Warm Up Exhibit A

Thanks to KH for the Georgie Boy comment (two year old winner of the Delmar Futurity)! Can we claim the comment as Exhibit A for the warm up part of the blog? KH noted that on TVG it looked as if Georgie Boy had the most vigorous warm up, and he adds to this by running easy out of the gate--nice job by trainer Kathy Walsh (my word!), though I'm less complimentary to see her valuable horse being persevered with on the wrong lead all the way down the stretch. Lucky they were on poly!

Racing observers have seen this over and over. One horse comes out and appears actually to be warming up for the race compared to the others. I always run to the windows when I see this. The warmed up animal may get beat, but it'll generally be competitive. Why? The rest of the field in the mile race will be winded when they hit the backstretch when the warmed up horse is just getting into gear.

Coming up I'll summarize my thoughts on warm up and delve into why the heck they warm up the way they do?

Training:
Groovin' Wind back in action Thurs. night for a 1 5/8 mile gallop. Wind has caught something. He has a dull eye, ribs showing, totally other than himself. We decided to let him gallop at his own pace to test the energy level. Nob said it was a workman like (as opposed to "eager") steady :17 up and down the hills. Wind never once pulled on the bit--very unWind like. Wormed tonight; I'm expecting improvement Friday then on to Eureka.

Art: This one was funny. The little f.ass was galloped riderless with Aylward who had had a light breeze the night before. I'd noted after good feeding that Al appeared to actually have put on weight over night--bad news for Saturday's breezing since we have a heavy rider. So, decided riderless with the youngster.
They warmed up a half mile then were to gallop "briskly" for two miles riderless. What it turned into was a very steady :14.5-:15s for two miles with the old vet either running behind the youngster egging him on or occasionally taking the lead and the example. Al was completely the instructor and crashed the young fellow every time he tried to slow down or play around. It was hilarious, and while hardly the fastest Art has traveled, the length and consistency made this Art's most strenuous workout to date. First time he'd experiences a professional run. Light bulb on, hopefully! Ten min. walk under tack. Beat the dark tonight!