""LEADS""!!!

This 2m gallop will go 5f to 5f. Last post indicated some rider/horse difficulties entering and going around the Clubhouse turn where the warm up is to occur. The point of these posts involves the subject--how do we get rider/horse to comply with our training both for performance and injury prevention. In a general sense, it ain't easy, and, as noted, it helps if ur trainer/owner understands what's involved.

Our horse has commenced it's trot at the 3/16th. The rider is aware of ground conditions as well as traffic ahead. The rider is calculating the warm up, and, already the reader here is thinking, enough already. To this however we add a fourth concern which is also THE MAJOR CONCERN
of any and every on-track gallop: getting the correct leads.

Did I highlight it enough? There's no way to do that in print except--take it from long experience--if ur rider/horse is failing lead changes u have a short timer as a race horse. Likely our training team in this situation will injure the horse sooner instead of later. I personally am so radical in terms of insisting the horse gallop on the correct lead that my jock instructions in general, including on race day, are that if the jock is unable to get the lead, at that point u stop persevering with the horse--i.e. racing out of the final turn if the horse stays on the left lead and after a reasonable distance using every technique the rider is unable to get the horse to change, at that point the rider is directed to stop persevering with the horse which will, of course, lost the race, or position in the race, whatever it is.

Contrarians will point to such non-lead changing horses as Alydar, or the European or Australian jocks who on many occasions seem to avoid worrying about any lead changes at all, and so, why this great emphasis in the RR training stables?

To avoid major digression by outlining the topic of leads down to the minute physiological reasons, will restrict this to a summary. First observe that the European/Australians are racing on grass where there's much less concussion, and hence geometrically less potential damage from persevering on the wrong lead. Additionally, because we see a European jock failing to get a lead change in a single race hardly means that particular horse is going to survive to the next race any more than the Americans do.

As to Alydar who can be seen in most of his races basically racing on his right lead for three quarters of a mile, best to use that horse as an e.g. of the potential career ending effects of failure to get lead changes.

Expand on this next post, but, let's also observe that a horse racing on one lead will also be experiencing muscular/skeletal fatigue on the strained lead that will compromise that horse's speed in the stretch. There's both a performance and injury aspect to racing on the correct--as opposed to incorrect--leads. Humorously, somewhat, it looks as if both riders in the photo are on the incorrect lead. Can u spot it?

Training:
10/13/11 2f riderless spurt then 4 x trot gallop up and down hill near 15 sec/f pace.
10/14/11 Off. After 5 straight days. Hope to get a little breeze on the 16th.