Bode Miller planning to get a trainer's license

[Angelico]

[QUOTE=sonomacounty;7814009]
Does anyone else find Baffert’s naming of his son & a racehorse after this skier fellow kind of, well, - - yuk - -? (Or even slightly peculiar?)[/QUOTE]

Ick! I can’t get past how much I just hate the name in general. I have a young cousin named Bode and I wanted to kill his parents when they announced that is what they’d be naming him. Sure it’s a cute name when they are toddlers, but I still have a hard time imagining calling an adult man (Miller doesn’t count) Bode.

[Shammy_Davis]

Maybe Bob wanted a Jr but he is a very bad speller. Thus he ended up with Bode.

I am pre - baby boom and I don’t get the names put on the kids these days. I can deal with a hyphen in the last name but in the first, I think it’s a misplaced dash.

What’s the origin of Bode?

[Thoroughbred_in_Colo]

[QUOTE=Shammy Davis;7814093]
Maybe Bob wanted a Jr but he is a very bad speller. Thus he ended up with Bode.

I am pre - baby boom and I don’t get the names put on the kids these days. I can deal with a hyphen in the last name but in the first, I think it’s a misplaced dash.

What’s the origin of Bode?[/QUOTE]

According to a baby name website it means messenger and is of German origin. And, believe it or not, Bode has the most normal name of all of his siblings.:eek:

I am with you 100% on the names thing. What gets on my nerves more than any of the made up names or names that one doesn’t normally associate with human children (such as Apple, Rumor, etc.) are the normal names spelled really strangely. So confusing…

[beaujolais]

I wonder if Bob really likes the name (eeek) or just wants to name family & horses after his skier friend for some reason?

And, I like Baffert, too.

[gumtree]

No disrepect to trainers but it is not very difficult to get a trainers license. Unfortunately. The difficult part is making a living at it. Getting owners/horses. Especially loyal ones. A lot of people think they are cut out for the daily grind,uncertainty, stress both financial and emotional. Most are not. IMO and experiance if anyone really wants to make a go of it and have a reasonable chance of making a descend living they better hitch their wagon to the best trainers in the business. Work their way up to assistant and and stay for a number years. Be personable, dress/look the part. Get to know as many people in the “right places” as possible. Take “your"act” on the road for a year or so and work in Europe,Middle Eaat, Down Under, Japan etc. this will pay off in spades.
Bode Miller is not exactly a household name and certainly not in the horse game. A few years from now Bode who?
I wish him luck. He’ll need it.

[merrygoround]

Gumtree-Well said.

Except that and I know it is a typo:lol:, Bode is very likely to make a “descend” living out of it

[Shammy_Davis]

Training at a couple of low end tracks like Fairmount near St Louis might change Bode ’ s perspective on his future career choice. Well put gumtree.

[Madeline]

I think Bode brings a great deal to the table, not the least of which is name recognition. I think the hardest thing for him to adjust to as a trainer will be rehabbing horses. You can’t put them on bed rest, and you can’t tell them to stop beore they break. Rehabbing himself was different (and he has a lot of experience there).

[Angelico]

[QUOTE=Shammy Davis;7814791]
Training at a couple of low end tracks like Fairmount near St Louis might change Bode ’ s perspective on his future career choice. Well put gumtree.[/QUOTE]

Hey now, I love Fairmount. Say what you want about “low end” tracks but there is a lot to be learned at them.

[ravenclaw]

I was very annoyed that Baffert (or Zayat) named a horse Bodemeister. He was a lovely horse but I just couldn’t pull for him with a name like that.

Is Bode Miller planning to train horses for other people? Or will he own horses and just train for himself? I’m not familiar with the details of his plan.

[TBROCKS]

Didn’t tacking “meister” onto a name stop being a thing around 1995?

[caffeinated]

I’m surprised there wasn’t also a Boderewski or a Bode Making Copies.

[Mara]

[QUOTE=TBROCKS;7815368]
Didn’t tacking “meister” onto a name stop being a thing around 1995?[/QUOTE]

And will Miller repay the “favor” by naming a kid “Bobberino” or “Baffertmeister”? :eek:

[Shammy_Davis]

[QUOTE=Angelico;7814993]
Hey now, I love Fairmount. Say what you want about “low end” tracks but there is a lot to be learned at them.[/QUOTE]

With all do respect, be honest. You know what the facilities are like. The barns are some of the worst in the nation and the level of racing at this track is low claiming level. That being said what’s not to love about a horse race. My point is that trainers and backstretch workers endure hardships that are not evident in upscale CA tracks where Bode might appear.

[Mukluk]

Perhaps we should wait 10 years and see what if anything transpired.

[Angelico]

[QUOTE=Shammy Davis;7816376]
With all do respect, be honest. You know what the facilities are like. The barns are some of the worst in the nation and the level of racing at this track is low claiming level. That being said what’s not to love about a horse race. My point is that trainers and backstretch workers endure hardships that are not evident in upscale CA tracks where Bode might appear.[/QUOTE]

I know what the barns are like, and I’d almost be sad to see them change, it’s a sentimental thing, I love the old place.

Fairmount has a lot of technical advantages that make it nice for horsemen.
The long meet (April - late September) makes it a nice place for those that can’t or just don’t want to be on the road as much. It isn’t too long of a haul to Iowa, Nebraska, or even Ohio really, so it is a fairly convenient base. The summer there is relatively short and mild compared to other places. The surface is good for legging horses up, it may not be my favorite for fast works but it’s deeper footing makes your gallops count, and they seem to have an easier time retaining their fitness once the acclimate to it. Oh, and the food there is good.

I was joking around a little bit, but in all seriousness the mentality that a track is “bad” because it is smaller or mainly runs a lower class of horses is ridiculous. I’ve been to the high level tracks in this country (as well as Ireland, not impressed at all there) and I’ve been to the true low level tracks (that make Fairmount look great) and nearly every one in between at some point. Honestly I’ve been the least impressed by the horsemanship I saw at the “big” tracks.

I agree with you that Miller will likely never know or understand the hardships that others, likely those he’ll be learning from, have faced. It’s a shame really, those hardships are valuable learning experience that most of us wouldn’t trade.

[Shammy_Davis]

What’s the old saying? You need to kiss a few frogs to find your prince. Lots of good trainers start out at claiming level tracks.

[Angelico]

[QUOTE=Shammy Davis;7816704]
What’s the old saying? You need to kiss a few frogs to find your prince. Lots of good trainers start out at claiming level tracks.[/QUOTE]

Good comparison! The horse that I feel taught me the most was a small, cheap, picky, opinionated, twenty race career maiden (bad case of “seconditis”). I still have that rotten thing out at the farm, she’s been retired for many years now.

[summerly]

I wish him nothing but success, and hope he fulfills his dream of being a trainer, I know I worked hard to get where I am at, I wasn’t born into it. I cannot see why everyone thinks he is incapable, a lot of nay sayers. I have spent over 30 years in this industry and welcome people who have a interest and enthusiasm for the sport, not shoot them down. good luck to him and I hope to see him in the saddling area!

[Thoroughbred_in_Colo]

Summerly, it is his frat boy attitude that gives people a negative idea of him, not the fact that he wasn’t born into the sport. I admire him as a skier, but his behavior at the Turin Olympics was appalling. If he can behave as a responsible adult, I wish him every success in horse racing.