Keystone Native…the story…

Keystone Native finished in fifth place, approximately 9 1/2 lengths off the leader, in a MSW on Sunday, May 13 at Philadelphia Park. The future remains uncertain for the dark bay gelding by Allen’s Prospect and That Ends Well by Ends Well. For now I wait to hear the insight from the horse’s mouth; or the next best thing, the trainer Guadalupe Preciado.

See the below correspondence from West Point Thoroughbreds (the management company handling the young gelding) regarding his brief but storied career leading up to this recent race. For other information on Keystone Native (including pedigree, racing statistics, etc) click here.

Wednesday, January 24, 2007

“Lupe (Guadalupe Preciado our trainer) is going to send Keystone Native to the New Bolton Clinic on 1/31 to give him a treadmill test and see if there might be any physical causes for his disappointing first two races. He's shown enough speed to run better.”

Monday, February 5, 2007

“We received the results back from the tests Keystone Native underwent at the New Bolton Center.  Unfortunately, the results are not encouraging.

Keystone Native was given a treadmill test to see whether Keystone Native had a physical cause for the way he ran in his first two races.  Here is what the doctors discovered.

Keystone Native was unable to get up to full speed on the treadmill without showing significant signs of fatigue.

When they scoped his throat, the structure was good.  He was getting his full intake of air, so that was not the cause.  However, given that he is racetrack fit his inability to get to full speed on the treadmill had to be caused by something.

The doctors went ahead and drew blood during the test, and discovered that Keystone Native's blood was not getting fully oxygenated.  In other words, he was getting the air into his lungs, but his lungs were not able to push enough air out into his bloodstream.

An initial test did not show any infections that would cause his air exchange from the lungs to blood to be compromised, so they did a more thorough test called a Bonchoalveolar Lavage (BAL) to see if perhaps Keystone Native had a severe respiratory infection deep in his lower respiratory tract that would cause him not to be able to get the oxygen out into his blood.

The BAL results came back negative for a severe infection.  They did find some bacteria, but the vet said it was not any more than you would find in a horse at any given time.  It was not enough to affect his breathing.

The cause for the air exchange reduction is structural.  There's no way to tell why Keystone Native's lungs are unable to process the oxygen fully.  It could be anything from a congenital birth defect to damage caused by something like pneumonia when he was young.

Keystone Native's health is not at risk.  However, this condition will not improve.  When a horse is at rest, on a scale of 1-100, a horse should be at 100 in terms of oxygen getting into the blood.  When a horse is under heavy exertion, the number should be 80 or more.  Keystone Native's blood tested at only 70 when on the treadmill.  When a horse isn't getting all their oxygen for one way or another, their muscles will simply stop functioning.  That is why Keystone Native is able to go for a couple furlongs and then gradually begin weakening.  He physically just can't go any further.

The prognosis is poor.  Keystone Native simply will not be able to compete at a respectable level, because there is no way to improve the flow of oxygen into his blood.  The vet did make it clear that this condition could not have been picked up by any routine tests or examinations.  You would need to send a horse to a clinic to diagnose this, so this was not something an examination could pick up at the sales, and neither Rick nor Lupe could identify this on their own.

At this point, we have a couple options that we wanted to present to the partners:

We could try to plunge Keystone Native to the bottom levels of maiden claiming company.  If we did that, we could potentially get someone to claim him, and there's a possibility that he could simply outclass the company and be get enough to get to the winner's circle at least once even with his condition.  Keystone Native will gradually shut down during a race.  Physically, there is no way around it, but we might have enough to win at the bottom.    When we talk about this option, we are talking about having to drop down and running in a 5 or 10k maiden claimer.  If he is unable to win at that level, then we would have to retire him.

We could retire Keystone Native now and look to find him a good home as a pleasure horse.  Given that the financial return is going to be minimal even if he is claimed at the low level, this option guarantees that Keystone Native will be placed in a good home to live out his days.”

Wednesday, February 7, 2007

“The tests on Keystone Native showed that he has trouble processing oxygen into his blood. He will not be able to race at a competitive level with this problem.

70 percent of the partners have voted to retire Keystone Native and find him a good home, so we are working on that. There is a possibility he could end up on a farm in Saratoga where one of the partners has connections.”

Monday, February 19, 2007

“There's been an interesting development with Keystone Native.  In order to be placed in a home, interested parties wanted Keystone Native gelded which is standard procedure.  So, Lupe called in the vet this morning to have Keystone Native gelded.  What the vet found was a very interesting situation.

One of Keystone Native's testicles was badly twisted.  The vet said it was really up in there.  This will happen to some horses, and it can cause them a great deal of discomfort.  Lupe called the vet at New Bolton and discussed the situation with him, and he asked if perhaps this could have been one of the reasons Keystone Native was not able to get to full speed on the treadmill.  The vet could not definitively say yes or no that this could be the case, but he could not rule it out.

This does not change the underlying situation that Keystone Native doesn't appear to be getting his full supply of oxygen into his bloodstream.  However, Lupe felt that it was worth keeping Keystone Native in training for about another month and then try to run him around the 15k level and see if he fits.  It's possible that if Keystone Native was feeling great discomfort from his testicle, that his body reactions might have been affected.  This also could be a reason why both times Keystone ran the jockey said he felt a little off behind.

We don't want to give anyone a false sense of hope, but this situation was so unique given all the circumstances that Lupe thought it would be worth a shot to see.  Keystone Native looks great and has been carrying good weight, so Lupe felt we could get him race fit pretty quickly.  We'd look to try and get him back in the gate in about a month.

While we would have a month to wait, we might have a shot at getting Keystone Native to the winner's circle.  If his performance doesn't improve, then the risk will not have been too great from a time and expense standpoint.  Accordingly, we will go ahead and take a shot and see what happens.”

Wednesday, February 21, 2007

“Lupe called in the vet this to have Keystone Native gelded. What the vet found was that one of Keystone Native's testicles was badly twisted. The vet said it was really up in there. This will happen to some horses, and it can cause them a great deal of discomfort. Lupe called the vet at New Bolton and discussed the situation with him, and he asked if perhaps this could have been one of the reasons Keystone Native was not able to get to full speed on the treadmill. The vet could not definitively say yes or no that this could be the case, but he could not rule it out.”

“Keystone Native looks great and has been carrying good weight, so Lupe felt we could get him race fit pretty quickly. We'd look to try and get him back in the gate in about a month.”

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

“Keystone Native breezed 3 furlongs in 35.4 and galloped out a half mile in 50 flat on March 13th at Philadelphia Park.”

“Keystone Native should be ready to run in early April.”

Thursday, March 22, 2007

Keystone Native breezed a very good half-mile this morning.  Lupe Preciado had jockey Carlos Cruz work him the last two times to see how Keystone Native felt behind.  Cruz said that the horse felt like he was pushing off well.  Lupe said Keystone Native also wasn't breathing hard coming back.  Lupe was quick to caution that this was only a half-mile breeze this morning, but he was encouraged by it.  He plans to work Keystone Native five furlongs next week.  He feels that will give us a better indicator, but he is delighted with things thus far.  He thinks the next breeze will tell us a lot and we should then be about ready to run.

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Keystone Native breezed a very good five furlongs from the gate in company this morning.  Lupe actually caught him a couple ticks quicker than the spotters in 1:00.1.  Lupe worked Keystone Native with a filly that broke her maiden at Delaware Park and is coming off of a layoff.  That filly had already breezed five furlongs a couple of times prior to today.  The pair was on even terms until the top of the stretch, and then Keystone Native actually pulled away from his workmate in the stretch.  Lupe was pleasantly surprised as he thought if anything the roles might be reversed.  Lupe had the exercise rider gallop out Keystone Native an easy six furlongs in 1:14.  Lupe said the horse came back well and was not blowing excessively hard.  The racing secretary just carded a PA Bred MSW for Tuesday, and the race oversubscribed.  Lupe said he'd likely look for that type of spot if they wrote one going five or five and a half furlongs.

Saturday, April 7, 2007

Keystone Native breezed another strong five furlongs this morning.  Lupe worked him with a different horse than last week.  He didn't think today's workmate was as good as last week's, and Keystone Native made that look the case.  Lupe told the exercise riders to keep them together for the first half-mile and then let them both go at the eighth pole.  Lupe said when the riders let the horses go Keystone Native drew away easily from the other horse.  He had a daylight advantage at the wire and finished well.

Lupe was very pleased with the work, and said that Keystone Native was moving really well.  Lupe thinks Keystone Native is ready to run.  He is going to talk to the racing secretary early next week and see if he can get a maiden race going five or five and a half furlongs written for Keystone Native.

Sunday, April 15, 2007

Keystone Native breezed a sub standard five furlongs from the gate yesterday.  The clockers caught the gallop out to six furlongs.  Lupe had initially planned to go five-eighths from the pole and gallop out a strong six furlongs.  However, he called an audible Saturday and decided to breeze him from the gate again.  The track was very heavy, the best five furlong work was only 1:01, so the time wasn't that bad, but Lupe did not like the work.  He said that Keystone Native went well for a half and then stopped.  That was the gallop out time was so slow.

Given what Keystone Native had done in his first two races, Lupe was somewhat concerned.  He scoped Keystone Native after the work and discovered a little mucus, but no bleeding.  He didn't think it was enough to affect him.  Lupe's wondering if Keystone might have been getting a little sick, because Keystone Native was a little quiet before the work yesterday.

As Lupe said, "something wasn't right yesterday."  Keystone Native had been finishing up well prior to yesterday, so Lupe thinks it could have just been a bad day at the office.  There's a 25k maiden claimer on April 24th at Philadelphia Park.  However, that race is going six and a half furlongs.  Lupe wants to send Keystone five or five and a half.  He's hoping that race isn't used on the 24th and is then brought back at a shorter distance.  Lupe also would look for a PA Bred MSW, but that race isn't in the book until mid-May.  Lupe said the PA Bred races have been coming up soft because there is no purse kicker, so the good PA Breds have been running in the open races for the big purses.

Right now, we're just looking for the right spot, because there isn't anything in the book.  Lupe has a lot of pull with the racing secretary and is going to try and push him to write us a race.

Wednesday, April 25, 2007

Keystone Native is doing fine and sitting on ready to run. There seemed to be no reason for the poor last work, so we're chalking it up as a bad day.

Lupe is still looking for a spot for Keystone Native. He is lobbying the secretary to hang up an extra PA Bred race.

Sunday, April 29, 2007

Keystone Native breezed a beautiful three furlongs this morning.  The clockers did not catch it, but Lupe had jockey Victor Molina up.  Lupe caught Keystone Native go three furlongs in 35.  He caught him galloping out a half in 47 and five furlongs in 1:01.  That 1:01 would have nearly been the bullet for five furlongs.  Lupe said the breeze was exceptional.

Lupe doesn't know why Keystone had that one bad work, but after today he proclaimed him ready to run.  Keystone Native is pointing for a six furlong PA Bred MSW on May 13th at Philadelphia Park.  Lupe says those races having been coming up light, and he believes Keystone Native would run well in there.

Thursday, May 10, 2007

Keystone Native is set to make his first try after being gelded in a Pennsylvania bred MSW on May 13th at Philadelphia Park.  He's trained very well since the procedure with really only the one hiccup in his schedule.  However, we won't really know whether the twisted testicle caused his blood work to come up poorly or not until we actually run.  I can say that Sunday's result will truly be like rolling the dice.  If he runs better, then we know that the gelding solved a potential mystery.  If he runs poorly, then we'll know that the test results were not caused by the twisted testicle.

The race came up a little tough, so this will be a true measuring stick.  There are several horses in the race that don't seem to measure up on paper, but there are two or three horses in the race that have run very nice races against open company and are dropping back in against statebreds.

As a side note, Equibase lists Keystone Native as a colt.  Their databases rarely get updated in a timely manner to the Jockey Club, so they will make an announcement at the track.

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