Category: Horse Racing Guide

The short answer is no.

You may ask: ‘What is a temperamental horse?’

After following two-year-old horse racing for over 30-years I’ve seen just about every type of horse. Those which behave impeccably to those that misbehave so badly they never return to the racecourse for their second start. Often they don’t even make their debut run because they are led away from the stalls because they have been difficult to handle.

A horse has three opportunities to enter the stalls. That’s three races, and if they misbehave and cannot be stalled they have to pass a test. This usually follows extensive training at the home stables. Sadly, some horses learn bad habits or are so wilful they cannot learn to behave and often they have no place in racing.

They will find another home or a different role than the one they were bred.

Each horse should be viewed on its individuality and on its merit. Every horse has its own story to tell. In their formative years there is much to learn, many changes and it is understandable that, at times, these can be overwhelming. Think back to being a young child at school. I can bet for many readers it wasn’t the easiest of times. The system insisted you walk a certain path. You weren’t allowed the option to do things your way.

There are a plethora of reasons why a horse may be difficult to handle and show temperament. It is, like us all, a combination of nature and nurture.

It’s very easy to look at a horse making its debut and not really think about its life leading to that day. Why should you consider it? You’re mostly interested in its chance of making you some money or adding a little bit of excitement to your day.

However, I think we lose something as individuals if we don’t consider the past and solely focus on the present or future. This is important for horses as much as people. It gives reason, if not justification, for the objective truth seen on a given day.

When it comes to betting on temperamental horses you are pushing your luck if you think it will end well. Not to say you will know that many horses are temperamental until after the race. Perhaps the most likely factor is a horse that’s keen or in layman’s terms pulls too hard. There are other aspects of temperament but a horse pulling for its head is one of the most common and a problem. You can often see the jockey sitting tight, reins even tighter, as the horses head turns from left to right. The jockey will do their best to get the horse to settle by restraining it. This will expend a lot of energy. Some horses pull for two or three furlongs. The likelihood of them winning is minimal. Such has been the expenditure of energy. The horse will usually tire in the closing furlongs. Sometime, a very good horse will manage to win. This is usually over the minimum distance of five-furlongs (it may be further).

The problem with a horse pulling too keenly is that it often become a pattern of behaviour. They learn this is how we race. Unless the experience of trainer and jockey can help the horse to learn to settle its future is most likely limited. Winning is hard at the best of times and wasting energy makes it next to impossible.

However, there is a chance with age and experience a horse will settle, learn, and realise its true potential. This takes time and care. It is a behaviour that horses can learn all too easy and it can be very difficult to break this habit.

Personally, I try to steer clear of temperamental horses as they usually prove to be losing bets. If a horse has disappointed because of temperament it is best not to give them a second chance (when betting) as it is very likely they will display such errant behaviour once more. Even against inferior opposition you are pushing your luck. There is little to be gained from hoping beyond hope. I would rather watch and learn.

In truth, I would rather oppose a temperamental horse, especially if they are short odds. They have an increased chance of disappointing and give additional value to others in the race.

The only exception would be that a temperamental horse is a very big price and you simply have to hope for the best.

Be careful when betting and always bet responsibly.

Run over a mile and a quarter on dirt and, nowadays, worth $6 million in prize money, the Breeders’ Cup Classic is the most valuable and prestigious race run at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships. Indeed, such is its standing in North America that, alongside the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes, the race forms one version of the so-called ‘Grand Slam of Thoroughbred Racing’.

The Breeders’ Cup Classic is open to horses aged three years old and upwards but, at the time of writing, in 39 runnings, only Tiznow, trained by Jay Robbins in California, has won the race more than once. On November 4, 2000, at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, the three-year-old son of Cee’s Tizzy took the scalp of the so-called ‘Iron Horse’, Giant’s Causeway, trained by Aidan O’Brien. Having made the early running, Tiznow was briefly headed by Albert The Great with three furlongs left to run, but regained the lead inside the final quarter of a mile and, although eyeball-to-eyeball with Giant’s Causeway in the closing stages, was driven out to win by a neck.

Tiznow won the Eclipse Award for Horse of the Year in 2000 but, having won his first two starts of 2001, suffered a strained lumber vertebrae, which kept him off the track until the Grade 1 Woodward Stakes at Belmont Park in Elton, New York on September 8. He was beaten, albeit not far, in that race and on his next start, at Santa Anita in Arcadia, California, a month later, but nonetheless returned to Belmont Park on October 27 to defend his Breeders’ Cup Classic title. In what would be his last race, he overhauled the leader, Sakhee, in the final hundred yards and ran on well to win by a nose.

It’s an interesting question.

Now it will come as no surprise that certain horse trainers are very shrewd when it comes to tipping and betting on horses while others have no interest at all and some are just a poor judge. So the key is understanding the merit of the horse trainer.

There is a well-known tipping company called Trainer Quote who have a select number of horse trainer on their books who give their thoughts and I guess tips on horses they train. I have no idea how successful this is but I guess it they want to keep their retainer they had best detail the ‘good stuff’.

I have had little to do with horse trainers bar a Julia Feilden who I believe is one of the horse trainers with Trainer Quote. I met her a couple of times when I joined her racing syndicate Newmarket Equine Tours and a lovely lady she is too.

From my personal perspective, if I were a horse trainer and an owner was paying good money for a horse in training I would be very careful giving out information. Why? Because if you get it wrong a few times I can imagine an owner taking the huff and going elsewhere. So I can imagine most trainers (even if they strongly fancy a horse) would say: ‘I think it has a small each way chance.’ Trying to distance themselves as far from the ‘winning punt’.

Who could blame them.

As my good friend Eric Winner says: ‘They aren’t racing them for us!’

No truer word said.

I remember Clive Brittain, now retired, who trained at Newmarket. One of my favourite handlers because of his new say die attitude running horses at the highest grade when they looked to have little hope on form. He was the most optimistic trainer in the world. And it worked for him. Consider Terimon runner up in the Epsom Derby at 250/1. I have no idea if he advised the owner to have a bet but it wouldn’t have surprised me. He used to say: ‘Never be scared of one horse.’ He kept it to himself that he wasn’t scared of the whole field.

For a horse trainer to give tips it really is a thankless task. They have little to gain but much to lose.

I’ve know a few horse owners and they smart when they chatted tot he trainer the day before and didn’t say anything about a couple of winners that went in the next day. But why would they tell? Again, they have nothing to gain apart from irritating an owner who saw the odds on his or her horse shorten before they had placed their bet. The owner has no preserve over whispers or a punters view that they have seen value.

The best approach to understanding of a horse trainer doesn’t need to come from their mouth or the ‘horses mouth’ as I’ve heard from many an owner. It comes from data and what that says. If you have enough data you can learn how a trainer works and which horses have any real hope of winning. Don’t believe me, just do a bit of groundwork and you will soon appreciate the truth.

So are horse trainers good tipsters.

You can only judge each on their merits but you can tell that certain trainers are very good and know a winner when they see one.

A trainer knows his or her horses but whether they have a grasp of anyone else’s is an open question. That’s the problems with specific rather than global knowledge you can’t know everything and it only takes one or two horses in opposition to make you look a fool