Ryan: A setback, but still promise for 'MyRacehorse' Lazy Daisy

Things went about as expected for Lazy Daisy in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Sent off as the second-longest shot on the board at odds of 21-1, she had to steady slightly on the first turn and then made some headway before crossing the wire sixth.

The effort earned Lazy Daisy’s owners, which through the MyRacehorse app includes “micro-share” owners like myself, a $20,000 share of the $2 million purse. My portion of the winnings were placed into my personal MyRacehorse account, and with that my career as a racehorse owner began.

Lazy Daisy exited the Juvenile Fillies in good shape and was back on the work tab two weeks later with a target of running in the Grade 1, $300,000 Starlet on Dec. 7 at Los Alamitos. Then us shareholders soon experienced the downside of athletic competition: an injury. 

On Nov. 22, MyRacehorse sent a detailed notice to shareholders via a notification on the app and via e-mail that Lazy Daisy had come out of her work the week prior “a little sore up front.” 

Trainer Doug O’Neill sent Lazy Daisy for a nuclear scan, which the MyRacehorse update noted “can catch problems earlier than X-rays. It can also find them in parts of the body that are difficult to X-ray.”

Dr. Sylvia Greenman, the Southern California veterinarian who oversees the Nuclear Imaging Facility at Santa Anita, messaged to MyRacehorse shareholders: “This tells you on a cellular basis what the body is trying to fix. I can often see a hot spot on a nuke scan that tells me that the body is trying to fix something there.”  

The results did show “heat” in Lazy Daisy’s leg. While a subsequent X-ray came back clean, the heat spots in the nuclear scan means 60 days of rest for Lazy Daisy. 

From the MyRacehorse update provided to shareholders:

“When we purchased into Lazy Daisy back in September we agreed with ERJ Racing the remaining part of her 2019 season would be discussed after the Breeders’ Cup, pending how she trained out of the race. With her training so well after the Breeders’ Cup, the Starlet had to be under consideration. The great news is, Lazy Daisy will only need 60 days off, setting her up for an exciting 3-year old campaign.”