Hoss Talk

The first time the name of Allan Eng's three-year-old pacer Pulledsuspensory showed up in the racing program, the immediate response was: This must be some kind of a joke, right?
  After all, who would name a horse after an injury that often can end a horse's racing career?
... A pulled suspensory is an injury caused by a strain of the suspensory ligaments in a horse's leg. But the name was Eng's way of putting an end to a curse he felt was plaguing his stable. And it let him have some fun with friends at the racetrack.
 ``A couple of years ago, I claimed (bought) Masterson Hanover in Alberta. I raced him a few time at Fraser Downs and he winds up with a
pulled suspensory in his right front leg. He was on the shelf for a few months. `` said Eng
   His horse sidelined, Eng needed to generate some action and claimed Charbow Kandy Kane. ``The only time I raced him he won. But right after that race, he pulls a suspensory, in the same leg as my other
 horse.''
   After a few months with both horses on the shelf, Masterson Hanover  was finally back in training. ``He is really doing well and ready to  race,'' Eng recalled. ``Then, out of the blue, one morning he
arrives back at the barn with a pulled suspensory in his right hind  leg.''
...
  So Eng purchased a colt named Three Way Breeze, whom he renamed Pulledsuspensory.
   ``This pulled-suspensory thing was beginning to nag me. So I figured that to get rid of the curse on me, I would name a horse after that injury.''
  Did his plan work?
  In six lifetime starts, Pulledsuspensory has won four races and finished second once, with earnings nearing $70,000. Eng's horse is listed among the elite harness horses at the Downs.
   So much for curses.
 FINISH LINES: The Sport of Kings, Saturday, 7 a.m., Shaw Cable, includes features on unique ways horsemen escape the pressures of horse racing, and a classic race call by Fraser Downs track
announcer Rick Uppal of the finish between Norfolk And Way and Kiss Me Darling. ... The recent death of former jockey Denis Tierney comes as a shocker. During the 1970s, he was among the elite jockeys in Southern California circuit. In 1990, Tierney was inducted into the B.C. Thoroughbred Hall of Fame. Our condolences go to his
   family. ... Look for Fraser Downs to pick up four Friday evening race cards that Hastings Park turned down, April 20 and 27 and May 4 and 11. ... Good chance that popular Fast Lane Cruizin will leave Fraser Downs and compete on the tougher East Coast racing circuit.... Hopefully, Hastings Park trainer Dennis Terry has a good young
race horse in Cheating Charlie, named after close friend and former jockey Charlie Ulrich, who passed away last month. ... Add horse owner to one of Hastings Park's Phil Heard's titles. Heard recently purchased a two-year-old thoroughbred in partnership. Roy Rawson is the trainer.

Wolski can be reached at www. sportofkingstv.com
 
 
 

Source: Vancouver Province
E-mail Tommy Wolski at twolski@home.com