Tag: h-bella-chica

Bella Chica Update

Bella Chica remains on her fourth and final month of R&R at Kingfisher Farm. Due to her injury being soft tissue related, more specifically a suspensory strain, time and limited activity are the most crucial parts of the recovery process. Moving ahead, if she were to return to training, this same patience will have to be used as well, in order to give her the best chance to return and remain healthy in training. While this may not be a reoccurring issue, being this mare just turned 6 years old on January 1st, majority partner SLO Racing has told us they do not want to race her in 2022, but instead are looking to breed her this year with the breeding season now just beginning. The thought process behind this is that once returning to activity/training, Bella Chica is at minimum four months away from being race ready, pending no setbacks, which would put us into the month of June.

Given her age and history, SLO Racing prefers to get her in foal this year vs. waiting until she is seven. SLO Racing owned her dam, Bella Viaggia, who recently passed, so Bella Chica is very special to them. While MyRacehorse does not intend on holding a broodmare at this time, we asked for a buyout option. A this point, unfortunately, in Bella Chica’s career, her value is limited and an agreement based off of the total value of $2,500 was completed.

SLO Racing intends to breed Bella Chica to Mr. Big, a local California stallion. We wish them the best of luck and will be keeping an eye out for the day her babies make it to the track.

Enjoy these photos of Bella Chica at Kingfisher Farms.

Bella Chica Update

Unfortunately, trainer Andy Mathis reported he has been unable to get Bella Chica to where he feels comfortable continuing on with her training at the present time.

“It doesn’t appear to be anything major, but this will be something we would have to constantly stop and start back up again,” said Andy.

The issue continues to be in the mare’s hind high suspensory. The suspensory ligament ties into the top of the cannon bones, just below and behind the hock of the hind legs. The ligament runs from the back of the hock down the back of the cannon.

Mathis believes it would be best to completely stop on Bella Chica to give her the best chance to make it back. With a suspensory issue or strain like we’re seeing here, time is the key for healing.

Bella Chica will return to Kingfisher Farm where she will require 90-120 days off.

Bella Chica Update

Positive news to report, Bella Chica has bounced back in good order and is traveling sound according to trainer Andy Mathis.

As Mathis messaged in our last update, he felt the issue did not appear to be major and in his experience, was most likely related to the change in surface. The tapeta surface is comprised of a carefully selected mixture of the finest silica sand, wax and fibers that have been extensively researched and simulate the root structure of turf. Making the change from training daily over a dirt surface to the tapeta can take adjusting. Though the tapeta surface is known for being kinder to the horse overall, the surface has also been known to be more strenuous on ligaments and the hind end.

Mathis reported the filly has returned to galloping and should not be too long before returning back to the work tab.

Bella Chica Update

Bella Chica had her second breeze this past weekend at Golden Gate, working a half-mile in 49.80 seconds.

Trainer Andy Mathis reported she exited the work just a tick off behind. Andy doesn’t believe it’s anything serious but will need to give it a few additional days to evaluate her status. In his opinion this is something you would see more with younger two-year-olds vs. an older horse and may be her still transitioning to the tapeta track despite working well over the surface.

The new condition book is not out yet for Golden Gate but pending it ends up okay, Bella Chica will target the next available starter allowance non winners of 2 races lifetime (NW2).

Bella Chica Workout Update

Bella Chica had her first breeze at Golden Gate on Friday morning, breezing a half-mile in 50.20 seconds.

Trainer Andy Mathis reported, “I gave her an extra week prior to breezing. I wanted to get a little more weight on her before we started pushing forward. She handled the Tapeta surface great for her first time.”

We will now point towards a starter allowance at the end of the month. The current condition book only runs through the 15th of August and expect to see the new book released in approximately a week.

Bella Chica Update

Bella Chica has arrived at Golden Gate after a receiving a brief refreshing at Kingfisher Farm. The 5-year-old mare is expected to get back into routine fairly quick with new trainer Andy Mathis. Pending all goes well, Bella Chica should be ready for a start in the month of August.

Here are a few photos prior to her departure from Kingfisher Farm.

Bella Chica at Kingfisher

Bella Chica was greeted by an old friend after arriving at Kingfisher Farm. If you remember back in August of 2019, a great photo was posted of these two. The young lady in the photo is farm owner/manager’s Katie Fisher’s daughter.

Bella Chica will remain at Kingfisher Farm for a few weeks before moving to new trainer Andy Mathis barn at Golden Gate.