Pedigree

If you're one of those who enjoy tracing the lineage of kings and queens back to the cavemen days...and who doesn't...you might want to take a look at this. Here is Northern Cotton's pedigree

http://www.pedigreequery.com/northern+cotton

So her parents are High Cotton and My Golden Quest  with grandparents and great-grandparents further along  to the right , etc.... Is that Secretariat way down there? Whoa !!! This is a great tool for those of us who get lost when Bill starts talking about Northern Cotton's third cousin's brother-in-law.

If you're wondering my lineage is mainly French with some Dutch thrown in...as far as I know none of my ancestors could run fast. It all started with Caveman Bayer thinking he could run away from that wooly mammoth, good thing he had already made Caveman Bayer Junior.

Our racehorse can no longer race

We need to go back a little bit. We've known for a long time that Cotton had caught some sort of virus. We're not sure how she got it, could gave been the  feed or another horse. Under normal circumstances she did not suffer any ill effects. After a race though she would cough up blood and mucus. The only cure was rest. We let her be until April of this year and we were optimistic when she started galloping at the farm she was staying at in Pennsylvania. Unfortunately we found out a few weeks ago that the blood and mucus symptoms started up again after she was doing a  slow gallop.

It's really disappointing as we know Cotton can run. From her debut race when she caught up with Balooga Bull ( only the Horse of the Year winner for 2012 at Assiniboia Downs)  to her maiden victory in late September 2011 to her competitive races against other horses who have gone on to win significant dollars...we knew we had a racehorse. It's truly sad that we'll never get to see her full potential.

 There's nothing we can do at this point to turn Cotton back into a racehorse but, with some help, she can certainly make more racehorses. Now how do you do that again ?

Update from Bill

Bill spoke with trainer Jane  and decided to leave Cotton at the farm to continue training there. It's cheaper and they can do the same slow works as Jane would be doing at Monmouth.  Cotton is being turned out in a round pen for 2 hours before they put on the tack. They then trot her 1 mile and then gallop 1.5. When she gets to Monmouth she will be very close to breezing. Should run her first race @june 10 to 15. The lady at the farm says she is going really good.

Merci Bill