Van Lear Rose

Day-Phillips trainee Van Lear Rose was commented on by KH last post. A smallish two year old filly, VLR gallops on the outside in the photo. Again I'm struck at how comfortable the Day-Phillips horses look in the photos.

VLR won a couple of stakes at Woodbine then a weak 6th in the BC Fillies Juvenile which shows best on the NTRA (non-importable video) website:

http://www.ntra.com/videoarchive.aspx?year=2008&page=3&type=

VLR looks anything but comfortable in the BC. She gallops along mostly 4th or 5th, is without any response at the quarter pole and holds her own against tiring horses at the finish.

Giving credit the horse made it through the year. We've seen on these Trainer website an average 30% for the year survival rate. Possibly we see a training pattern with VLR for bare minimums necessary for survival. Notice how persistent they are with their schedule.

:13.6 2/1 She starts out in Ocala.
:13.6 2/7 same exact time as 1st, lol, and six days later. Possible growth and knee concerns this time of year.
:12.6 2/29 Indeed they wait 21 days to go again.
:12.4 3/7 7 days.
25.8 3/14 7 days, nice logical jump. notice it's longer and slower.
:26.4 3/21 7 days.
:25.4 4/19 They wait almost a month. Injury or more growing?
:25.2 4/26 7 days
:37.4 5/3 7 days
:37.2 5/10 7 days
:47.6 5/17 7 days. this is a big jump. Wisdom might depend on the off day work.
:51 5/24 7 days. what they should have done on 5/17?
:50.8 5/31 7 days.
:50.4 6/7 7 days. Nice consistent training to date!
:47.6 6/17 7 days.
RACE 6/19 Msw 5f finishes 4th.
What now?
:101 7/5 Do you do zero speed work for 16 days then run off a 5f in :12s with a two year old. Ignoring the lesson of Afleet Alex after the Belmont perhaps.
RACE 7/13 slight redemption in terms of timing this 7 days after the breeze. The Shady Well Stakes, finishes 3rd.
What now?
:48.2 7/26 13 days later. They're consistent with their timing!
1:02.2 8/2 7 days.
RACE 8/9 7 days. Second in a 7f Msw. Decent work with this horse to date imo. Less than great. Decent!
Two weeks?
1.02 8/23. Exactly two weeks.
RACE 9/1 8 days wins the Muskoka Stakes at 1 1/16 miles.
1:01.2 9/20. They change up their pattern and wait 19 days at a crucial point and begging for trouble again with :12s after almost 3 weeks since speed.
1:04 9/27 7 days. Note the slow time.
RACE: 10/5 Wins 1 1/16 mile Mazarine stakes.
They're thinking BC? How do they prepare. Since its 10/25 are they going to wait two weeks for a breeze? Without looking, I'd predict so. They have a method.
1:02.6 10/17 They wait 12 days lol. Probably getting nervous, + it's 7 days per their usual mode to the Cup from here.
RACE 10/24 6th in the BC which might be predictable with the slow breeze 7 days out. If you want to (really) compete with Stardom Bound, as opposed to just showing up, do you do a 1:02.6 7 days out for a 1 1/6 mile race?

Analysis: They're bringing along a youngster as well as preserving the horse. The former affects the latter. I agree with KH comment last post, comparatively, solid, if unspectacular, training by Day-Phillips. Might we be more comfortable with this trainer than some of the others looked at on the blog? Probably, but there's a little more to look at, next post.

Training:
12-15-17 off due to weather.
Thurs. 12/18 Over 3 inches of snow horses do 3.5 continous riderless miles in the regular paddock spurting occasionally to :17/f on the hard underneath ground. 2 miles of this was continuous slow gallop then trot-gallop as the horses preferred. We're in a holding pattern in the weather with the conditioning.
12/19 Off as overnight freezing rain turns the farm into an ice sheet.