Originally Posted by
str
As for the last part of the question, yes, superior horses can break a horses heart almost immediately upon the gates opening or shortly thereafter because that horse senses, and just knows, that they are waaaay outclassed. Think of the horses like people. They have personalities as well. Some are aggressive, some meek and mild, some ultra competitive, some somewhat competitive . Some are much smarter than others. Some are more shy than others.
Heck, I feed some deer in my backyard during the winter and I see it all the time in them. Bullies, shy ones, take no crap ones, etc. And not just bucks. I see momma deer that take no crap from anyone. They are leaders and the boss, not followers. And the followers know it.
I mean, if I see it in deer and I absolutely saw it in race horses, and we see it everyday in people, chances are it is everywhere. It is unquestionably in race horses. I saw it all the time.
You know how now and then we will see a stakes race where some horse is entered that always goes to the front in minor stakes and allowance races, maybe from a lesser track and usually stays on to win wire to wire. Then, they try running against a really good stakes horse or horses at for instance Saratoga in a Grade 1 , I mean really good horses that also shows speed. You might figure that those cheaper speed horses might show speed to the far turn going two turns and then fade but they never get closer than 7th early on and finish last? And the fractions early are not much different than what the cheaper horse is used to running.
We've seen plenty of examples of that before. Well, they , for the most part, as I don't want to say ALL as some might have had another legit excuse, realized probably before the gates opened or very shortly thereafter, that they were way over there head, and by a lot.
As a result, they became intimidated and gave up, and in plenty of cases before 15 seconds of the race, if that, was run. I mean, they certainly were not tired at that point. They were mentally taken out of the race.
When you see that type of no effort from an otherwise consistent horse that steps way up to try the big horses, more often than not, it's what I just explained.
Hope that helps answer your questions.