R&R for Highland Cat

- Thanks to reader Bank Check for persisting in getting me to update you on my powerhouse stable. Haven't had John Ferguson hanging around Billy Turner's barn, that's for sure. As the summer zipped by, I neglected to post any updates and I apologize for that, but it's partially because there was nothing really to report.

Christening is fine, thanks. She's recovering from the surgery for the condylar fracture that she suffered when she stumbled coming out of the gate in her last race, a second place finish at Delaware. No decision is expected on her racing future until the end of this year.

Highland Cat was left behind at Belmont with what we thought were sore hocks and a bad back. He was then sent down to a farm in Virginia for some rest and treatment. But a recent update we received from the farm was what seems to be very encouraging news:

[The vet] looked at Highland Cat and he felt that his sacroiliac is badly strained, he started him on Estroven today and wants him to have one shot a week of this for four weeks and he can start jogging in just a few days and he thinks the polytrack will really help b/c there will be reduced pull on his hind end instead of what the sand would do. he felt it was purely a conformation issue and that he should recover well and move right back to soundness behind. He said his point for that was all that was bothering him, hocks were fine and that he was so sore on palpation that the estroven would be the best treatment and we should see improvement in a couple of days.

I am pysched about Highland cat's prognosis, b/c [the vet] thought we could really help him and it wouldn't take that much! Our track is really awesome....it has made all the other crap we have been through worthwhile!

So there you go, sounds like the cutie will be back on the track at some point. (Though perhaps Nick can enlighten us on exactly what this means...)

And here's introducing a third horse in another Castle Village partnership in which I have a very small share; a two-year old NY-bred filly named Just Zip It. She's here at Turner's barn, and though she's had no timed workouts as of yet, all signs are fine thus far. We're hoping she'll debut sometime by the end of the year.

She's by City Zip, the half-brother to Ghostzapper who is off to a fine start at stud; he's currently fifth on the second-year sire list. She's out of a mare by Gate Dancer, a real favorite of mine, and a name we don't see too much in pedigrees these days - he passed away in 1998. She has a half-brother, Buster's Rodeo, who won in state-bred maiden special company last year. We paid $25,000 for this one. Hopefully, I'll have some better luck with her than with the others.

Here's a couple of pictures - she seems to be quite the spitting image of her sire.