Imo when you context trip and pace, he moved forward a full point in the Travers.
At the price I\'ll root for a fair trip on the rail. He will be my key.
That is why I found it interesting looking at the Asmussen stats for first start after the trainer change.
Of the 1335 starts he has had first time with a new horse, he has won 20% of those races and ITM for half.
And if I am reading this correctly...more of these horses run a new top (16%) than his rate of new tops for his other horses (14%)...am I reading that correctly off his sheet?
Asmussen worked him eight days after the Travers and two more times after that - which is a pretty quick turnaround, especially after a 10f race. They supposedly worked him pretty hard for the first couple of works. I have heard in more than place that that Asmussen thought Max Player was carrying too much weight and now he has him where he wants him â€" so for what it is worth, it seems like he has been handled differently than when he was with Rice. I know someone mentioned this the other day, but this is a good example of where reporting weights each horse runs at might be helpful.