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Summer Bird moved from Ice to Ritchey

Summer Bird wrapped up the Eclipse Award with his victory over Quality Road in the Jockey Club Gold Cup  (Debra Kral/Horsephotos.com) SUMMER BIRD (Birdstone), last year's champion three-year-old colt, was one of 25 horses removed from the care of trainer Tim Ice by owners K.K. and Vilasini Jayaraman at Oaklawn Park Tuesday morning, according to a report in Daily Racing Form. While Summer Bird will move to the barn of trainer Tim Ritchey, best known for training champion and dual classic winner Afleet Alex, the remaining Jayaraman-owned runners will be dispersed among several different trainers. "I'm looking forward to training him," said Ritchey, who is also stabled at Oaklawn. "Obviously, he's a very, very good racehorse, and hopefully, I can do as good a job as Tim Ice did. I'm thankful to Dr. J(ayaraman) for the opportunity."

K.K. Jayaraman told the trade daily that he felt there had been a breakdown in communication between him and Ice, whose stable is now composed of just six horses.

"It puts me almost out of business," Ice said.

Summer Bird, a late-developing homebred, captured the Belmont S. (G1), Travers S. (G1) and Jockey Club Gold Cup (G1) en route to divisional honors. He last ran in the Breeders' Cup Classic (G1) on November 7, where he finished fourth in his debut on Santa Anita's Pro-Ride surface. He sustained a condylar fracture in late November when training in Japan for the Japan Cup Dirt (Jpn-G1), but is expected to resume training in mid-March.

Summer Bird will move to the mid-Atlantic region, where Ritchey is based most of the year, following the conclusion of the Oaklawn meet on April 10.

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