Oh my, thank you to all that have responded. I’ve learned so much from hearing your experiences.
To take if full circle, does the “Trainer” often communicate with and form the training with the exercise riders who seem to mostly know the horse? Do the good jockeys have input into the training or do they just ride the horses they get (or want)?
I so appreciate people lending their thought and experiences to this thread. I’m a racing know-nothing and I appreciate it all! Thank you!
Communication between rider & trainer is extremely important. If you notice in many photos of morning works, the rider has a walkie talkie radio hooked to their belt or back pocket. The trainer has a radio, too, and is in regular communication as the horse is working: “Good pace, you’re on 12 that last furlong, keep it up…” etc. He (or she) informs the rider of current pace and if they need to roll on or back off, depending on what the horse needs on the day. Also may give directions on where/ when to begin the work, or advise on traffic conditions ahead on the track (there are MANY horses out there exercising in a limited time frame, and it does cause incidents).
Likewise, good trainers will speak with the rider immediately after the work, asking how the horse felt (tired, strong, even, sore, crooked, happy, sour, etc). Good riders make a huge impact on a horse’s success, as the trainer can only see so much, but a good rider feels everything.
The trainer makes the decisions, about everything. Who exercises the horse, who the jockey will be, what medications the horse needs and when, what tack goes on the horse, what vet to use and when, hiring and firing of employees. A trainer may decide to ride the horse themselves for exercise, or decide to change exercise riders. Different riders and jockeys may suit different horses. A smart trainer can see a lot just by watching, and a smart trainer listens to input from the employees s/he hires. The owner may have some input on some of this… a favourate jockey that they’d like to see on their horse, some input into what level of race the horse may or may not be entered in, but if too much interference to the point of damaging the horse’s chances of success in the trainer’s opinion may lead to that owner being fired by the trainer. Too much irritation to the trainer by the owner may result in the trainer passing the lead shank to the owner, and pointing down the shedrow, and encouraging said owner to keep walking.
You all did a great job explaining things in my opinion. I am still a licensed trainer but haven’t ran a horse of my own in years. When I was training I was about as far away from a TC trainer as they come so my experience is totally different than theirs.
Me too, trainers and the tracks they run in are each one a micro world of their own.
You have to learn the ins and outs to do well, or will miss too much that could help your horses.
One important duty of trainers is to keep an eye on the track secretary, see what horses are in and coming in to run, how the races will be organized depending on the kinds of horses that are expected, be sure the secretary’s office know what you have and when writing races will consider yours also as much as possible.
Then be sure you follow thru and have the right horse ready for the right race.
Track management and the races it provides is a fine dance all around.
As a trainer, you are in charge that you are a positive part of that dance.
Oh man,
Thanks to so many of your who educated me about what race horse trainer does. I REALLY appreciate it because I just didn’t know. Anything. At all.
But I know more now.
THANK YOU!!
Thanks for asking as opposed to assuming! Fun thread that brought back lots of memories of crazy, you can’t make this stuff up moments over my career.
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