you know what i am really finding out the more i watch/bet?

[bdw0617]

pace is irrelevant. it really is.

what i am finding out, more than anything, is that more important than actual pace is the way the horse is going/ how the jockey is riding the horse.

i just saw this mile and 3 8th race at del mar on the turf, 4 horse joe talamo led them all the way around, and to be going that far, she was scooting. but about 1/4th in the race, she had gotten into a rally really good rhythm, you could tell she wasn't really exerting allt hat much effort, joe wasn't moving on her at all, and by the time they hit the stretch she re broke even though she was going fast.

then you see some races where the horse / jockey is trying to baby the lead and they are going 23/24 and change for a mile race or so and the jockey is holding the horse and strangling him and moving him this way and going that way, all to save a few seconds off the clock and then when you ask him to run he's like screw you buddy i'm out.

just find that interesting. yesterday i hit a 5f sprint at del mar, the 8 horse i forgot the name but the horse was gone on the lead and i knew she would fly back but she won going away, same thing, she got in a zone and by the time the other horses tried to catch her she gave them the slip


looking back in the triple crown I think this is the exact difference in the derby this year and the preakness. in the derby bodemeister was just going tot he lead, no questions asked, screw it lol. if we win we win if we lose we lose but we are going to the lead and we are going to make you catch me. in the preakness, smith seamed more concerned about making sure that he babied the horse on the lead and it really took him out of the rhythm.

[Dave C]

The rate at which a horse is consuming energy will determine how long it can maintain its' pace. A horse that gets hooked on the front end, might not run faster but it often runs harder because it isn't relaxed and therefore burns more energy. A lot of people I know have been going to the track all their lives and never figure this out.

[ratherrapid]

certainly training of the horse is relevant whether it can maintain speed regardless of jock handling. make good point however bdw. jocks have differing riding styles. unwise many times to interfere with stride. However, what do u do if the horse comes out of the gate so fast that it is obviously putting itself into such 02 debt that rider knows it is unable to get all the way around there?

[madelyn]

You teach the horse to break better; more relaxed.

[bdw0617]

certainly training of the horse is relevant whether it can maintain speed regardless of jock handling. make good point however bdw. jocks have differing riding styles. unwise many times to interfere with stride. However, what do u do if the horse comes out of the gate so fast that it is obviously putting itself into such 02 debt that rider knows it is unable to get all the way around there?

i remember watching the HRTV documentary with Larry Jones the one about Eight Bells i have seen it at least 10 times. anyway when he is getting her ready for the Derby as you know he rides all the horses and he has a little blurb there about how people talk about how he is too big for her and he said basically look as long as you are sitting chilly on the horse and let the horse do it's thing and dont' interfere with the horse could care less if im' on her back.

at the time i thought he was just making an excuse but the more i watch racing I think he is 100% correct. you see some of these jockeys and they are all over the damn place and then you have some that aren't over the place but they aren't in rhythm with the horse. that's a bigger deal to me now then the actual time of the quarters.