Quote:
Originally Posted by Cannon Shell
Do you have any actual experience training racehorses?
Do you know that the trend of horses "needing more time" comes from influences outside of the backside right? That the sheets guys with an assist from Bobby Frankel's astronomical success (which the sheets guys kind of took some credit for because he campaigned horses with help of the sheets while at the same time accusing Frankel of cheating which may or may not have been true)
The truth is that the top trainers not running their horses as much filters down because people follow what successful people do or at least what they think they do. Not to mention that unlike Europe or Dubai or Hong Kong we race all year long. When there was less winter racing in this country horses raced harder during the racing season because they knew they were going to get down time in the Winter.
And the influence of owners has a lot to do with it as well. Since they all flock to the same trainers who train with the more time motto, why is it surprising that other trainers follow suit? And it should be understood that trainers often publicly lie about the condition of their horses for reasons that anyone could understand. It is a lot easier to say the horse needs more time than say he was lame yesterday.
And lets revisit the careers of some famous European horses
Dancing Brave- 10 starts
Zarkava-7 starts
Sea the Stars- 9 starts
Dalakhani-9 starts
Galileo- 8 starts
Conduit-8 starts (2 in NA)
Shirocco-13 starts over 3 seasons
High Chaparral-13 starts over 3 seasons
Kalanisi-11 starts
Daylami-19 starts over 4 seasons
Lets not act like European stakes horses are running more than American stakes horses are.
|
I don't have any experience training racehorses, and I don't mean to sound snarky, but based on what you said above, it sounds like I don't need much considering how much watching others and replicating their actions plays a role in training...and maybe some should question the long-term impact of Bobby Frankel's training methods and how that has potentially hurt US racing (I know there have been some stories about this in the past).
No one needs experience, either, to state the obvious - American horses don't come back and run in four days, or eight days, and do it with any success. Trainers can lie all they want about their rationale, that's also obvious many times (Guerrero and his cheeks as mentioned in another thread). What happens in some examples in the rest of the world is dramatically different than what happens here, same breed, very very different handling, durability, etc.
The UK racing season is year round now with the installation of several all-weather surfaces, same in France. It's not high quality racing, but neither are many of our year-round circuits. At the top levels, it's near impossible to ignore the fact that the majority of graded-caliber American older horses run about an eight-month season from April (Keeneland) to Breeders' Cup or so.
Maybe we will just agree to disagree - but for now, nothing is going to change my opinion that the rest of the world is, on average, able to get more out of a thoroughbred than those based in America.