Derby Trail Forums - BONUS SIZE: he's not much but he's certainly been handled well

They paid $20k for this 5 year old and he's rewarded his connections by winning 3 race in 47 attempts and over four times his purchase price.

Modest numbers by any standard but there's no questioning the superb handling of this horse; in particular the selection of races. Take a look at his starts this year, for example:

3 routes on the AQU inner track (1m and 1m 70 yards)
then
a 6F sprint on the inner track
then
9.5F on the AQU main
then 6F and 7F sprints (AQU and BEL dirt)
then 2 races at 8F (BEL dirt)

then 6.5F on the BEL dirt

and, tomorrow, 9F on the SAR dirt

As a cyclist, who trains daily, I can certainly appreciate this method. I NEVER get into a pattern when I train. I'm constantly training for different distances. Why would I ever want to settle into a routine? In fact, this method is now being utilized in track and field, where you typically see sprinters running distance races and distance runners sprinting. In fact, this has grown to be so popular that we can longer distinguish between sprinters and distance runners based on BUILD alone. :rolleyes:

I mean, it's so good that many of THE NAME trainers in NY are employing it: the O'Briens, Lostritto, and YES, the man who practically patented it, Joe Aquilino.

While it might appear that every so often one of these DOOFUSES stumbles upon a win by actually placing his horse correctly (cutting back from route to sprint on the turf, for example) the fact of the matter is these men are experts at what they do. All one needs to do is check out their win percentages to allay any doubt.

Also note that this is a tempered use of the method. Full blown use consists of continual changing of SURFACE as well as DISTANCE.