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Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin
I said it is rare that Pletcher runs horses over their head. I didn't say it has never happened. But it is extremely rare.
Percentages don't matter? That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Percentages are the most important thing. If a guy is a brand new trainer and he only has 10 horses and one of them breaks down, we don't have enough of a sample to make any clear conclusions. But when you have guys who have trained thousands of horses over 20 years, percenatges are extremely important. There is no way to twist the numbers. If one guy has 50 breakdowns per thousand horses and another guy only has 12 breakdowns per thousand horses, you would know that there is a problem with the guy who has 50 breakdowns per thousand.
I never said Lukas did everything wrong. He obviously did a lot of things right back in the 1980s. You have to do a lot of things right to be a successful trainer. You have to have good help, you have to be well organized, you have to have good vets, you have to know how to use your vets, you have to be able to attract owners, you have to be able to raise money, you have to be a good salesman and self-promoter, you need good people skills, etc. There are a ton of different factors. I think Lukas possessed practically all the qualities that a trainer needs to be successful. His biggest weakness was his actual training ability. But if you are a smart guy and you have great assistants and good vets, you can succeed even if you're not a very good trainer, especially if you are years ahead of practically all the other trainers in terms of pharmocology.
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i think you pretty much summed up why he was able to be such a success--he put together a team effort and was able to train on a much grander scale than many other trainers. and it's what pletcher does now--obviously pletcher doesn't personally train all those horses, and neither did lukas in his heyday. baffert is another who is helped a WHOLE lot by his assistant trainers.
and it also explains why lukas is no longer such a force, he taught his students well and now they are following his lead--and he probably no longer has the drive to do what he did then. i can't imagine being the head of an operation like what he put together.