Tbird wrote:Why are these horses so tired in the stretch? Why would a young, healthy Thoroughbred be so tired after running pretty fast for like 89 seconds?
And why are they not "worked" or "trained' more than they are in preparation for the races? What is this galloping once week or so, and what is "walking the shedrow" going to do to make a horse fit?
Your question is very common to new people to TB racing and I will have a go at explaining it. RA went the first quarter in 22 and change which is what we refer to in a mile and an eighth race as suicide pace. Picture Bolt going 100m in 9 and a bit seconds and where he'd be after 1600m. If she went at a reasonable pace, even with her natural speed, she would have finished far more strongly. If you took Macho Again, who came from the back and forced him up there with her, he would be "walking" across the wire. The way a horse finishes depends upon the "evenness" at which he gets to run. A horse with more natural speed, can fly out of the gate, set decent fractions (decent depending on the track conditions, distance, quality of the horse, age, ...) and slow down less than the others at the end. Do the math. It is rare they don't all go a slower final quarter than every preceding one. Here is the chart: http://www.equibase.com/static/chart/pd ... 9USA10.pdf You can figure out about how fast each horse went each quarter by seeing how far behind the leader at each point. Look at what happened to the horse who was on the lead with RA the first quarter: he stopped because he was pushed too hard. He can certainly run that far in good time had he not gone so fast early.
As for training: you can't train a properly conditioned horse to run against his natural talents. You can get him fit enough to do the distances he is best suited for but more training will do two things: break him down or take the "speed out of him". I have watched dozens of new people come to the track from different disciplines and kill or cripple the first bunch of horses they get their hands on (usually owner/trainer) because they think the horses stop because they aren't fit. Racing speed is not comparable to eventing speed for example. I did watch a 3 star once and the winner could have gone around again, while some of the also runs were so leg weary, they were sickening to watch. That is not just a difference in training, but in the quality of the horse and his suitability to the task.
Oops: just noticed the part about galloping once a week. They might work as in go fast once a week (or shorter works every fifth day), but they go out and gallop everyday except the day or so after a race or work. They are going more easily on those days, but it is still enough to make them breath harder, and sweat.
If you walked six days a week....