Horse Racing questions and answers

[JBEX]

While we are on the Army Mule subject and mismanagement of placement for some of these horses by their connections, it will be cool to watch the horse Army Gal that Linda Rice just won her 2nd race in two starts with. As you know, I constantly praise her for putting her horses in really good situations. That's what she does. And the theory of a horse improving by being successful is hopefully something we will witness together.
That said, she is quickly running out of spots without trying a Stake as 2 other than races for 3 year olds in March are hard to fill and may not even be written quite yet. Either way, she will be looking for what is best for the horse which is always a breath of fresh air.

by army mule ..aqu R4 #6 army gal (5-2) @ 2:13


returns in 6 days and stretches to a mile vs stakes horses..she must really like her




.


...

[str]

Hey STR: tell us about the story where you put up a BILL on a horse race and returned 11K with a good friend of yours. Did you hit a super etc? THX.

Something came up. All good but will do it in the morning

[batt33]

This is actually a really good race to watch on the replay. I encourage you to do it . I will show you something that helps understand what happened from the horses point of view.

When you pull up the replay, only watch the inside eye and head of the 4 horse. That is it. Just his eye that is visible. What you will see is, just before the break, the horse gets scared, or upset, jostled, whatever . At that exact time, this horse is NOT thinking about racing or breaking. He is ONLY thinking about what scared the heck out of him. Now maybe, something pinched him and it hurt and that scared him. I don't know but whatever it was, it had ALL of his attention. That does happen but it typically takes 3-4 seconds, just like it would for you, to catch your breath and get over being very startled. (Put yourself in the horses shoes). You get the crap scared out of you just before the starting pistol goes off, you are still recovering from that after only a second or two, and BANG ! There off. Would you break well and be focused?? I know I wouldn't. IMO, that is exactly what happened here.

The horse was not prepared to break after that event and needed another few seconds, but the starter sprung the latch and he was left flat footed, and not focused. So now what?

What we can hope for is that the trainer saw this and gets that horse back to the gate several times at least in the morning to just load, stand, and back out. Just give him a chance to settle. We can also hope he draws a more outside post next out so less time to be in there, and off the rail where that last experience occurred. If all that can occur, this horse will break much better next out, he will be in focus from the first stride, and if they can find a race with a little class relief, that would be enough to make this guy a winner IMO. Now maybe he cannot get that class relief. Is he good enough to win? Yeah, he might be. Off his 1st race, I felt he could improve and win. He did not get that chance with what went on in this horses world least night while in the gate.

So in my mind, this is a must follow next out.
Please let me/all of us, know when he is entered next. He might even show up with Blinkers "ON'. in his next start. Not saying he needs them but that might be the conclusion drawn from what took place.

Will be fun to follow . Someone write this horse down for an alert please.

You always keep me on my toes to look at the races more closely!

[batt33]

just kind of an even effort to me but admittedly just going by watching the race live and didn't look at a replay..fairgrounds was scratched and the turf paradise horse was pressed on the lead till the quarter pole (1 mile race) where she started to give it up and faded badly the final eighth
..both lightly raced and have a hunch they'll find the winners circle with some time..possibly the turfway horse might need to drop in vs maiden claimers ..the vekoma was impressive and he is ,as we've mentioned, cranking out some really good horses ..by candy ride (sire of gun runner.. $250k fee) think he's going to be an elite sire in the not too distant future..stands for $35k this year and opened at $20k in 2021

you have to keep in mind that AM is still working with mares who were bred to him at a $7500 fee and that will be true again with this years crop of 2yos..you can only do so much and relative to his fee he's a real producer..next years 2yo will be from a $12.5 fee and 2027's will be from a $25k fee so will be interesting how he'll do in the future with higher quality mares

Speaking of young Am's the half brother to Timberlake "Hymn of Heaven " Is still at the farm the most recent work out was 4 F on Feb 25th.

[Easy-Rider 66]

Hey STR: tell us about the story where you put up a BILL on a horse race and returned 11K with a good friend of yours. Did you hit a super etc? THX.

[str]

it was difficult for me to see the eye but did see a lot of head motion just before the gate opened..also looked like she possibly didn't switch leads till about the 1/8th pole but I'll let you be the final judge of that str



.

Good catch on the lead switch !
That horse was a mess mentally throughout the race.
I think the horse burned more energy mentally than physically.
we need to keep an eye on this one for sure.

[JBEX]

This is actually a really good race to watch on the replay. I encourage you to do it . I will show you something that helps understand what happened from the horses point of view.

When you pull up the replay, only watch the inside eye and head of the 4 horse. That is it. Just his eye that is visible. What you will see is, just before the break, the horse gets scared, or upset, jostled, whatever . At that exact time, this horse is NOT thinking about racing or breaking. He is ONLY thinking about what scared the heck out of him. Now maybe, something pinched him and it hurt and that scared him. I don't know but whatever it was, it had ALL of his attention. That does happen but it typically takes 3-4 seconds, just like it would for you, to catch your breath and get over being very startled. (Put yourself in the horses shoes). You get the crap scared out of you just before the starting pistol goes off, you are still recovering from that after only a second or two, and BANG ! There off. Would you break well and be focused?? I know I wouldn't. IMO, that is exactly what happened here.

The horse was not prepared to break after that event and needed another few seconds, but the starter sprung the latch and he was left flat footed, and not focused. So now what?

What we can hope for is that the trainer saw this and gets that horse back to the gate several times at least in the morning to just load, stand, and back out. Just give him a chance to settle. We can also hope he draws a more outside post next out so less time to be in there, and off the rail where that last experience occurred. If all that can occur, this horse will break much better next out, he will be in focus from the first stride, and if they can find a race with a little class relief, that would be enough to make this guy a winner IMO. Now maybe he cannot get that class relief. Is he good enough to win? Yeah, he might be. Off his 1st race, I felt he could improve and win. He did not get that chance with what went on in this horses world least night while in the gate.

So in my mind, this is a must follow next out.
Please let me/all of us, know when he is entered next. He might even show up with Blinkers "ON'. in his next start. Not saying he needs them but that might be the conclusion drawn from what took place.

Will be fun to follow . Someone write this horse down for an alert please.

it was difficult for me to see the eye but did see a lot of head motion just before the gate opened..also looked like she possibly didn't switch leads till about the 1/8th pole but I'll let you be the final judge of that str



.

[str]

This is actually a really good race to watch on the replay. I encourage you to do it . I will show you something that helps understand what happened from the horses point of view.

When you pull up the replay, only watch the inside eye and head of the 4 horse. That is it. Just his eye that is visible. What you will see is, just before the break, the horse gets scared, or upset, jostled, whatever . At that exact time, this horse is NOT thinking about racing or breaking. He is ONLY thinking about what scared the heck out of him. Now maybe, something pinched him and it hurt and that scared him. I don't know but whatever it was, it had ALL of his attention. That does happen but it typically takes 3-4 seconds, just like it would for you, to catch your breath and get over being very startled. (Put yourself in the horses shoes). You get the crap scared out of you just before the starting pistol goes off, you are still recovering from that after only a second or two, and BANG ! There off. Would you break well and be focused?? I know I wouldn't. IMO, that is exactly what happened here.

The horse was not prepared to break after that event and needed another few seconds, but the starter sprung the latch and he was left flat footed, and not focused. So now what?

What we can hope for is that the trainer saw this and gets that horse back to the gate several times at least in the morning to just load, stand, and back out. Just give him a chance to settle. We can also hope he draws a more outside post next out so less time to be in there, and off the rail where that last experience occurred. If all that can occur, this horse will break much better next out, he will be in focus from the first stride, and if they can find a race with a little class relief, that would be enough to make this guy a winner IMO. Now maybe he cannot get that class relief. Is he good enough to win? Yeah, he might be. Off his 1st race, I felt he could improve and win. He did not get that chance with what went on in this horses world least night while in the gate.

So in my mind, this is a must follow next out.
Please let me/all of us, know when he is entered next. He might even show up with Blinkers "ON'. in his next start. Not saying he needs them but that might be the conclusion drawn from what took place.

Will be fun to follow . Someone write this horse down for an alert please.

Wanted to add, that there was more to see in this replay once the race started but the most important part was the stuff I talked about. Happy to go over the other things during the race as well but didn't want to present too much in one post.

[str]

turfway R8 @ 9:25
#4 top (8-1) Hustled out of the gate and along the rail I wonder if that took a little away down the stretch.
Winner finished well.
I have mentioned this before..... but "Vekoma" youngsters are "en Fuego"

first time starters are over 21% win rate.

just kind of an even effort to me but admittedly just going by watching the race live and didn't look at a replay..fairgrounds was scratched and the turf paradise horse was pressed on the lead till the quarter pole (1 mile race) where she started to give it up and faded badly the final eighth
..both lightly raced and have a hunch they'll find the winners circle with some time..possibly the turfway horse might need to drop in vs maiden claimers ..the vekoma was impressive and he is ,as we've mentioned, cranking out some really good horses ..by candy ride (sire of gun runner.. $250k fee) think he's going to be an elite sire in the not too distant future..stands for $35k this year and opened at $20k in 2021

you have to keep in mind that AM is still working with mares who were bred to him at a $7500 fee and that will be true again with this years crop of 2yos..you can only do so much and relative to his fee he's a real producer..next years 2yo will be from a $12.5 fee and 2027's will be from a $25k fee so will be interesting how he'll do in the future with higher quality mares

This is actually a really good race to watch on the replay. I encourage you to do it . I will show you something that helps understand what happened from the horses point of view.

When you pull up the replay, only watch the inside eye and head of the 4 horse. That is it. Just his eye that is visible. What you will see is, just before the break, the horse gets scared, or upset, jostled, whatever . At that exact time, this horse is NOT thinking about racing or breaking. He is ONLY thinking about what scared the heck out of him. Now maybe, something pinched him and it hurt and that scared him. I don't know but whatever it was, it had ALL of his attention. That does happen but it typically takes 3-4 seconds, just like it would for you, to catch your breath and get over being very startled. (Put yourself in the horses shoes). You get the crap scared out of you just before the starting pistol goes off, you are still recovering from that after only a second or two, and BANG ! There off. Would you break well and be focused?? I know I wouldn't. IMO, that is exactly what happened here.

The horse was not prepared to break after that event and needed another few seconds, but the starter sprung the latch and he was left flat footed, and not focused. So now what?

What we can hope for is that the trainer saw this and gets that horse back to the gate several times at least in the morning to just load, stand, and back out. Just give him a chance to settle. We can also hope he draws a more outside post next out so less time to be in there, and off the rail where that last experience occurred. If all that can occur, this horse will break much better next out, he will be in focus from the first stride, and if they can find a race with a little class relief, that would be enough to make this guy a winner IMO. Now maybe he cannot get that class relief. Is he good enough to win? Yeah, he might be. Off his 1st race, I felt he could improve and win. He did not get that chance with what went on in this horses world least night while in the gate.

So in my mind, this is a must follow next out.
Please let me/all of us, know when he is entered next. He might even show up with Blinkers "ON'. in his next start. Not saying he needs them but that might be the conclusion drawn from what took place.

Will be fun to follow . Someone write this horse down for an alert please.

[JBEX]

turfway R8 @ 9:25
#4 top (8-1) Hustled out of the gate and along the rail I wonder if that took a little away down the stretch.
Winner finished well.
I have mentioned this before..... but "Vekoma" youngsters are "en Fuego"

first time starters are over 21% win rate.

just kind of an even effort to me but admittedly just going by watching the race live and didn't look at a replay..fairgrounds was scratched and the turf paradise horse was pressed on the lead till the quarter pole (1 mile race) where she started to give it up and faded badly the final eighth
..both lightly raced and have a hunch they'll find the winners circle with some time..possibly the turfway horse might need to drop in vs maiden claimers ..the vekoma was impressive and he is ,as we've mentioned, cranking out some really good horses ..by candy ride (sire of gun runner.. $250k fee) think he's going to be an elite sire in the not too distant future..stands for $35k this year and opened at $20k in 2021

you have to keep in mind that AM is still working with mares who were bred to him at a $7500 fee and that will be true again with this years crop of 2yos..you can only do so much and relative to his fee he's a real producer..next years 2yo will be from a $12.5 fee and 2027's will be from a $25k fee so will be interesting how he'll do in the future with higher quality mares

[batt33]

turfway R8 @ 9:25
#4 top (8-1) Hustled out of the gate and along the rail I wonder if that took a little away down the stretch.
Winner finished well.
I have mentioned this before..... but "Vekoma" youngsters are "en Fuego"

first time starters are over 21% win rate.

[batt33]

ok did not know that. Lies calls the OKLAHOMA circuit WRD and Tulsa. Smooth low key voice. THX for the info.

[Easy-Rider 66]

Larry was named the caller, I will have to look up John Lies... He doesn't ring a bell.

ok did not know that. Lies calls the OKLAHOMA circuit WRD and Tulsa. Smooth low key voice. THX for the info.

[batt33]

Maybe Larry. I am hoping John Lies who has called DMR in the past.

Larry was named the caller, I will have to look up John Lies... He doesn't ring a bell.

[batt33]

see if I'm right with caldera..thought la derby was a good fit for a final derby prep ..this post was right after his last race ..nice work at oaklawn batt

I agree with the LA derby... the Virginia derby was also brought up.

I watched the workout... and it looked like he was just loping along.... then I saw the time and had to do a double take..!

[Easy-Rider 66]

Larry Collmus...He called the fall meet at Delmar. Always loved Trevor.... and his calls "Moving like a winner" or "They would need to sprout wings to catch him now".

https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.co...es-retirement/

Maybe Larry. I am hoping John Lies who has called DMR in the past.

[batt33]

Ahh. It’s all starting to make sense now Batt. Lol.
Confused str… Who me? Hahaha

ah joining my club" Confused" lol!

[batt33]

Hey guys: Trevor Denman retiring as the DEL MAR Race caller. One of the best announcers in the business imo. Will be interesting to see who replaces him? Will update when I know more.

Larry Collmus...He called the fall meet at Delmar. Always loved Trevor.... and his calls "Moving like a winner" or "They would need to sprout wings to catch him now".

https://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/legendary-racecaller-trevor-denman-announces-retirement/

[Easy-Rider 66]

Hey guys: Trevor Denman retiring as the DEL MAR Race caller. One of the best announcers in the business imo. Will be interesting to see who replaces him? Will update when I know more.

[JBEX]

by army mule..fairgrounds R7 #7 flick (10-1) @ 4:45

first time starter and trainer is bad at that..has a nice turf sprint pedigree (AM's run on grass and bottom also) but I think and sure str would agree the trainer info takes precedence .. considering that a good effort here would show a lot

was scratched