And then there is this:
https://philanthropynewsdigest.org/news/diabetes-center-at-columbia-receives-20-million-gift
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That’s awesome. He just seems like good people.
(No bubble bursting!)
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He’s been a good advocate for a long time. Article from 2011 when he was racing Uncle Mo;
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I watched the undercard races after-the-fact but got to see the Belmont live. Nice to see Repole get his wins today. well deserved and two wonderful horses to have done it. Sad for Rich Strike but he will come back in the fall, I think, with some more maturity. He looked a little bit too much on the bridle on race day; never really settled and was too far in the back to get those competitive juices flowing. Think we may see him back in form in later summer after some rest.
I have to say out of the entire Belmont card on Saturday; Jack Christopher has to be my absolute favorite. Not only is he a looker; what talent! and the crop twirl at the eighth pole. Neat horse.
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I have to agree with all said. I think Rich Strike just is learning and you could tell in the post-parade he had things on his mind (e.g. wasn’t settled).
He has quite a mind/personality and I would guess is not an EASY horse to train because of it … his trainer has hinted multiple times that he was a horse where the “mental” was just as important as the physical.
I thought when training the "baby/young) TBs are taught to feel comfortable running around/wide horses as well as the rail. Is this something they don’t learn before going to the track? How would you train it? Or would use blinkers that hindered them from seeing the rail ( allowing them to see it a little). What was the name of the cute colt that took a dive for the rail once he was in front and interfered with a bunch of horses?
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Most TBs that are intended for a racing career grow up in big pastures with groups of mares and foals, then groups of weanlings, then yearlings. Then, at a training center, they are often sent out in “sets” of multiple horses. So they’re comfortable galloping in groups. It’s actually very natural for them to do so.
Once they reach the track it’s common for TBs to work in pairs (and occasionally with 3 horses) but space is too restricted for a larger group than that–although there are almost always plenty of other horses jogging/galloping on the track during work hours.
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No, what I mean is that in addition to the very basic under saddle work, they train them to break from the gate, gallop in groups, run on the rail, etc.
The trainer mentioned that Real Strike did not like running in the middle of the track as compared to the rail. My question was do they train the babies to feel comfortable running in the middles of the track?. I could see the rail being a “security blanket,” but one can’t always run on the rail. if the horse is not willing to be placed elsewhere then you are stuck. How would you train a horse to be willing to run off the rail, once the rail becomes a “security,” is for them?
I’m not really sure what you’re asking. Most, if not all, racehorses spend the vast majority of their training time off the rail. Daily gallops are done in the middle of the track. Only speed work, breezes, are done close to the rail, and even then it is most common to open up down the lane several paths off the rail.
Depending on the surface, the rail is often a place you don’t want to be (particularly at training centers, or smaller low end tracks). Sometimes it is precious ground saved only for works, to preserve good footing. Sometimes it’s the WORST footing on a track because the surface may be sloped to drain inside, and the rail tends to hold water, get deep, or inconsistent. Riders know their track surface intimately, and will find the safest path to ride…and that is not skimming the rail the whole way 'round day in and day out.
I recall Calvin Borel (Bo"rail") working his Derby horses, Mine That Bird and Super Saver, specifically in the mornings at Churchill right up against the rail, so the horses were comfortable there… because in general, horses aren’t ridden that way. Typically a horse might save ground through the turn, then change leads/move out toward the center of the track to see daylight and that’s the signal to Go.
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As @EventerAJ said, the middle of the track is just about the only place horses train when they’re at the track. No rider, trainer, or horse thinks of the rail as a “security blanket”. Actually it’s the opposite. Aside from the footing issues mentioned above, many horses don’t like being “trapped down inside”.
I think you must have misunderstood what Eric Reed said because a horse that cannot be steered to where the jockey wants it to go is a horse than cannot be raced.
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I guess, my question is not very clear. I’ll try again. I know that the speed work is typically done along the rail, and depending on the racetrack, field, race conditions, and track conditions the rail is the place that you DON"T want to be.
However, if you have a horse that for whatever reason does not like racing off the rail how does a trainer train that horse to relax and race off the rai and in the middle of teh track.? That is my question, sorry for the confusion I hope this help.
I didn’t misunderstand the interview given by Eric Reed at all and I don’t see him using the word “steer,” in teh interview. You may wish to look at the Eric Reed interview again. . The Eric Reed interview states the following:
" I told jockey Sonny Leon to keep the 3-year-old colt off the rail – his favorite spot when racing – and then make one big move when the field of eight got near the stretch. He felt there was a danger the colt might be trapped on the inside.
The problem was Rich Strike didn’t like being in the middle of the track. The rail is his usual position in racing. When the field turned for home with eventual winner Mo Donegal in front by three lengths, Rich Strike never threatened in his first start since the Derby. His owners skipped the Preakness.
“I guess I made a mistake because I should have let Sonny put him on the fence,” Reed said. “You watch the replay, his head is cocked to the right. He’s wanting down there and we’re trying to keep him in the middle of the track. So he’s just not aggressive.”
This brings back to my question, you have a horse that according to his trainer PREFERS to run on the rail, that is the horse’s place of preference and where he wants to race. The horse WANTS to be on the rail! If that is the case, how can the trainer train him to relax and be willing to run elsewhere? Or is the horse so used to breezing on teh rail that he thinks that is the only place he can be in order to race/work fast? I hope ERic Reeds interview and this clarifies my question.
He seemed to do well off the rail in the Derby. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8DcIxZrxH0
Maybe his trainer should have left the jockey to ride the race without instructions. It worked well in the Derby.
I doubt he would have won the Belmont in any case. His Derby win was, as everyone noted, helped by blistering fractions and that wasn’t going to happen in a race at Belmont Stakes distance.
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You can try to train them to “relax and be willing to run elsewhere”. It will work with some, not so much with others. Horses.
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Would think it harder to fix things that occur in a larger group in the afternoon with very large, active, loud crowds right up on the rail and every horse anticipating the upcoming battle. Not like you can school in the main track with a large crowd in those conditions. Reed knows what he’s doing, no way its the first he’s handled needing this type work, he has a plan in mind.
Richie is still Green after all. With Greenies often you fix one problem and another crops up, more experience at big tracks with big crowds and more then a handful of entries should help smooth him out along with Reeds program for him.
Noticed We The People getting upset parading in front of the grandstand and apparently was taken away from his pony and sent on for a bit to settle him. Belmont has standing room space right up against the rail all the way down the stretch, space thats usually deserted and that most tracks don’t have much of. The starting gate for the mile and a half is right there, crowd is right there as they load and break. It can easily unsettle a young horse and theres no way to recreate it.
Training any young horse is a process, think race trainers are as good as any other discipline and better then some at overcoming unique challenges. Its not just going fast in a circle.
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Watching the replay of the race and again very impressed by Nest. What a great filly.
Pletcher says they will aim her toward the (G1) Alabama at Saratoga, perhaps through the (G1) Coaching Club.
I hope the weather cooperates for the Saratoga meet and it isn’t too hot. The heat is worrisome.
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She’s a GREAT filly- and she didn’t even have a good trip.
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Repole must be thrilled to pieces.
She’s a super broodmare prospect. Her tail female line is superb. Black type and black type producers every one, going back to and including her 5th Dam.
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Rather than reading the Eric Reed interview–which you quoted anyway–I went back and watched Rich Strike’s last 8 races. My takeaway from doing so was that Reed didn’t win the Belmont and this was the excuse he chose to hand out to the press.
Yes, Rich Strike’s running style–which consists of trailing the field then passing horses late–often puts him on the rail. But not always. If you watch the KY Derby replay, for example, you can see that RS is never on the rail until the top of the stretch, after which he weaves in and out as he passes horses. He probably spends less than 10% of the race on the rail.
A racehorse that has to be on the rail to run is like a hunter who jumps everything but flowers, or a jumper that doesn’t like striped poles. If true, it means that someone left a giant hole in his training (looking at you, Eric Reed.) Frankly, watching the race replays it looked more to me like the rail was Sonny Leon’s favorite spot rather than Rich Strike’s. Something else to consider–after what Reed said, you can be sure that the other jockeys are never going to let RS get up the rail again in a big race.
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