What Is A "Conventional" Trainer?

Trainer Permanent Injury Rate Per Year/Recorded races-breezes per month average.

33%/8.00 O'Gorman

35%/3.54 Catherine Day Phillips

43%/3.33 D.Wayne Lukas

50%/2.98 Mark Hennig

50%/3.00 Bruce Jackson

50%/3.00 Todd Plecher

50%/3.4 Bongo Racing Stable

55%/??? Kiarin McGlaughlin

55%/??? Mark Casse

62%/4.00 Richard Mandella

65%/???Reade Baker

65%/Mr or Ms. Average American Conventional Trainer

69%/3.25 Linda Rice

75%/2.88 Doug O'Neill

Lukas and O'Gorman training differs both in their injury rates and methods to the extent that I term them bench marks for comparison with the rest. What of Catherine Day Phillips and her excellent injury rate? Please reserve the Day Phillips Q for next post.

How do we identify a trainer as a "conventional"?

"Conventional" means conforming or adhering to accepted standards. In TB racing, by my experience (and, take note this is changing somewhat at the upper levels--my injury stats are from 2 years ago) the largest group of trainers have certain characteristics which, if you are around for any length of time, you come to recognize. They all "adhere to" pretty much the same code which begins that every last one of them know everything there is to know about horses, just ask 'em, and also for the most part these:

1. Very little mental connection between a horse's pre-race track work and performance.

2. Ask one of them--what is exercise physiology, and you'll probably get a blank stare.(again, that was in the old days. things are changing!)

3. To these trainers injuries "just happen". Part of the game.

4. Excellent at injury treatment. So many to treat.

5. Exercise protocols, such as they are, originate for these trainers based on "what works" for them, or they copy someone else that's won a race.

6. All have deficiencies in their training with regard to injury avoidance and performance.

7. There is a difference to them e.g. in training method for a $5000 claimer and a stakes horse.

8. (edit: and, the defining characteristic, omitted in the original post: they average less than once a week speed work--breezes/races, which is an average of less than 4.3 speed works/month.)

Those are some of the things that come to mind concerning most trainers on the back stretch. Undoubtedly there are many other identifiable characteristics across the board. To avoid getting totally side tracked I avoided colorful stories in my experience illustrating each point, except will repeat this one:

Don Von Hemmel has a serious stakes race coming up for a successful 3 yr. old filly. I am standing by him at the Woodlands trackside as he supervises her last pre-race breeze. Last race was 14 days ago and no works show since. The race is a mile and a sixteenth. The horse starts at the finish line, trots to the middle of the club house turn, gallops to the 5f, commences slow acceleration, and starts the breeze at the 4f in about :14s. She maintains :14s till the quarter pole and comes home flying. Essentially she's done 2f of 2 minute lick with a little speed down the lane sufficing her only speed work within two weeks. No way this nice horse will have any conditioning for the race. Von Hemmel: "That was excellent. That's all she needs." Finish in the race: 4th. Serious fade down the stretch.

For my purpose, what is the point. In my list of trainers they're primarily all the same except Lukas and O'Gorman, being all conventional trainers in 2008. Understanding this point of "sameness" in our sample, we can make our conclusions.

Training:

Thurs. 12/16: 10 min walk trot.

Fri. 12/17: riderless 5 x 4f with some speed.

Sat. 12/18: still introducing horse to his new course. walk, trot a little gallop terminated 3/4 way thought with a helmet strap problem. About 15 min.