Good morning! Can anyone on here describe the use of the term ‘handily’ for a workout? Does it mean anything different in racing? Seems like a silly question, but I’m just checking!
Also, while I’m at it, how does a ottb typically fracture their sesamoid? Tia!
Handily
“Easily and without a lot of effort on his part” Also, used to mean finishing lengths ahead of the competition.
Fractured sesamoid could be from simple stress, kicking a stall wall, “hard spot” on the race track, or just the fact that the Thoroughbreds legs are one of the most complex, fragile things God created.
Thanks, that’s what I assumed, but I appreciate the expansion on the word!
Although handily on a workout at emerald downs means the opposite. I have no idea why but they reverse the meaning of b and h here on the work tab
Yep, they use them differently at different tracks to the point that they mean nothing. Some clockers describe breezing as in it was a breeze ie easy while some clockers describe handily as in it was so easy the rider didn’t even have to use his hands.
Oh don’t go confusing me now! Lol! It’s in ca if that helps! 
I’ve given up on clockers and their terms. A lot of clockers miss works/ mix up horses and totally fudge times. I’m over it. Never trust the work tab on a regular day. Such a misleading crapshoot anymore.
At most tracks the majority of horses will work in hand, so you can look and see if most works say B or H and the more common one will be term for in hand works.
Well, this one only has 3 works, and they all say ‘handily’ at least there is some constancy there… Lol
This thread cracks me up because I have had this debate off and on in recent years. When I was a kid it meant with ease, in other words the horse worked in a good time all on his own with no urging what so ever from the rider/jock. Just like the term “the horse won hands down”, the jock was just sitting on the horse with an “easy hold” like you will see in the middle of a race with the palms of their hands pointing basically down. It does seem to depend on which coast the horse is on. And as others have said the track in general.
Though work times do not mean a lot in general unless they are exceptionally slow or even exceptionally fast. It’s always “how” they do it. But a horse that works 4 in 54+ or 5 in 104+ consistently and as an “H” next to isn’t good either way and should probably be looking for a new job. The same can be said for horses that work 4 in an impressive 46-47 but look like an ‘egg beater” doing it. Hence the name “cheap speed”.
These days I don’t put a lot of stock in published works unless I was on the rail watching for the same reasons others have given.
I’ve always known it to mean it means winning/working easily, without effort, “in hand.”
In other regions folks use it to mean there was some urging… which I have no idea why it would get that connotation, but people swear by it when they use it that way.
Honestly, I think looking at a work tab means about nothing with or without the B’s and H’s. That is, unless you know the horse’s style and the trainer’s style of working really well.
