Evaluating The Friday Breeze

How's RR handle racing pressure? The last 24 hours I've forgotten the girth, forgot to switch the gas tank which killed the truck, fortuitously, on a road in plain view instead of the normal turn off that would have left us on a shoulderless two lane up and down road in precarious position. Today I drive to the office having forgotten to turn off the spigot in watering the horses. Neighbors gone of course, and it's hour drive to turn it off.

So, how are we evaluating the breezes? Here's the recent schedule for Wind:

9/11 2 x 3f farm breeze non-stop :12.7s.
9/14 3 x 2.5f farm breeze without stops in :12.8s.
9/17 3f in 41.1 at Woodlands.
9/21 4f in 49.6 Woodlands (extra day due to dark day on 9/20.).

Wind drove all the way through his breeze yesterday with almost zero blowing at the end and shows good energy today. But, how are the legs? I was reading Rick Porter's (Hard Spun) website this morning where amid rhapsodizing about his wonderful trainers and how well Hard Spun is doing Porter relates the various injuries to the rest of his stable. Kodiak Cowboy is doing well though, at least so far.

They say trainers walk on egg shells, and I actually say it's egg membranes, so we hold our breath a bit in the post breeze injury check. After the horse crossed the wire yesterday he "failed" to change leads into the Clubhouse turn on the gallop out. Nob had been instructed to gallop out to the back stretch so we could steer the horse into the gate area.

At that point(of the failed lead change) Nob violated an RR rule. The RR rules are set in stone, crucial that they be followed to avoid injury. The one violated: "never, ever persevere with a horse that fails to change leads". Zero leeway in that. "Never" persevere. Could I make it plainer?

When Wind failed to switch to his left on the gallop out he should immediately have been brought back to the trot. Instead, Nob, failing so to improvise on his instructions, in an exasperating failure of judgment, galloped an additional 3f on the right leg after a very hard burst down the stretch. And I'll note I was hardly too happy yesterday with that 2 mile trot home from the downed horse trailer (Nob leading the horse on the ground.) in the crucial post breeze "settle down" period.

So, how's the horse. Last night's injury check showed slight heat over both cannons, to be expected, which was close to stone cold this morning. There was, however, a slight warm spot on the condylar aspect of the right cannon where it joins the fetlock. Surprised??? Well, believe I just wrote above about the failed lead change. They're just too fragile to make any mistakes at all.

Hopefully all heat will be gone by tomorrow. It needs to be. We're planning an easy 1.5 mile gallop Sunday. I looked at Burch's book last night for the Assault exercise schematic just before Assault's first race in 1946. Max Hirsch was alternating long slow breezes with short fast ones. This seems like a good plan, and so we'll try for 6f in 1:20 or thereabouts Monday, with one eye on the weather, and see where we are.

Art last night was off.