Go Slew’s Tizzy!

Slew’s Tizzy and Joel Rosario winning the 2008 Native Diver (Charles Pravata)

My beloved Slew’s Tizzy returns to racing today in the Cornhusker at Prairie Meadows! It sort of feels like when your pet runs away from home and comes back several months after you’ve already resigned yourself to their absence.

The last we saw of Slew’s Tizzy he was in the Doug O’Neill barn where he had won the Native Diver in December of 2008 (pictured above) after a string of decent efforts (minus the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile). He had vastly improved with O’Neill, and while enjoyable as a fan, it was also always a bit of concern given that O’Neill is no stranger to drug violations. He ended up on Dan Illman’s disabled list with a stall injury and now has magically landed in the barn of Calder trainer Terrance Oliver.

I don’t know anything about Oliver, other than his win percentage is a dismal .06, his first time with team percentage is an equally dismal .09, his +180 days percentage is a respectable .17 and his dirt percentage is .09. Dirt isn’t Slew’s Tizzy’s preferred surface either, unless it’s muddy.

He’s still racing for Joseph LaCombe, who is also his breeder, so at the very least he hasn’t been dumped somewhere unsavory. He’s also reunited with Robby Albarado, which I take to be a very good sign. Let’s just say I’m cautiously optimistic and glad to know where he is… and of course rooting for him!

Update: He started off a bit slow, got into a good position and then faded about half way through the race. I’ll keep an eye out to see if he turns up on the work tab again. I hope they put him back on synthetics!