Maria Borrell sacked as trainer of Breeders' Cup winner Runhappy
Monday 2 November 2015 15:39, UK
Just a day after springing to prominence with the victory of Runhappy in the Breeders' Cup Sprint, Maria Borell discovered on Sunday that she would no longer be training the horse.
Borell, who sports a huge tattoo of Kentucky Derby winner Sunday Silence across her shoulder blades, tweeted: "Just went from the best day of my life to the worst day of my life."
As Runhappy had filling and heat in an ankle after the race, Borell felt he was in no shape to complete his usual morning jog but racing manager Laura Wohlers, who used to train the horse for owner James McIngvale, her brother-in-law, disagreed.
Speaking to www.bloodhorse.com, Wohlers said: "The decision to move in a different direction was not made today.
"This morning there was no filling. I've checked horses 100,000 times in my life. He had some heat, but nothing more than any other horse who ran 1:08 and change. We jog him after races to get rid of lactic acid build-up and (Borrel) has disagreed in the past."
Wohlers will now once again train Runhappy, who won the Sprint without the aid of Lasix.
A statement posted by the owner's wife on Facebook late on Sunday said: "RunHappy was not off or lame today, although Maria and Laura Wohlers may have disagreed on that. RunHappy saw the vet and he confirmed nothing was wrong.
"Gallery Racing would never and will never make any decision for any horse unless it is in the very best interest of the animal; this is the main reason we do not run on any drugs. This was an internal decision made a while ago and Gallery Racing wanted to allow Maria to finish the campaign with RunHappy and get a Breeder's Cup win under her name and on record.
"Gallery Racing hopes she has an incredible career. We hope you will understand there are two sides to every story and we have our reasons for the decision. Gallery Racing will always have RunHappy's health and happiness as our primary concern. We see his future being very bright and God willing, it will be! Gallery Racing would like to thank all of the RunHappy fans for your incredible support!"
Borrell tweeted: "My heart is in a million pieces."
