So much for horses needing 4 to 5 weeks rest

[ceejay]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

So now we've had Corinthian win on 3 weeks rest, Einstein win on 2 weeks rest, and Miss Shop win on 1 week rest. Guess we can toss all that BS the trainers are spewing about not being able to bring back stakes horses without at least 5 weeks in between. I don't ever want to hear 4 weeks referred to as short rest again.

Depends on the horse, trainer and effort put out last time. Conquistador Cielo won the '82 Belmont by 14 six days after putting up a track record in the Met Mile (of course against elders).

[blackthroatedwind]

Originally Posted by ceejay

Depends on the horse, trainer and effort put out last time. Conquistador Cielo won the '82 Belmont by 14 six days after putting up a track record in the Met Mile (of course against elders).

Actually it was five days.

[JJP]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

So now we've had Corinthian win on 3 weeks rest, Einstein win on 2 weeks rest, and Miss Shop win on 1 week rest. Guess we can toss all that BS the trainers are spewing about not being able to bring back stakes horses without at least 5 weeks in between. I don't ever want to hear 4 weeks referred to as short rest again.

Howard's Creek won today at TP. It was his 4th race in 21 days. Of course he was beating a rotten 7500 NW2 group.

[ceejay]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

Actually it was five days.

Yeah, it was. Sorry!

[blackthroatedwind]

Hell, in 1987 Gulch ran in the Gotham, won the Wood two weeks later, ran in the Derby in another two weeks, the Preakness, beat olders in the Met Mile nine days later, and then ran in the Belmont 12 days after that.

I don't think it had a negative affect on him.

[outofthebox]

Wow, didnt realize that. And he won a breeders cup sprint the next year. What a versitile horse..

[Honu]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

So now we've had Corinthian win on 3 weeks rest, Einstein win on 2 weeks rest, and Miss Shop win on 1 week rest. Guess we can toss all that BS the trainers are spewing about not being able to bring back stakes horses without at least 5 weeks in between. I don't ever want to hear 4 weeks referred to as short rest again.

Depends on the horse, they are all diffirent.

[SniperSB23]

Originally Posted by Honu

Depends on the horse, they are all diffirent.

I know there are some. Ravel for instance is one that I actually believe can't come back quick after a race. I just don't buy these ridiculous theories given by trainers and horseplayers that horses can't come back without less than five weeks rest or else they will bounce. Or the idea that horses aren't capable of running more often than every 5 to 6 weeks in Stakes company. Matz referred to four weeks as short rest the other day and my head almost exploded. As people have cited above, it wasn't that long ago that top horses were being asked to run back quick. Now everyone is too afraid of getting their horse beat that they try to get them the optimal rest instead of just racing the horse. For the few that might come back quick and run poorly how many are not reaching their full potential because they could actually improve by racing more often like horses of the past did?

[disappearingdan_akaplaya]

believe me guys i wanna see the best horses race often too but it just cant happen the way some here appear to want it to! horses are living breathing beings just like us and after running a huge effort sometimes they need more time to recuperate! ive learned so much since working in the barn and ive saw this first hand and am actually able to tell alotta the time now just how much a race has taken outta 1 of our horses by visually observing. for example we had a horse come off a year break, well he ran his eyeballs out first time back at turfway and he was layed out afterwards and was fine physically in the sense with no injury but again was just flat out exhausted for awhile and it took him several more days than it normally would for a horse to return to the track after a race. also some here may not realize especially with these stake horses just how much the shipping takes outta the horse as well

[Pedigree Ann]

Originally Posted by moodwalker

In Australia and England they run them every weekend or 14 days when they are on a campaign.

But don't be talking about that in America, those foreign trainers are just wrong.....

Makybe Diva won the Cox Plate at 1 1/4 miles and the Melbourne Cup at 2 miles 9 days apart when she was 7 years old.

And the highest finishing Aussie-based horse Maybe Better (third to the two Japanese runners) in last year's Melbourne Cup had qualified to get in by winning a race the Saturday before the Tuesday of the Cup. That's a 12.5f race THREE DAYS before a 2 mile race. Or course, the Cup was the culmination of the spring carnival for older horses and Maybe Better was spelled afterward.

[Pedigree Ann]

Originally Posted by SniperSB23

No, I'm thinking of stakes horses the past couple years that have been given a break all winter. Most of the top stakes horses that don't go to Dubai wait until May or June to comeback. Then they wind up making four or five starts the rest of the year if they are lucky. The horses that stay in training that stay healthy wind up racing more than 4 or 5 times from May on despite never getting a vacation. In the case of Sun King I highly doubt he will race anymore between May and October than he did last year despite getting the winter off this year and staying in training last year.

Back in the days of Secretariat and Forego, major racing on the East Coast was over in early November (Aqueduct ran to the end of the month, but the big races were earlier). Hollywood Park had no fall meeting except for trotters, Oak Tree was oriented towards turf horses and late-developing 2yos. Most horses who had been part of championship-type campaigns got at least a couple of months off, often more - Secretariat didn't come back until March of his 3yo year (still got in 3 races before the Derby, spaced at 2 weeks, the typical spacing for the time). Others showed up at Hialeah or Santa Anita in mid-January. Late starters, like Majestic Prince who didn't debut until November (I think) at Bay Meadows ran consistently through the winter and spring.

Only the rare horse could keep racing through the fall and winter and still be competitive in the spring classics, horses like my hero Jim French, a gritty little horse who thrived on racing. If only Canonero's plane had gotten stuck a bit longer, Jim-boy would have won the Kentucky Derby, since he ran second to the Venezuelan shipper.

[PPerfectfan]

Originally Posted by blackthroatedwind

I was having this very discussion with Zito a little earlier today and the conversation got around to Jerkens. Nick predicted he would run 1-2 in today's race.

Pretty close.

Since you know him, ask him what is up with "my" horse CP West. Dang I really like that horse.

[PPerfectfan]

I have run one of my QH's on a Thursday and then back agian on Sunday. But then agian he was going 300yds!

[Honu]

Here's a story of a horse needing no rest , I rode an 870 horse on Sat. and ran third , then I rode it in the first race on Sunday and it won, it got faster overnight LOL.

[deltagulf]

Originally Posted by disappearingdan_akaplaya

believe me guys i wanna see the best horses race often too but it just cant happen the way some here appear to want it to! horses are living breathing beings just like us and after running a huge effort sometimes they need more time to recuperate! ive learned so much since working in the barn and ive saw this first hand and am actually able to tell alotta the time now just how much a race has taken outta 1 of our horses by visually observing. for example we had a horse come off a year break, well he ran his eyeballs out first time back at turfway and he was layed out afterwards and was fine physically in the sense with no injury but again was just flat out exhausted for awhile and it took him several more days than it normally would for a horse to return to the track after a race. also some here may not realize especially with these stake horses just how much the shipping takes outta the horse as well

well back they shipped and not by air but by train or truck. and they ran quite well back then. to me it is easlier to fly then travel by land.