More--Why Do They Win?

Early on in my horseracing involvement I saw Timeless Native charging past an outclassed field at Ak Sar Ben. I still have a visual of that Timeless Moment, Damascus line Colt and his talent that day. And, I'll always retain the image of Gate Dancer trained by Jack Van Berg in his white ear muffs floating around the Ak Sar Ben track toying with the competition. The horse was just a blurr, but you could see those white muffs way out ahead of the pack on the near backstretch.

Where does talent fit into the equation? Can we agree that talent in athletics consists of physical and mental atributes superior to the competition. Things like fast twitch muscle percentage, skeletal build, maximum heart rate, etc., and in horses may we include such factors as stride efficiency, stride length, stride turnover, breathing ability, etc. Some horses have a natural agility and grace which stands out.

And yet, as with speed, horses have fewer differences in the category of physical talent than humans. They are more alike than we are. Still, great equine athletes that I've seen come to mind. Unbridled's Song, Bellamy Road, Arazi, Sunday Silence and Easy Goer, and Discreet Cat. Regardless of how we train, would we want to meet any of those in a particular race?

The most naturally gifted horse I have seen was Alysheba, who also was a poster boy that talent is beatable. The moment was the 1987 Breeder's Cup Classic when the Jack Van Berg trained three year old Alysheba with his wonderfully fluid stride was unable to hold off the older, stronger, better conditioned and rather mechanical Ferdinand. Ferdinand was trained by Charles Wittingham, the Bald Eagle. Alysheba came back to produce a memorable horse racing moment in winning the 1988 Classic under the lights at Churchill Downs.

What about luck. Big eyed rookies may want to skip this section for in horse racing when we talk about luck we are speaking of "bad luck". Witness the recent debacle for Brother Derek in CA wherein the horse was literally pinched off in deep stretch from a win by two horses simultaneously veering in to his front. Here is also an example of what pitiful training may do to a great horse. As to the RR luck, it seems to improve with a good rider onboard.

I'll try to summarize then get on with the coming "criticism" of conventional training.

Today's Training:
1/13/07 riderless snappy gallop in frozen paddock with some full speed 50 yd bursts. Heats for about 7 or 8 min. Tack work.
1/14/07 Pasture gallop for 9 or 10 minutes with several 2F quick bursts. Tack work.
1/15/07: This was supposed to be a rest day after two consecutive fast days. We did tack work with the neighbor leading the horse in the morning. Little progress today. Without first exercising the horse, he was too hepped to pay any attention. Fighting with Nob the whole way. Later in the day when the freezing drizzle started I witnessed the horses running on their own. Most of it was slower gallop, but our youngster again got in several bursts and seemed the primary instigator. This went on for 20-25 minutes intermittently. Good to see little Art now strong enough to romp with horses that have been training for years, compared to the complete weakling he was when he arrived in late Oct.