Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Movement to be Entered in Maiden Claiming Sprint
Movement is being pointed for a start on Saturday November 11th at Bay Meadows. There is a 20k maiden claimer contested at 6 furlongs over the main track in the condition book that we'll enter her in. Entries are drawn on Wednesday, but the race should fill, and Movement should get in.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Many people have observed that a trainer usually has two separate and distinct jobs: Athletic Trainer and Race Entry Manager.
These two things seem to be somewhat distinct with different factors determining success in each area. Some trainers are better in one area than others. I suppose the top trainers are good at both.
Some large barns have power to get races written and muscle around racing secretaries; Some powerful barns get penalized by having races written to consciously exclude their horses; stakes quality horses can never get blacktype and allowance horses can earn blacktype if managed towards that end; most small barns just have trouble finding conditions that match their horses ability/level/distance etc. etc.
Your perspective on these facets of the game would be interesting (to me anyway!)
KH
You're right, KH, those are different disciplines requiring different sets of skills. I think Jamey does a fine job of both. I'm not qualified to actually speak on his technical skills as a trainer, as I lack that expertise myself. Still, the more time I spend at his barn, the more respect I have for him as a horseman. He knows what's going on with every horse in his barn down the finest detail.
Jamey's personality is easy going and fun loving. This can be misleading, because it obscures his expertise from those that think the most skilled trainers must be squinting, aloof types that never answer a question directly.
As a race entry manager, this is a delicate matter to discuss. He's never crowed, or even mentioned his skill at spotting horses, or getting the racing office to be kind with the condition book & overnights. With respect to having races carded that suit his stock, I think he over achieves here, particularly in compare to the size of his barn. I'm guessing this is a result of Jamey just generally being likable and that he is not controversial. It's delicate to discuss, because no trainer wants to advertise that they are skilled in this regard because it could invite backlash.
With this said, if we wrote the races ourselves, we would have her run in a 16k Maiden claimer on the turf at 4.5 furlongs. That's ridiculous, though, because they simply do not card those races. For three year olds, maybe, and probably for a higher tag. Our next choice would have been to go for 16k at 5 furlongs, but this 6f race was already in the book, and they have a 5.5 race in the book for 11/24, so this is pretty close to where we'd like to go. They don’t card 16k maiden races for 2yo fillies anyway. Not a single one, and the secretary probably would write one for anyone, even Hollendorfer.
Also, when discussing where to place her, Jamey isn't doing exactly what he'd do if this were his horse. He'd run her for 12,5 next instead of 20k. Although she might not be claimed for 12,5, it would increase chance, and we just aren't ready to lose her yet, even if it's not the best choice from an economic perspective. If she wins, though, we'll probably have to drop her for her to remain competitive.
Post a Comment