Welcome to the
March edition of the Hibiscus Stables Newsletter!
This issue includes updates, trivia and other news and notes. Please forward this
to friends and family members that may be interested. Hibiscus Announces Three New Offerings Acquired at Select Sale Hibiscus Stables is pleased to formally announce the kickoff of our Vintage 2008 with three outstanding graduates of the OBS March Selected Sale of Two-Year-Olds. We laid out very aggressive plans for 2008 including expanding our stable to the west coast and stepping up the quality of our runners. True to our word we, for the first time, attended a Select Sale and acquired some very impressive horses that are visually stunning and have pedigrees to match. We believe this to clearly be the best group of runners we’ve ever had the pleasure to offer. Below is a short description of our new offerings. Visit our Offerings page for complete details, pedigree and to watch their videos.
If you
have any questions or would like more details about Vintage
2008 please contact us at
The Inside View:
From time to time, Hibiscus
Stables takes a close look at a particular aspect of racing
to provide a view from "the inside". In the
past, this series has included a discussion of the auction
process and the chronicles of one horse, from purchase to
the winner's circle. This month we take a look at an
important component in the training process: breezing. Breezes, or workouts, are tools used by trainers to condition horses to prepare them for racing and also to evaluate horses in terms of their readiness for an upcoming race. Typically a Thoroughbred, when in training, will go to the racetrack every morning. Usually they’ll gallop various distances. This keeps their fitness levels high, similar to any other athlete jogging or running on a daily basis. When a horse reaches a certain level of fitness it will be ready to breeze. A breeze, different than a gallop, is when a horse runs a certain distance as fast as possible as if it were running in a race. Breezes are usually timed and are evaluated by the trainer in terms of time, horse’s movement, and stamina. Horses don’t start out in condition to compete in a race. They must be trained up to fitness. No different than an athlete preparing to participate in an upcoming season, they can’t just show up and play. They need to train their bodies for strength, stamina, and speed. It’s no different for a Thoroughbred entering training from a two-year-old sale or returning from rehabilitation on a farm. They’re usually sound but not in the shape necessary for the rigors of an actual race. The trainer will begin by having the horse gallop daily to the point where it can go a certain distance, perhaps two miles, without getting tired. Once it reaches a certain level it can be asked to breeze. The art of training a racehorse is a personal thing and every trainer has his own approach and philosophy on how to condition a horse. Additionally, every horse is a unique individual and needs to be trained in a manner that fits it. Some trainers may begin by breezing a horse 1/8 of a mile, some ¼ mile, others 3/8, etc. What’s important is that when the horse breezes that it does it the right way. It needs to respond when the rider asks it, it needs to cover ground easily and efficiently, it needs to finish well, and it needs to do it in a reasonable time. Assuming the trainer begins by breezing the horse 3/8s, during its first breeze it may get tired after ¼. That’s somewhat to be expected. The expectation is that the horse will improve during its next breeze and progress. Typically trainers will space breezes from 5 to 7 days apart. Once the horse can cover the distance without getting tired the trainer will stretch the horse out another furlong and begin the process all over again. Again, every trainer is different and some will be satisfied having a horse successfully breeze 4 furlongs. Others will continue to 5 and 6 furlongs and beyond.
Typically, when a horse breezes at a track where there is active racing there will be a group of track clockers present who will formally time the work and it will be published. For instance you may see in any day’s Daily Racing Form that as many as 80 horses breezed 4 furlongs at Belmont Park. They’ll be timed and ranked according to their time. At training centers or racetracks where there is no active training, such as Delaware Park during the winter, etc, trainers can still breeze their horses but there are no clockers on hand to record the results. The trainers are on the honor system to record and report the workouts. Because these results sometimes are reported well after the fact, these are considered unpublished works. Another aspect of breezes, or workouts, is if the work was done from the gate. Normally, a horse does not work from the gate. Instead it will gallop up to a certain point, such as the 3/8s pole, and then accelerate to the desired pace and continue to the finish line. It’s between those poles that the horse is timed. A gate drill is done beginning with the horse standing in the starting gate and is noted in the published results with a “g”. The thing to bear in mind when looking at the time is that the horse started from a standstill so, if the time is a bit slower than usual, then that needs to be taken into consideration. Another variable is if the horse worked around the dogs. Dogs are nothing more than traffic cones spread around the track in order to keep horses from running over the section of track inside those dogs. This is usually done on a turf course to keep horses off the rail area to protect the course, sometimes after rain. A work around the dogs is notated with a “d” and the key here is that the trip around the dogs is much wider than a trip around the rail and the time may be slower than usual. It’s no different than a horse racing on the rail versus in the 4 path in a race. There are many different things to consider when watching a horse breeze and when studying the breeze results in the Racing Form. Most trainers will tell you to concentrate much less on the times and more on the spacing between the works and the consistency. Seeing a horse that breezes like clockwork every 5 days is much better than a horse that has scattered gaps. The latter would raise a red flag that the horse may have health issues preventing it from working on a regular basis. It’s also important to learn each individual trainer’s approach and how he or she normally works horses. As long as a horse works in a pattern that’s typical to that trainer’s customary schedule then indications are good. If you know a trainer normally works his horses every 5 days but you see one of his horses that works every 8 days it would raise the question as to why.
When you’re an owner of a horse, especially a young two-year-old, the
excitement of watching your horse breeze helps to build
anticipation as you anxiously await your horse’s debut. It
gives you a taste of the horse racing without actually being
in a race. Kind of like an appetizer before a nice dinner.
It’s a tremendously rewarding experience to attend your
horse’s breeze in the morning and to be present during its
development. The trap that’s easy to fall in to is to get
caught up in the final time. Instead of asking how fast it
went the more important question is how it went. Did it go
in company? Did it do it the right way? How did it gallop
out, etc. Once a person gets used to the nuances of the
workout they’ll be in a much better position, not only to
evaluate the progress of their horse approaching a race, but
also in handicapping races, especially maiden races where
many horses are first-time starters.
D.A.'s Trivia Corner - Spotlight on the Trainers
1. Name the
number one trainer in terms of lifetime wins.
- Doris Ann
Hayes, Hibiscus Stables Client Spotlight - David Weiss
David grew up near Monticello and his dad owned a couple of harness horses and he remembers being a harness fan prior to the flats. He and his family frequented Saratoga. David was attending SUNY-Oswego to become a meteorologist when he found a summer job in the Catskills and he fell in love with the hotel business. He’s been in the same career for 28 years now and it has taken him all over the country. He now works at Extended Stay Hotels and buys and sells hotels on an international level. His family has moved from Florida to Dallas, to Denver and finally to South Carolina. He’s in New York virtually every other week, so hopefully he can make it out to the track soon. David’s mom lives in Miami and while visiting there he often attends the races at Gulfstream. David’s wife P.K (she won’t say what the initials stand for) is a stay at home mom, very involved in school and Unitarian Universalist Church functions. They have four children. The eldest Joseph who is 20, attends Georgia Southern University with a dual major in business and computers. Next is 17 year old Laura who loves photography and wants to go to college somewhere in the Northeast. (Skidmore?). Andrew is 14 and a freshman in high school who loves sports and video games. The youngest is 11 year old Suzanne who has just started middle school. The baby of the family is a cat named Tabitha. David’s hobbies include playing fantasy baseball, golfing and gambling. He is a big Giants and Mets fan. Also, he enjoys cooking and traveling and fancies himself a chef. Their kitchen is under renovation and should be finished soon so he can serve family and friends his gourmet creations. David discovered Hibiscus through Alan Horowitz’ nephew with whom he works. He’s very “happy to have his first horse with us" and we are, of course, delighted to have him on the team.
Answers to
Trivia: 2. Answer: B. Todd Pletcher has raised the bar for himself every year topping off with over $28 million in purse money for 2007 3. Answer: C. Steve Asmussen made it to the winner’s circle 488 times last year. Scott Lake- 485, Todd Pletcher-289 and Gary Contessa-186. 4. Answer: B. Steve Klesaris had 28% wins and 62% in the money last year. This year he’s 26% and 69% respectively. Hey, what a coincidence! He’s one of our trainers!!! 5. Answer: D. Linda Rice won the Queen Elizabeth Stakes with Tenski in 1998. Hey, what a coincidence! She’s one of our trainers!!!
6. Answer:
C. Jenine Sahadi won the 1996 Breeder’s Cup Sprint with Lit
de Justice. For good measure she came back and won it again
in ’97 with Elmhurst. |
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Jan 2008
Feb 2008 |
Another
aspect of breezing, especially in young inexperienced
horses, is having them work alone or in company. Working
alone a horse can concentrate on running hard and covering
ground efficiently. But for horses that have never raced
before learning how to react around other horses, all
running as hard as they can, is a different thing
altogether. When working a horse in company the horse can
be taught what it’s like to be pinned along the rail among a
group of horses, to duck through a gap between horses, and
that it’s important to finish in front of a group of
horses. Some horses when racing in a group and along the
rail won’t like it and will instinctively back out. That’s
the last thing you’d want to happen during a race so the
horse needs to be taught stay in there and not freak out.
Horses don’t necessarily understand these things and it’s
all part of the training process. 
Hibiscus Stables | Somers, NY 10589 | 1-877-WIRE-2-WIRE
Email:
info@hibiscusstables.com | Website:
www.hibiscusstables.com |
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