Frater "Well Armed" for Breeder's Cup

ARCADIA, Calif. - Veterinarians had recommended he be "put down." That's horse racing's euphemism for euthanasia, the final capitulation to catastrophic injury or incurable disease.

But neither Well Armed nor Frater Kenny Troutt (Beta-Chi, Southern Illinois Univ.) was willing or ready to surrender. And so two years ago, Well Armed traveled to Texas, specifically to Troutt's Rafter C Ranch in Flower Mound, to recover from a fractured hip and a chipped knee. And Saturday, Well Armed will be the favorite in the $1 million Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita.

His journey - from England to Dubai to Texas to California - is all about determination, of course, his owners' and his own, as all such journeys inevitably are. But this particular journey is also more than a little about veterinary medicine and modern technology and, yes, synthetic racetracks.

This year's Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships will be run for the first time on a synthetic surface. Without such a track, Well Armed, fellow owner Tom Casner said, might not be racing at all.

Well Armed is owned by WinStar Farm, which, in turn, is owned by Frater Troutt of Dallas and Casner, who resides at his ranch in Flower Mound. Back in the 1970s, Casner trained horses, and Troutt owned a few. They first met back when they tried to buy the same horse at Ak-Sar-Ben in Omaha. They soon became partners - first in horses, then in Excel Communications, then in WinStar.

In 2005, Well Armed raced with modest success in England. The next year, as a 3-year-old, he won a minor stakes in Dubai, but then he chipped a knee in the UnitedArab Emirates Derby. And then, while rehabilitating the knee, in a freakish accident, he fractured his right hip.

"We knew he was a good horse, but we had no idea how good," Casner said, recalling Well Armed's accomplishments before the horse's injury. In other words, saving the horse wasn't a financial decision. Casner said he was confident Well Armed could make it back, but nobody knew if the horse could compete again at a high level.

And, by the way, he's a gelding, and so there was no residual compensation, no promising stallion career waiting at the end of this rainbow.

The muscles on Well Armed's right side had atrophied, and so Casner put the horse in the swimming pool. Literally. Swimming forces a horse to use both sides of his body unilaterally. Well Armed swam for months.

"He was up to 35 laps," Casner said, explaining that translated into about 17 minutes of exercise in the pool. As the rehabilitation progressed, Casner, who's 6-foot-4, would sometimes put his stock saddle on Well Armed and ride him around the ranch. About 18 months after the injury and after some suggested he be "put down," Well Armed returned to competition. Casner said he believes synthetic tracks are safer and easier on horses than traditional dirt surfaces, which can emphasize and exacerbate conformation flaws.

And so when Well Armed made it back to competition, he made his way to the synthetic tracks in California.

Well Armed has won three of six starts this year, including the recent Goodwood Stakes. And Tuesday, when Breeders' Cup entries were taken, Casner opted to put Well Armed in the Dirt Mile rather than the Classic. Also having Travers winner Colonel John for the Classic didn't influence the decision, he said.

"Well Armed will be one of the favorites in the Dirt Mile," Casner said, "but in the Classic he would have been the seventh or eighth choice. We just wanted to give him his best chance."

And that, of course, is exactly what they've always done.

Adapted from The Star-Telegram News Story. If you would like to see your chapter news here, contact Director of Communication Tom McAninch.