The Herd Whisperer!

[Dana666]

http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/story/_/id/7851216/more-feeling

Excellent piece on my friend Kerry. I can\'t wait for his derby analysis this year. He\'s guarding this year\'s analysis under extreme secrecy, but will be out on the Kentucky Confidential website soon and it\'s free!

[Dana666]

here\'s the site for kentucy confidential
http://kentuckyconfidential.com/2011/05/02/kerry-thomas-the-herd-whisperer/

his report will be in early next week

[ajkreider]

I remember this story last year.  It\'s interesting, but I have a difficult time thinking he will be taken seriously, unless he comes out with regular, unambiguous race picks. Like a race of the week where the comments don\'t sound like the reading of a horoscope.

(Maybe he does this, and I just haven\'t seen it.)

[sighthound]

That\'s cool.  It\'s called good, old-fashioned, horsemanship and understanding of how horses think.   The jockeys and exercise riders know this stuff:  what horses don\'t want to pass, won\'t run out front, simply cannot overtake another horse aggressively, get brave or fearful in certain situations, etc.

He sounds very competent observationally.  Be interesting to see his picks.

[sixmoreouts]

http://espn.go.com/horse-racing/story/_/id/7851216/more-feeling

[Dana666]

He mostly advises people in the sales ring and trainers also who might be having problems with horses, and he also has a book coming out very soon. He has some big clients already. The handicapping is just for the derby, and I think if he\'s right it gets him some good publicity, too. Animal Kingdom was a good call. We\'ll see who he likes this year.If I were buying horses, which I am not, I wouldn\'t even think about buying a horse without his point of view.

His book:
http://www.amazon.com/Horse-Profiling-Motivating-Conformation-Competitive/dp/1570765081/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1335386983&sr=1-1

[Dana666]

I\'m not sure how common good old fashioned horsemanship is anymore in our days of trainer/pharmacists and jockeys who barely know which end to point forward!

[alm]

When I was a kid I \'handicapped\' my first Derby and picked Northern Dancer, which I suppose makes this guy even with me.  You wouldn\'t have want to bet my pick the next year however.

[Dana666]

DISCLAIMER TO ANY DERBY POSTS I MIGHT MAKE:
I planted a tree on the day I had my last derby winner (Silver Charm). The tree is like 50 feet tall now, and I haven\'t picked another yet!

As I said, Kerry\'s not really about \"picking\" derby winners. He gets paid as a consultant to some huge outfits at the auctions. He just does this for the fun of it, and I\'m sure if he picks a few in a row, he\'ll get some good PR. His book looks really interesting to me. I can\'t wait to read it.

Hell, it\'s not even about \"selecting\" a winner so much as betting the race the right way, so in that regard I believe his information can really help with some decisions, who to use and who to throw out!

The only thing I feel fairly sure of this year is all the California horses stink--I\'m not using any of them. I like Mike Harrington a lot by the way, but I think the competition out there was pretty weak this year--Bodiemiester and Creative Cause are the only 2 decent ones; I really think we\'ve seen the best of Creative Cause and Bodemeister\'s win in ARK was impressive, but he beat nothing in that race--Hansen would have done the same thing had he been eneterd there instead of the polytrack abyss of Keenland, and for my money Bode is bucking some big trends. But he is a classy horse, no question.

Gemologist is the main one I\'m looking at--I think he is a triple crown threat as well--they haven\'t even scratched the surface of what he can do; can you imagine if Pletcher won a triple crown? The Plecther haters would go insane; maybe I\'ll plant another tree this year on Derby day!

[alm]

I hit Silver Charm too.  In fact, I hit the tri, thanks to one Jerry Brown who was quoted in the Racing Form KY Derby edition, giving four names, three of which ran one, two, three.  Won lots of money.  Thanks to Jerry, the not-horse-whisperer.

What on earth is going on in this blog?  People are either trying to form metaphorical comparisons with races run decades ago or they are all looking for that one dark horse in all the wrong places.  Remember guys, this is the TG board...we look for accurate descriptions of past performances and logical projections of individual horses\' patterns of development.

Anyway Dana I got my future bet in on Gemologist and really hope he wins...I will cash a very nice ticket.  And I believe he has one of the better forward looking patterns...so good luck to both of us.

However, there are some really interesting things in the TG sheets, which suggest there may be some snarky good long priced things happening.  Let\'s try to leave the weird stuff out of this and focus our thinking on the only stuff that ever worked in this insane business.

[sighthound]

Not common at all, judging what what you can see on the track some mornings!   His book will be interesting.

Another article covering the basics.  On the track, \"dominance\" is a huge deal:

The Equine Mind: Top 10 Things to Know
http://www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=19734

[Dana666]

You have a future bet?! That\'s awesome. Yes, good luck to both of us!

[Ill-bred]

The Herd Whisperer likes, in order UR, IHA and WTDW best...

http://kentuckyconfidential.com/2012/04/30/introduction-thomas-analyzes-the-2012-kentucky-derby-field/

[sighthound]

Very interesting stuff.  Herd dynamics are very important in race horses.  I\'d like to have the exercise riders comment on what he says.

[gteasy]

I\'ll take a guess...Daddy Nose Best...seems like he\'s figuring out the game and has moved forward on two surfaces.