Evaluating Training II

RR in a bit of a funk today (see Nob Notes below) and, considering the line from Faust "What we were summoned here to do, we knew but have forgotten". Where was i on this stuff?

I'd like to be a fly on the wall as Sheik Rashid, the twenty something owner of Thor's Echo, and the Sheik's advisor's are planning today's trips around the track. How are they judging their training, and does this differ in any way than, say, the same actions being taken today by Joe Thomas Jr., a heck of a nice guy and pretty good horse trainer at Eureka Downs? Different ends of the food chain, to be sure, but, that's the fascination in racing. We're all training horses.

The standards in athletics these days seem to be winning and money. You rarely heard that forty years ago. But now, bring in Bob Huggins and his bad ass program to KState BB Ball, and it's win baby, and never mind how you get there.

In racing, however, as in all sports, winning or money relate only generally to the training. If winning directly relates to the training over a period of time, then we might take a serious look. But, if the stable is winning for reasons other than the training, then this sort of winning says little about the particular training program. And, as an aside I'll add for anyone doubting, history shows very clearly you are unable to "buy" success in athletics, and, why the heck would you want to if you could? Would take the fun out of it for me.

There is, however, one universal standard, in the RR opinion, by which all training may be judged whatever the motivation or background for being in the business. You can see this easily by watching your kid shoot baskets in the back yard, which they do hour after hour, day after day. And to what purpose? This is the key--they practice to get better, to become better athletes, to up their performance and compete at higher levels.

And so, presumably, but not necessarily, the sheiks and Joe T. today are planning their programs to improve performance. That is how you evaluate training, and it is with this in mind that the following posts will look at conventional training, then P.Burch, and later what i expect will be really fun, the training of T.J. Smith. If anyone wants a head start on that and see were i'm going, click on the website of T.J.'s daughter, Gai Waterhouse:

www.gaiwaterhouse.com

I'm hoping to persuade her to add some comments. Now, today's

Nob Report 1/5/07:

As I walk out the door of my office it's raining cats and dogs more Faust comes to mind:

"With all events in souring ferment
from first immersion to interment."

there's at least another half inch of water out of the sky to add to our misery, and, I head straight back in to check Accuweather to see that yesterday's scheduled two weeks with temps in the 50s and 60s, to my utter horror, has been changed to three days of that and then down to the 10s and 20s for two weeks.

"till life seems but a shadow throng,
parading between ding and dong".

RR is other than happy today.
1/3/06 fast twitch pasture romp.
1/4/06 9.5 m slow gallop heats under 20 lbs astride and some steps under tack.
1/5/06: rain and rest.