Preston Burch And The Derby

Maybe a welcome lull at the moment. Most of the pre-Derby excitement has passed, and all that remains is the crucial three weeks of Derby prep before the actual race.

As a trainer I like to identify what happens (or fails to happen) that produces the win on Derby day. I found it extremely interesting that Steve Haskin in one of his pieces yesterday in a bit of veiled criticism at the softer trainers and their connections, complained about babying horses to the Derby just to get them there and how this process physically weakens those babied contenders. In this vein consider Pletcher's Saturday comments of "minimal training" with the sole aim of producing a horse still in one piece, and then getting "lucky" on race day. That's the mindset.

This happens in all sports. Pajama party preseason NFL practices, coddling to veterans, practicing by playing instead of conditioning etc. Whether horse racing, the NBA, NFL or whatever sport, those of us that follow things closely understand that "babying", soft training or coaching rarely works. Yes, in Pletcher's terms once in a blue moon the soft trainer will get "lucky", for whatever reason. But, most generally what you'll see as the game/contest on the athletic field progresses is that the conditioned athletes, those best prepared physically for the event, will gradually take control.

And so, what might the gentleman pictured, Preston Burch, think about today's Derby training. If you're unfamiliar, Burch would be breezing his horses every three days from now to the Derby generally 6f to a mile, alternating fast and slow times at those distances.

But, zero Preston Burch horses in this Derby, and so we'll see the usual, 20 going around there all of them unprepared for the distance and rigor of the event. They'll all make it around, hopefully, and we're very likely with these talent horses to see an exciting race. Yet, you are unable to help but wonder what if? What if War Pass were trained by Preston Burch?

The three weeks to the Derby allow me to go right on with the subject--spacing of breezes and races. With the ever evolving Derby coverage, our racing reporters increasing their sophistication (see Haskin) maybe we can paste it all together. My best guess of the moment--on Derby Day we will witness group of about 5 well trained horses competing against another 15 whose trainers think they can just show up and compete. Presumably the winner will come from the 5. We'll see!

Training:
Wed 4/16: Riderless for both horses medium-medium fast for 10 min with Art carrying the 35 lbs. Astride.
Thurs 4/17: Off during the storms. Another deluge. We'll commence tack work tonight.