Quote:
Originally Posted by the_fat_man
How are these guys training these horses to not only handle multiple distances AND be able to mix them up at will BUT to be able to stretch them out off of a single race and have them display router stamina. This was something that some of the all time greats couldn't do, at one time. I mean, great horses would return sprinting off layoffs and then (gradually) be stretched out. I can make sense of the cutback but the stretchout is tough to handle.
I watch S Cal racing and I'm hardpressed to figure out how these guys are training these horses. Clearly, in any other sport, your routers aren't able to beat sprinters sprinting and certainly your sprinters can't be routers over a distance -- and come from off the pace to do it, no less.
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If a horse wins sprinting first-time out, it is very tough to win next time out going long but it can be done. I think that in general the guys that are the most successful at this are the ones that give the horse at least 5 weeks (and preferably 6 weeks) between the debut win and the next race. The horses usually need some time to recover from the debut win and they need some long works (or 5 furlong works with long gallop-outs) to get ready for the route race.
I don't think much has changed with regards to this over the years. I first started going to the races back in 1980. Back then, if I saw a horse that won really impressively sprinting in his debut, the horse would usually get crushed if he was brought back routing 17 days later. I think that is still the same today.