Flighted Iron

A number of issues can impact the HR readings of a horse—such as those you mention. But what you do is develop a baseline for an individual horse that consists of resting, pre-work-out; work-out and recovery HR (within a range). In addition, you record other information impacting the work—temperature, track condition, meds, etc. Over a period of time patterns become recognizable and a trainer will be able to truly understand the athletic progress/performance of his/her horse. With our horses, I could foresee illness/problems in advance due to variations from my baseline readings. I also would know when my horse was fit and be in position to deliver improved/peak performance.

We did this years ago with the onboard HR monitor, and keeping paper records. Now you can download all the data from the monitor onto your computer and use very specific software to manage/analyze the information. Some monitors are integrated with GPS systems so you can accurately manage distance/velocity/etc.

I cannot see how a trainer can design/manage a fitness program with out this essential data. Cardiovascular fitness is probably the most important and practical way to assess fitness. I bet most trainers would not know what their horses resting HR, aerobic zone, Anaerobic threshold and Max HR are.  In my book, you need this information to train...(by the way here are the ranges for horses: Resting HR 30-40 BPM; Aerobic HR 150-170; Anaerobic HR—170+; Max HR 220-250).

Even for Life

Per Dutrow \" I give my horses Adequan (which improves joint function) the day that they breeze if they have issues.\" Again this shows his lack of knowledge of the impacts of what he is giving his horses. I used this years ago when I owned/trained--it does improve joint function by stimulating synovial lining activity and increasing join fluid viscosity. It is a useful product.

But the typical therapeutic program is a prescribed dosage given every 4 days for 6 treatments. A "shot" before breezing would do little good except cost his owners $$$$$. It is not cheap!

Owners/Horses would be better served by trainers investing in heart rate monitor systems ($200-$400) that can provide information regarding the physiological improvement/decline of their horse(s). I used them on horses; I train with one myself--heck my daughters swim club utilizes heart rate information to assess/monitor training. I\'d be curious how many trainers use heart rate information--it is the easiest, fastest and most accurate way to assess training/performance. My guess is not many use this technology. My guess is most trainers have no idea on how to measure athletic progress of the horses in their care...

Drugs are easier then training...

Magna is very much counting on slots in Maryland, which I think is 50-50 at best. The MD tracks are getting killed by the purse structure at Charlestown. For example, an open 5,000 claimer for F&M 4Y old, has a purse of 21,000. A 3K claiming race for nw3L has a 9,000 purse. A Wva bred NW1x allowance race is 34,800. They can\'t compete against the likes of Ct without slots. Plus, Pa is soon going to have a very generous slot program that will be a boon for its tracks.

Sorry in advance for the poor spelling/grammer. This is a topic I have a lot of passion for and wanted to quickly get my two cents in.

Jerry, I agree--I think that it is called attempting to influence the outcome of a gaming/sporting event.

In a way, I think that tracks, and racing commissons actually have an opportunity to clean house and deal with the fairness of the product they are selling. They are dealing with \"corporate governance\" issues. It is serious stuff. The cheating in horse racing is no different than the underlying issues of the financial scandals of the 90s (Anyone hear of Enron, MCI, Tyco) where investors (shareholders) were not being accuratly apprasied of the true operating risk of a business.

Sarbanes Oxley was enacted to ensure disclosure of financial practices/risks (Hmmmm...that former operating facility that has contaminated drinking water, and we have class action lawsuits/toxic torts--maybe we should let our investors know). The law has some serious flaws, but it was a start.

Racing needs to be very careful--especially the public companies. An aggressive group of shareholders can questions if the risks related to \"cheating\" is harming the underlying business (the gaming product). Are racetracks in control of the legitimacy of their product??? An aggressive Attorney General could even look into their practices.  They whole underbelly of the sport can be exposed as a risk issue and racing would face an incredible amount of heat very quickly (if you follow business ask Marsh, AIG, Merck,etc.) The risk perception of \"cheating\" could impact racings public companies in a whole range of areas, from how they raise capital to insuring themselves from liability. Racing can take the opportunity to police itself and get a \"one-time pass\" by cleaning up its operations--or have someone else do it for them.

Perhaps we should advocate for class action suits. As bettors we are a major source of revenue for these operations. If you own shares in the mega tracks, a platform exists.

Track is listed as fast at Laurel. We had rain for about 3 hours last night,but no big deal after a bit of a dry spell.

I enjoyed the ROTW Analysis. Well done and I can always learn from others perspective.

I like Unforgettable Max at 5-1 or better. I can see Don Six getting enough pace pressure from Taste of Paradise (SCal speed, going 7f, and running to pace of the O\'brien, where he dueled Pico Central in 43.4) and Private Horde, who has been close to the lead with fast fractions his last few.

Will Don Six clear these, and can he get 7 furlongs? Obviously how you answer this is how you will bet. I think Max #\'s are strong enough (improved to the -1 as a new top, then regressed to the 2 after coming back on three weeks rest, with tough internal fractions in the Cigar against Pico Central. Now back after little less then 3 months race, with a trainer that is good off a short layoff). The problem is he can improve off the -1, and still not be fast enough against this crew. I can envision him sitting off a pace that is more contested than some would think, and running strong through the lane. As always the odds/value will dictate the bet. I don\'t think Don Six and the risk/reward profile is worth the 6-5 or less that will probably be available.

I also think Max actually has the running style for an extended sprint (7F) horse. Cutting back from the mile race with some decent works (stong 58 2/5 B for Pha--although I prefer to see him working more then every 15 days) and the ability to be on near the lead. Plus he has been facing some strong competition--Ghostzapper, Midas Eyes, and Pico Central).

Speaking of the development of Saratoga County -- who I don\'t like (I don\'t think he is fast enough for this group, even off the  breakthrough figure in his last), did you catch the reason for his improvement as told via the front page story of in DRF:

\"Things began to turn around last fall when George Weaver decided to change the colt\'s training methods. Instead of working him in company where he would lay on horses and get lazy in the stretch, Weaver put blinkers on Saratoga County and had the rider get after him. Five of his last workouts have been bullets\".

This made some sense to me; Weaver then added the brillant \"It seems to have helped, but I also think he\'s just doing better\"...

Smugglers Run ran a 9 at FPX in a Mcl 32k. He was coming off around a 4 month layoff and Cerin is 8% with 90+. His last # before the layoff was around 18.

Than being said, it was a terrible group of 16K claimers, that, I think came up a bit light in the early speed dept. Most horses were running in the 10-12 range.

Fixing an \"epiglottal entrapment\" can be huge. Essentially (based on the nature of the problem) you have exercise induced oxygen starvation that obviously will impact a horses performance. It is an interesting thought that this should be reported. In my mind, it can create a bigger impact on performance then gelding a horse.

An excellent book was written in 1989 called \"Specification for Speed in the Racehorse--The Airflow Factors\" written by a vet--W. Robert Cook. It is quite interesting, but a bit technical. It has chapters dealing with the relationship between airflow and racing, and impacts of airflow problems on speed.

Not only is the publicity terrible it comes at a horrible time with the running of the National Handicapping Championship on ESPN.

Do you think ESPN will continue to lend/link its \"brand name\" to a sport that cheats its constituents and has not only the public perception of being \"fixed\", but is validating that with the behavoir and attitude of the trainers responsible for the horses.

After reading Crist\'s article of a few weeks ago and how ESPN essentially created poker as a national phenom, I had high hopes for our sport with the potential of ESPN, a network always looking for new content/events, taking an interest. Until we clean up, that\'s as big a long shot as Smuggler\'s Run.