Fresh Horses
Bobby Frankel addresses the fad for fewer preps and fresh horses going into this year’s Derby:
Everything has changed and the reason it has changed is because obviously what we’re doing now works. So what we did in the past, it was great then, but now we’ve figured out that having your horses fresh and everything for these kind of races, that they run their best races. But the negative part about it is when you run them so fresh and they run so hard like, well, it’s like [Nick’s] or maybe our — my horse will run in the Bluegrass like that or something like that, the negative part is that they’re subject to bouncing a lot easier than a horse that’s been having steadier races and more races and having a better foundation.
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So there’s a [definite] negative, but to get your ultimate performance out of a horse, I think running them fresh in these races is the way to go…. [Charlie Winningham — sic] got me to do it, to be honest with you, and I did it one step further where I run them even fresher than he does now. So other people watch me do [inaudible] running horses off for three, four months and they run great, so they start doing it…. The reason I gave my horse five weeks off the Louisiana Derby was because he hadn’t run in four or five months, so I’m hoping that time in between and I try to train him fairly hard so he wouldn’t — so he’ll have some sort of foundation and — he’s going to be 100 percent fit, my horse, for this race and hopefully, he doesn’t have two separate races and he can come back in three weeks. (NTRA)
The fresh horse theory of training seems to work if your horse has to race no more than once a month, and preferably, no more than once every six to eight weeks. What happens though, if the winner of the Kentucky Derby is a lightly raced horse such as High Limit or Bellamy Road, and he tries to come back three weeks later and win the Preakness? And then, two weeks later, the Belmont? We may not see a Triple Crown winner until this penchant for long layoffs passes.
