Originally Posted by
Dark Horse
In his first three races Hansen didn't run such a fast second fraction. The inability or ability to relax of young horses has come up before in this thread. Would you say it was mostly inexperience?
What a difference a year makes. Mucho Macho Man absolutely delivered for Ramon the day before:
“It was the absolute perfect trip," Dominguez noted. "We were right on the outside of the speed. He handled himself so well. He gave me the feeling every step of the way that whenever I was ready to ask he was ready to go. He gave me so much confidence. I was just a passenger today. You can really tell how much he’s grown up since I rode him in the Belmont. Back then, he was just a big skinny horse that had a lot of maturing to do. Now he looks like he’s grown up and has everything figured out.”
Interesting... So the race was set up like a sprint, which should have favored Hansen, but it didn't because he didn't relax (after a bad start). This seems quite a complex learning experience for a horse. How does he process this? Or is it just a better energy distribution that comes with experience? It's almost as if he battled adversity in two stages in this race. First he went all out after a bad start, then he ran out of gas, but then he showed a lot of spirit at the end. What a deal. So when the jockey asked him for more, he responded. But when the jockey had asked him to go slower, he didn't respond. lol
Dominguez took Hansen right up to Algorithms after the race. They walked side by side (not too close) for a while. It seemed a little odd to me, so I was wondering if that would have been by design. Would it make sense that he wanted Hansen to get a good look at the other horse (now that both are pretty much in the Derby)?
And, as a trainer, are you happy with his development so far, aside from raw talent? Do you like him as a speed horse, or would you prefer him just off the pace?