Hard Spun’s final preparations for the Kentucky Derby have included a sizzling five-furlong work and the usual early morning gallops. You’ve probably read about all those moves online and in the newspapers. But there’s one step in the process you might not know about. Thursday, the colt got a massage at Barn 41 following morning training hours at Churchill Downs.

Cindy McVey, an equine sports massage therapist from Pennsylvania, made a special trip to Kentucky to help get Hard Spun ready for his run for the roses. following victories this year in the Lane’s End and LeComte Stakes.

“A small percentage of horses, two or three percent, will get stiff the day after a massage, so it’s best to massage a horse 48 hours before a race,” said McVey of the timing of Hard Spun’s treatment. “If any stiffness does manifest itself, he’ll have a chance to work it out tomorrow,”

McVey, who calls her business “Happy Mare Equine Sports Massage Therapy,”  started giving Hard Spun massages late last year at the request of his owner, Rick Porter of Fox Hill Farms, and she’s been a regular on the colt’s team every since