It Is An Interesting Question

Hard to believe but I'm a ways from being done with warming up. Why? If you think about it, it is an interesting question. Warm up is the maybe one significant way besides training that we can affect the performance of our horse. Among the numerous possibilities we'd like to find that one warm up that will get max performance out of the gate.

This was all brought home to me with a rather amazing scene at Eureka Downs a few years back. If you enjoy animal cruelty watch a quarter horse warm up. Truly pitiful. Most of these stall and walker trained animals walk-trot to the gate with the lucky few getting a few strides of slow canter.

But, on the particular occasion the finals of a large quarterhorse futurity with a $70,000 pot was being held at Eureka.. Every horse had won at least two trials, and i was wondering whether with this scope of race they'd conduct their typical warm up.

All the trainers for the race were either local or from near Texas or Ok except one who I believe was from AZ with a reputation. Maybe it was John Hammes but I fail to recall. Whoever he was he had the two favorites in the race. There were several fast horses.

On race day, out they came for the warm up. Lots of electricity in the air for this big purse at the little track with the $2000/race purse structure.

The AZ trainer's two horses, both almost jet black large colts, in the warm up quickly separated themselves from the post parade, headed to the back stretch and pulled what for me was a complete shocker. Both horses left their ponies and commenced three heats of short sprint burst one on the inside of the back stretch and one on the outside Japanese style. All heads on the track cranked to the action--pony riders, jocks, gate crew, outriders, everybody was watching these two warm up, and this seemed to send a message through the field as suddenly most of the other ponies got busy and actually began cantering their horses. But, no one else came close to the speed warm up of these two horses from AZ. You could feel the race was pretty much over in the warm up.

They all came out of the gates with the AZ trainers horses actually more mid pack, but both horses smoothly and powerfully accelerated past a fast field, reached the front about 100 yds before the wire and finished 1-2 a length apart from each other at the finish line. The next horse was about 20 yards back.

I'm sure I've seen a few other warm ups win a race, but, this QH race from a few years back sticks out. Two two year olds under complete control warm up fast riderless proving to me by an obviously great trainer that it can be done.
Training:
Groovin' Wind was off after Wednesday's breeze.
Art was back in action doing another riderless two miles after a 1/2 mile warm up. This one was snappy with a lot of two minute stuff. Call it Burch Day 1. Again, too damm dark to ride. I've got to get myself together on that.