See my baby here.

Owners of Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird fire trainer Tim Ice due to ‘mismanagement’

BY Jerry Bossert
DAILY NEWS SPORTS WRITER

Wednesday, February 10th 2010, 4:00 AM

Smith for News, Bryan

Tim Ice, former trainer of Belmont Stakes winner Summer Bird, was fired by the horse’s owners Dr. Kalarikkal and Vilasini Jayaraman.

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Tim Ice celebrated his 35th birthday in a unique way – standing in the winner’s circle at Belmont Park after Summer Bird won the Belmont Stakes.

Less than a year later, the trainer finds himself looking for work after being fired by owners Dr. Kalarikkal and Vilasini Jayaraman.

Summer Bird and 24 other horses owned by the Jayaramans left Ice’s barn at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas Tuesday.

“It broke my heart when he (Summer Bird) walked out of the barn,” Ice said. “All I can do is start over and go forward with the six that I have left and rebuild my stable.”

It’s nothing new for the Jayaramans to fire a trainer. Kalarikkal told the Daily Racing Form that they have gone through 82 public and seven private trainers since getting involved in the sport in the early 1980s.

“We move all our horses if they don’t get the attention we expected to receive,” Kalarikkal said. “It’s a long story, but they deserved more attention. Our judgment is that it was mismanagement, so it was time to go. Not much communication.”

Tim Ritchey, who trained Afleet Alex to victories in the 2005 Preakness and Belmont Stakes, was named the new trainer of Summer Bird, along with some other Jayaraman horses.

“I look forward to the opportunity to train a horse of his caliber and hopefully I can be as productive with him as Tim Ice was,” Ritchey said. “He’s (Summer Bird) a big, good-looking horse and a serious race horse.”

The lack of communication with Ice was pointed out by Kalarikkal after one of his horses, an unraced 3-year-old named Heavenly Truth, was injured working out at Oaklawn Park on Sunday morning.

“I didn’t find out until Monday morning,” he said. “Nobody told me anything about it. They’re like our babies. It was the final straw, but there were a few other things going on.”

According to Kalarikkal, Heavenly Truth is expected to undergo surgery today in Ocala, Fla., to repair a condylar fracture in a leg.

Despite the loss of Summer Bird, Ice remained positive.

“I am not bitter and I don’t hold any grudges,” he said. “I’m not going to say I’m over it. To lose any horse hurts. When you lose the champion 3-year-old colt of last year it is definitely a punch in the gut.”

Wild West wind … with a little bit of snow.