A Handicapping Factor To Consider in Classic

warrenthebull

By Warren Eves


It boggles one mind when we see most handicappers seldom mentioning one of the biggest factors when making analysis.

While doing the clocking and publishing Quarter Horse Report at Los Alamitos Race Course a number of years ago I learned a hard lesson.


Horses that would go on to be foundation sires often failed to show their true ability when making their first start under the lights. I'm talking about horses who had trained like something special. When we asked their jockey what happened they usually didn't have an answer. Second time out usually produced pronounced a vastly improved effort.


Churchill Downs, and the Breeders Cup, will run Saturday's much talked about Classic under the lights. It could affect those who have not performed under the arcs.


Blame won under the lights last year. It might give the four-year-old colt an edge while the majority will be rooting for Zenyatta.


During my years of working the Los Alamitos meet where we saw many quality horses compete. First time under the lights runners taught me a hard lesson.

First time experiences under the lights for some horses can be traumatic. Horses, whom some experts don't see that well in the first place, are so busy looking up at those bank of lights they that they fail to perform up to their ability.


We like the move of the BC to get horse racing's finest hour on prime time television. Racing under the lights, however, has left handicappers and horsemen baffled many times.

turfman

true fact about q-racing & los alamitos..i still miss old town policy.....

DiscreetCat

It's definitely crossed my mind that the race will come under the lights, and that Zenyatta hasn't raced under those condistions before. Whether or not that's a big deal, i tend to doubt it, but i guess it could be. Bottom line, it's something out-of-the-ordinary for her, and i'd like to see as little of that as possible.

Take Blind Luck though. To my knowledge, she had never raced under the lights either, and she ran just fine. Besides, Zenyatta seems about as mentally tough as they come. I doubt it'll have much effect on her, but' i'd still rather the race was during the day.

warrenthebull

Thanks for your comments. It sad to see most of the horse racing sports going the wrong way. I will never forget the days when I used to drive through all the dairy farms to get to Los Alamitos. When I finally reached the parking lot there was a feeling I cannot explain. Here was a horse racing venue, in the middle of this dairy farming community, that had the kind of intrigue I really can't explain. That's when I learned from the pros how "exertion" would find a quarter horse failing to run back to anall-time best. It's a factor that's seldom talked about. I saw some great quarter horses race. Go Man Go comes to mind. It was a learning experience in those days and I had no idea what it was really all about, or that I would eventually wind up publishing a tip sheets many years later.