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Originally Posted by Theatrical
I knew you would remember the discussions we had on the other forum about SW, Tony Cruz and the DaSilvas when all that was going down. There's no one on any forum that I read that knows as much about international racing as you, as well as your love for these horses. I'm really glad to hear that Tony Cruz is losing some of his power. He's surely had some nice horses. I could not understand then (the DaSilvas) and still don't grasp how a trainer could override an owner or owners, but it certainly happened in that case. Silent Witness had some mysterious virus that, if I remember correctly, was never fully identified because there was little or no follow through with tests. Then, he was running down on his "bumpers", but they still kept at it because Cruz wanted SW to retire with "dignity". Proceeding with racing him in the condition he was in precluded any achievement of "dignity". He just wasn't the same horse.
I hope Bullish Luck comes through and heals in record time for you, MMSC. If it's not to be, though, I would hope the connections will stand firm and put the horse first. He sounds like a very special guy.  |
This happens all of the time nowadays i'm afraid to say. Not just in Hong Kong, either.
I don't know a great deal about Cruz, but i still find it hard to believe he is/was as bad as is being said on this thread.
As fans, we are very petty. One moment we are moaning about horses who are retired about less then ten runs, and then we also begin to moan when a trainer is running a horse too much.
I'm not for one minute saying you or mmsc are wrong, but i've seen Cruz and his team at work, it is obvious he cares very much about his horses, especially when he trained SW. He meant the world to him and i doubt he would have caused the horse any harm without knowing. I don't think he is like the Godolphin operation, anyway.
Not all viruses can be found straight away. There is a very popular trainer over here who ran a horse with Stomach Ulcers, but they just couldn't be found and it wasn't until two poor runs that the owner allowed for him to be sent to be tested for everything, which cost the owner A LOT of money, and it wasn't until then that the ulcers were found. The same can be said for many viruses, and although i cannot be sure, i would be more inclined to blame the owners not to have spent more money to get him properly tested in the first place.
Anyway, if SW's owners really didn't like the way the horse was being treated by Cruz why didn't they just take him from the stable? They have every right to do so and no matter how much power Cruz had then, he wouldn't have been able to stop them. No matter how unhappy the owners were "said" to be, if they were genuinely upset with Cruz, they would have pulled him from the yard. It happened to the trainer my father used to work for, a horsebox of the owners came to pick the horse up, but as he was their property, there was nothing he could do other than sit and watch it happen.