Dickinson: on the move

[Grits]

http://thisishorseracing.com/news/index.php/racing-news/3486-michael-dickinson-2-0

Another thread, gentlemen, in a continued effort to guide the room back to racing and out of its most current gutter. :faint:

[jahura2]

Thanks Grits. Its nice to see that a Horse Racing forum can still be about Horse Racing. Dickinson has always fascinated me. Its good to see him back, I have always appreciated his approach in his care for his stable.

[castaway01]

It's a shame Dickinson pulled back from training for years to serve as an advocate for Tapeta. No doubt that was more financially lucrative for him, but his training moves were always fascinating to watch. I don't know if he can get the quality of horses he wants and get back to the glory days, but here's hoping.

[Secondbest]

Glad he's back. One of my favorites. Thanks for the info Grits.

[SuperPickle]

People kind of have re-written his history. He never got nice horses. He never trained the types Chad Brown, Pletcher, Clement and Mott have. He got cheaper horses or horses those guys wanted out of their barn. People forget Da Hoss was at Turf Paradise sprinting on the dirt before he got him. He had Bellamy Road at 2 and then Zito got him at 3 but I believe he was a homebred for Kingmens. A Huevo was a West Virginia Bred. Even Tapit was a horse with less breeding than half the horses Pletcher has and he's probably one of the best bred horses he worked with.

I think that's why he talks about how he ran horses two little in the piece. That's really what kept high profile owners away. No one wants to spend $500,000 or a million on a horse and send it to a guy who's going to race the horse 3-4 times a year.

One of the great mysterys will be what could he do with good horses.

[Hard2Like]

Thanks for the link. Found the article both interesting and informative.
Looking forward to seeing his trainees hit the track.
Trainer Stable Alert addition, for sure

[BIG49010]

I saw an interview with him on At the races, he might have 10 horses lined up, but I think it will be difficult for him for a while, he was talking in the 300 dollar per day cost range to train, which I wonder what he will charge the client. I know Pletcher, Brown, etc are in the $150 per day, or at least that is what I have heard.

[SuperPickle]

I saw an interview with him on At the races, he might have 10 horses lined up, but I think it will be difficult for him for a while, he was talking in the 300 dollar per day cost range to train, which I wonder what he will charge the client. I know Pletcher, Brown, etc are in the $150 per day, or at least that is what I have heard.

I can tell you as of last year Graham Motion's day rate was $100. At the time the rate was the same for Fair Hill and his other barns in New York and Delaware.

$150 is even more than anyone else in the Mid-Atlantic charges. Even the Fair Hill guys. $300 would be insane.

Michael's a brilliant horseman but he's always struggled to get owners a return. Hence why he struggles to get big time owners.

280 days at $150 a day is $42,000. Add on vet and transportation and other fees you're up over $50,000 annually. Considering you only get 75-80% of purses as an owner after jockey and trainer fees you need to make $80,000 in purses to just to break even. $80,000 is essentially a stakes horse in the Mid-Atlantic.

Michael is brilliant but the math is rarely on his side.

[thespaah]

http://thisishorseracing.com/news/index.php/racing-news/3486-michael-dickinson-2-0

Another thread, gentlemen, in a continued effort to guide the room back to racing and out of its most current gutter. :faint:
Interesting individual. Lots of advanced ideas.

[EMD4ME]

Interesting individual. Lots of advanced ideas.

I won't pretend to know him, so please take this with a grain of salt....


But all I remember of Mr. Dickinson was:

1) obviously great at layoffs, like really great

2) Totally leveraged the industry to make serious money off of a surface I detest with a passion.

Now that there's no more craze for tapeta, he's back? Didn't he make $20 MM selling Tapeta to folks?

Mad genius he was.

[BELMONT 6-6-09]

I won't pretend to know him, so please take this with a grain of salt....


But all I remember of Mr. Dickinson was:

1) obviously great at layoffs, like really great

2) Totally leveraged the industry to make serious money off of a surface I detest with a passion.

Now that there's no more craze for tapeta, he's back? Didn't he make $20 MM selling Tapeta to folks?

Mad genius he was.

Tremendous on the weeds!!!

[EMD4ME]

Tremendous on the weeds!!!

Of course, can't believe I neglected that. And of course a mid atlantic & BC genius.....

[mountainman]

Always in awe of his unique talents , and consider him a friend. Hard to imagine the fortune he'd have made had synthetics not gone belly-up. I'm sure he was planning on it-and had every right to.

I was a vocal opponent of fake surfaces, and hope the man never took that personally.

[Nutz and Boltz]

Dickinson FTS scheduled for the grass , Belmont race :4:

[FrankieFigs]

Dickinson FTS scheduled for the grass , Belmont race :4:

5th beaten about 5 1/2 lengths. Not too shabby for a FTS going 1 1/4 miles. That's a pretty tall task.

On a side note, Cape Blanco has had some fire early on the turf. Overall his stats don't look good but I think they may improve over time. I'm keeping an eye on him.