tompkins
03-19-2007, 12:24 PM
In trying to understand an overall concept, it is common to break it down into its component parts. Often, as in many of the racing books I have reviewed, this result is giving some of those components too much influence on the whole (and sells more books). Workouts are a particular area where I believe this has occurred.
If you go to the large training facilities at Newmarket or Chantilly, they have huge “runs” covered with wood chips where upwards of twenty horses go out together from the same stable to have LSD (Long Slow Distance) runs together. These are never timed. It makes good sense as it promotes cardiovascular fitness in the same (herd) situation a horse would experience in its natural surroundings. In Hong Kong, horses have to register for workouts and are then assigned a specific saddle cloth number that the horse must carry after the horse identifier makes sure that the animal is the one listed on the work tab. This insures that when the clocker times a horse with the listed saddle cloth, it is in fact that same horse.
In contrast, at most North American tracks there is an outdated system fraught with error potential. When horses enter the track from the “gap” in the fence from the barns, the exercise rider calls out to the horse identifier ( a fellow working for the track who receives the information and then radios this up to the roof where the clocker(s) are located): “Alydar working five furlongs for John Veitch,” and that is that. No one checks to see if the animal is in fact Alydar, or this animal is from said barn. Now usually the identifier knows all the riders, but there is no hard and fast identification rule. Also there is great potential to mix them up if the same stable sends out three horses with the same saddle cloth.
Now the horse has been identified (ostensibly), the clocker knows the name and theoretical work out distance (they are not bound to just go that distance). As the animals warm up (we know that many take longer than others to do this), the clocker must keep track of all of these horses with no identifying marks on them other than saddle cloths specific to the trainer or stable. Some may take 5 minutes to get ready, others 15 to 20 as more animals are coming out onto the track, and so one clocker is assigned to follow his group. Another potential area of mistake is exposed.
When the horse is ready to work (and they all are timed form the standard poles referenced in the infield), they will bring the animal up to speed. If the work is at four furlongs, the horse gets moving at about the 5/8ths pole but now always. Some riders are actually working 6 furlongs but are being timed for only four and start the animal at top speed BEFORE the start of the official timing. Now the horses are going full out before the timing and often the exercise riders are well over 140 pounds. Not much of a chance to correlate to actual racing situations again.
Often trainers want to try a new piece of equipment on a horse (to se how they would react before putting that on in a race), or work a young horse in company. Usually, in the latter situation, a old pro gelding is send out at a steady 13 second/furlong clip so that the rider of the younger animal gets the experience of having dirty kicked in it’s face and passing the slower animal. Usually, but not always, the older gelding’s workout time becomes so slow relative to the other younger one, that is often dropped from the work out results altogether. In the older DRF editions from the 60’s-70’s, the clockers used to note when they worked together to inform the public of these maneuvers (“Whittingham worked Ack Ack in company with Pinjara”) and would note when a “name” jockey had come out to work a horse (“Santos was in the irons on Funnycide”), note where the animal may have lugged in or out, and gave a very accurate description of moves that caught the clockers eye as being exceptional. This is no longer done in any edition of the DRF which I have seen.
Qualifiers: Most racing jurisdictions want to protect the public from horse being sent out who are either unfit or hurting and require any horse which has not raced or worked out in the last thirty days to have a qualifying work of 5 furlongs within a set time (usually in the range of 1:05). This tells the stewards that the horse is sound enough to go that distance and fit enough to move within a time indicative of a horse that could competitively race. Many trainers who have access to private training facilities where public clockers have not reported previous works, do not have to inform the racing organization the degree of fitness these animals have attained and often run them to just get the minimum time when the horse is capable of much more. Also, many horses that have worked, and worked too slowly, are dropped from reported as having worked at all.
In the morning the track has been prepared the night before and most trainers want their worked as early as possible (5 AM is standard for the first sessions). After about two hours the track gets torn up and there is a break to re-surface. Depending upon what time the animal works, there can be a significant difference in the surface. Horses are NOT required to work near the rail and many can work in the 3 or 4 path giving an erroneous time.
Finally, there are NO drug tests after workouts. One can never know how much pharmaceutical help an animal have received in augmenting it’s time.
If you go to the large training facilities at Newmarket or Chantilly, they have huge “runs” covered with wood chips where upwards of twenty horses go out together from the same stable to have LSD (Long Slow Distance) runs together. These are never timed. It makes good sense as it promotes cardiovascular fitness in the same (herd) situation a horse would experience in its natural surroundings. In Hong Kong, horses have to register for workouts and are then assigned a specific saddle cloth number that the horse must carry after the horse identifier makes sure that the animal is the one listed on the work tab. This insures that when the clocker times a horse with the listed saddle cloth, it is in fact that same horse.
In contrast, at most North American tracks there is an outdated system fraught with error potential. When horses enter the track from the “gap” in the fence from the barns, the exercise rider calls out to the horse identifier ( a fellow working for the track who receives the information and then radios this up to the roof where the clocker(s) are located): “Alydar working five furlongs for John Veitch,” and that is that. No one checks to see if the animal is in fact Alydar, or this animal is from said barn. Now usually the identifier knows all the riders, but there is no hard and fast identification rule. Also there is great potential to mix them up if the same stable sends out three horses with the same saddle cloth.
Now the horse has been identified (ostensibly), the clocker knows the name and theoretical work out distance (they are not bound to just go that distance). As the animals warm up (we know that many take longer than others to do this), the clocker must keep track of all of these horses with no identifying marks on them other than saddle cloths specific to the trainer or stable. Some may take 5 minutes to get ready, others 15 to 20 as more animals are coming out onto the track, and so one clocker is assigned to follow his group. Another potential area of mistake is exposed.
When the horse is ready to work (and they all are timed form the standard poles referenced in the infield), they will bring the animal up to speed. If the work is at four furlongs, the horse gets moving at about the 5/8ths pole but now always. Some riders are actually working 6 furlongs but are being timed for only four and start the animal at top speed BEFORE the start of the official timing. Now the horses are going full out before the timing and often the exercise riders are well over 140 pounds. Not much of a chance to correlate to actual racing situations again.
Often trainers want to try a new piece of equipment on a horse (to se how they would react before putting that on in a race), or work a young horse in company. Usually, in the latter situation, a old pro gelding is send out at a steady 13 second/furlong clip so that the rider of the younger animal gets the experience of having dirty kicked in it’s face and passing the slower animal. Usually, but not always, the older gelding’s workout time becomes so slow relative to the other younger one, that is often dropped from the work out results altogether. In the older DRF editions from the 60’s-70’s, the clockers used to note when they worked together to inform the public of these maneuvers (“Whittingham worked Ack Ack in company with Pinjara”) and would note when a “name” jockey had come out to work a horse (“Santos was in the irons on Funnycide”), note where the animal may have lugged in or out, and gave a very accurate description of moves that caught the clockers eye as being exceptional. This is no longer done in any edition of the DRF which I have seen.
Qualifiers: Most racing jurisdictions want to protect the public from horse being sent out who are either unfit or hurting and require any horse which has not raced or worked out in the last thirty days to have a qualifying work of 5 furlongs within a set time (usually in the range of 1:05). This tells the stewards that the horse is sound enough to go that distance and fit enough to move within a time indicative of a horse that could competitively race. Many trainers who have access to private training facilities where public clockers have not reported previous works, do not have to inform the racing organization the degree of fitness these animals have attained and often run them to just get the minimum time when the horse is capable of much more. Also, many horses that have worked, and worked too slowly, are dropped from reported as having worked at all.
In the morning the track has been prepared the night before and most trainers want their worked as early as possible (5 AM is standard for the first sessions). After about two hours the track gets torn up and there is a break to re-surface. Depending upon what time the animal works, there can be a significant difference in the surface. Horses are NOT required to work near the rail and many can work in the 3 or 4 path giving an erroneous time.
Finally, there are NO drug tests after workouts. One can never know how much pharmaceutical help an animal have received in augmenting it’s time.