I like how he’s training here. He looks super. He’s come out of his workouts well.”
Ice thinks Summer Bird has big potential on the turf, which was reflected in the decision to also pre-enter the colt in the Breeders’ Cup Turf (G1), as something of an afterthought. Ice also was dissatisfied with the way Summer Bird looked galloping on the grass at Saratoga Race Course on August 13, but he does not put much stock in that experience in projecting how he would fare on grass or on the Pro-Ride, which is often compared to turf.
“I think the circumstances that morning weren’t the best,” Ice said. “I wouldn’t say that he just hated the turf, but it was kind of the same deal where it was something new. Probably if we had taken him there a few days in a row he would have gotten better. Turf is not out of the question in his future. I definitely think he could run on it, but right now, with the success he’s had on the dirt and hopefully the synthetic, we’ll just leave him where he’s at.
“Everything we’ve asked of him he’s stepped up and answered. I didn’t see coming out here and running on the synthetic ever being an issue.”
Jeff Lowe is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer
