3YO filly not showing up on race day...suggestions, advice..

[Pie™]

This is a cross post from one of the other boards here...no responses so I thought I'd post here too....

3yo filly - good foundation under her, has been in training at the track since 3/20 of this year after 100 days on the farm training over the winter to "finish" her breaking and get her started. She started gate work like a pro in May and never had an issue with the gate - not anything for that matter. Her training has been marred with little other than one or two sniffles along the way. She loves the gate, she loves to train, her rider is one of the best ex jocks at the track, her trainer has some of the best Y-T-D and lifetime stats at the track, she breaks well, she works well, she works with 3-5 other horses out of the gate and breaks fast, sharp, clean and always in front; and she stays there. She's sharp as a tack. Thats why the trainer was adament that we start her at the top level MSW for this track.
Her first start was 8/28. Distance was fair for her breeding 6f (she'll likely do better longer) - but for her first race....
It was sloppy - she's only trained all summer in searing 100 degree heat on a dusty, dry track - so we were concerned about the slop.
She broke sluggish - actually stayed in the gate, lost ground and never made it up - tried a little - but the jockey said - was never quite the way she seemed when he had been riding her in morning work outs that week. Maybe it was the slop, the mud in her face didn't seem to bother her, maybe she was frustrated being behind and not liking the heavy mud on her feet - we'd try her again at the same level.
Today we put her in the same race. Today was 86 degrees - track was fast. She broke sluggish, and was behind because of it. Jockey said, there wasn't a thing he could do to make her go faster, he used the stick, she swished her tail at him and it almost seemed to slow her down, like she was p*ssed at him for hitting her and slowed down because of it. She just wouldn't try to make up the lost distance.

So, she's just not breaking the same in the race as she is in training. She's not showing up for the races at all - not firing when asked in the race. From what the trainer is telling me - no one is asking her to do much during training - because -she's doing everything you could want or expect her to do during a morning work out - she's lunging out of the gate, ahead of the other 3 or 4 horses that she's working with- staying ahead of them and putting in good, decent works -in the top 1- 5 of the days works at the posted distances. She's just not giving it during the race.

She's schooled in the paddock. Handled it like a charm. She's not nervous about anything- she's not expending alot of energy being fractious - she's loaded both 2nd and 9th for her 2 starts - and she loads like an angel and waits to be loaded or in the gate like an angel. She comes into the paddock and leaves the paddock like a well behaved 3YO filly - not dead like a lump - but not high as a kite either.

What are we doing wrong here? What can be going on with this filly? She's got Race horse written all over her during training - but she's just not bringing it to the races. Can it just be Learning curve?

Next race we drop her level and add some distance hoping to play on her breeding and if she does need some time to settle into the race, the distance will allow her that.

any other suggestions?

[doublete]

Hmm, no real suggestions other than I have heard of 'morning glories'. Course from the people I heard it from it could have just meant they didn't take the time to figure things out, or the horse really didn't want to race, I really don't know.

Do agree with austique though- not fair to label her of course. And way too soon. Have they had her scoped?

Good luck.

[KamiBrooks]

Maybe she feels like the 'race' thing is old hat and wants to check out the night scene and all the crowds? -- Obviously I'm not a trainer

Kami

[austique]

It could be a number of things. She is very inexperienced and may be taking awhile to figure out the whole race day thing. Some horses can be strange that way training really well up to their first start and then running poorly in the afternoon and then suddenly a flip switches and they go to running. One big question. Is she hauling in or is she stabled on the grounds? Some young horses and older ones for that matter just get zapped by the rigors of shipping.

Secondly, she may just be a morning glory, but she's only had two starts so its unfair to lay that lable on her just yet.

Lastly, she may just be getting very tense. Some horses look well and good in the paddock (no washing out in the paddock, etc.), but are very tense animals. We had one (a stakes placed horse) you could feel the tension radiating off of yet he was always quiet, well-behaved, and never washed out. These horses can be cheat bleeders too. Again she's only had two starts and one hates to label her. It may be an equipment change issue. For example we had a few horses who were perfectly comfortable working in the mornings without tounge ties, but due to the increased tension of racing needed then in the afternoon.

[adrienne]

This is probably not going to be greatly helpful...

But sometimes its a matter of routine. Like if she's used to doing things in the morning and lazing around in the afternoon, she might be a routine nut. One of the layups I take care of is a nutso to walk in the afternoon, but if you walk him in the morning, when he was walked on the track, he's a puppy.

Also, in the latest Equus there was a story about horses actually being at their peak in the morning due to hormone levels. Maybe it's pronouned in your filly?

Adrienne

[Pie™]

I'm not familiar with the term "morning glory" - I'm assuming it means a horse that trains great but doesn't want to race?

She was a nut as a 2YO - literally had to send her home from the training farm - couldn't put a finish on her breaking because she was so fractious. So we turned her out some more and did what we could with her on the farm in the summer of 2004. She does thrive on routine and she does tend to be a brat - the whip thing didn't surprise me at all - that she obnoxiously swished her tail when she was batted and actually slowed down when she got hit. She's got an attitude like that.

So, maybe after the next race, have her scoped? She is already wearing a tongue tie during the races, which surprised me - and the trainer is also very aware of her personality - he knows she is one that you do things a certain way - and less is better with her - she doesn't like to be fussed with.

I appreciate the comments. Gosh, I hate to think with all the $ I have into this one, to have come this far that she doesn't "like" racing.

[Pie™]

oh yeah - one other thing...she's stabled at the track.

[DanN]

Have you tried blinkers ?

[Pie™]

We've talked about blinkers...but we keep coming back to the same questions...why would we put blinkers on her? She's not afraid of anything..she's not spooking at anything....she's not distracted by anything....the track is not a big track - its not really well attended so there is no real crowd thing going on, on a weekday race day....its pretty much the same kind of a feel on a normal training day - other than she's raced at 1 p.m and 3 p.m instead of training at 7 a.m. on the two days she's raced...

she's not stopping to do a "lookey-loo" at anything - she's just breaking real sluggish and finding herself behind -not liking it- and not giving two hoots enough about it to make up the distance. Or thats how the Jockey explained it yesterday - like he thought she had NEVER found herself behind like that - and didn't care enough to muster up any kind of race to try and catch up.

A completely, 100%, totally different horse than in training who broke from the gate with enough VIM to win the race going away - and always broke in front and stayed in front.

whatever is going on - its all in the break for this horse - I agree- I don't think its a blinker issue -though...whatever it is...distance may or may not fix it - but if she doesn't like starting from behind - and she's intimidated by 9 horses (or 11) and she breaks slow because of it and then can't muster up the "TRY" to get ahead of the pack...thats a problem.
so - getting her to break during a race -the way she does during training - is what needs to be fixed.

How to do that? I don't know. Maybe blinkers would help her if she couldn't see the other 9 or 11 horses coming out with her?

[austique]

A morning glory is a horse that shows a lot in the morning but never shows up on raceday. We had the worst one in history. A horse who would work 46 in the morning and then run exactly the same slow speed figure every afternoon with only a few points variance.

Blinkers may help. They won't hurt her. She may be concentrating too much on what the other horses are doing in the gate.

[Des]

Pie,

I was reading your post and for a while I actully thought you were discussing a filly that I raced two years ago. She was the eaxct same as your filly, my only difference is that trainer that I had did not do his job properly.He reshed her a bit and instead of backing off her her tried to push her. Eventually after a few months and 5 tries at the races I stopped and bred her. This filly was really nuts before she got to the races and she was exactly as your when she was training. Where I think I went wrong was I should have backed off her and gave her more time to mature. I beleive that some horses that shows potential in the mornings but not during race time needs more time to mature. This is where you and your trainer need to do all the work to figure her out. Sometimes you have to stop with her because she may just don't want to run. (Try her on the grass if she has the pedigree) Good luck with her I know how it feels.

[klbash2000]

I had a filly that was behaved similarly, she was happy running but when pushed she didn't go on but instead got irritated and slowed down. What we did was do a "training race" where she was treated exactly like it was a race in the morning and when she was asked to go on and sulked, the rider lit her up and stayed after her rudely until she quit sulking and tried at which point he went back to riding her quietly. I can't remember if we did that twice or three times but she tried much more honestly after that. The big thing was that before when she sulked she was let up on and she thought she had found the perfect way to get the rider to quit. It would be better to do it in a simulated situation because in a race you probably wouldn't want to let up until the finish line whether she quit sulking or not and that might not help break the pattern. Good luck!

[Pie™]

It is the one question I forgot to ask the trainer yesterday in between his other horses running - why has he never used the whip on this horse during training - if nothing else just to get her used to it - especially when I had told him what a sour little puss and spoiled brat she could be/had been the previous year when we painstakingly worked with her on the farm to get her just to let us saddle break her. She doesn't mind doing things...she just wants to do everything in her own time...saddle breaking was like that - and if you tried to push her before she was ready - she would just plant her feet and nothing you could do would make her move. But when she was ready - she was broke in about a day and half and moving forward beautifully like a pro. I saw that when the jock hit her with the crop and she swished her tail at him - enough to say, "excuse me???"

My own personal feeling here is that she needs to be taken out on the training track and a couple bullet works done, with the whip on her hind end, starting with her breaking from the gate and not letting up until the ride is over - sides the jock...

other comments?

[Monmouth Matt]

Surprised the trainer didn't have her scoped after either race just to eliminate bleeding or mucus or another problem. You didn't mention the pace or whether she improved her position at all....certainly sounds tempermental....run her where she fits to get her into the flow of racing. Not a ton of claiming of 3 yr. olds this time of year,so if that's a concern, maybe discount it a bit.

[madelyn]

Actually, 1pm... 3pm... you could seriously be cutting into her naptime. One of the "problems" with the way racehorses are trained is that horses who are habituals learn the "morning" routine -- up at 4:30, fed, groomed, tacked up, run around, bath, etc., maybe the farrier or vet visits but it is All Over by 11 and trainers' barns in the afternoon are quiet, sleepy places to be. My barn is stallions, mares and horses in retraining... they ALL sleep in the afternoon. With that filly you might suggest they change her routine...