Workout the day of the race

[banacek]

I bet a horse named "Autumn Mist" on Sunday, june 18 at Hastings Park. She ran a decent race - 3rd at 5-1 (although didn't show her usual early speed). Today my Bris email stable watch email said:

Autumn Mist (# 5, 9/2) finished 3rd at Hastings on Sunday, June 18th, 2006 in Race 3.

Then I got another email saying:

AUTUMN MIST worked 3f ft in :36.80 Hg (1/9) at HST, 06/18/06.

I check for recent workouts, but not usually that recent! How unusual is it for a horse to run a race the morning she is running? Is it wise? I still wonder if that is why she didn't go for the lead like she usually does.

[skate]

i don't know that this is the caSE here but, sometimes they type an error

[Tom]

She worked in compnay with Ghostzapper! :D

[kenwoodallpromos]

Autumn Mist worked out fast her 2nd to last race 5 days prior and backed up lead to place; worked out fast 1 day prior to her last race and backed up 2nd to finish 5th; her trainer has no postitve ROI's listed for angles (categories) listed for the race, and at under 10% wins is most likely overated as a trainer.
Whether AM would have won or not, the trainer is wasting the horse prior to the races.
Then a bug is put on and the jockey who has the last win and a close 2nd is not riding.
HG 1 of 9 for a filly? Sounds stupid to me! 5-1? Sounds like an underlay to me!
Too bad the horse is not put in a claimer and gotten to a good trainer who wants to win! Nobody bought her when in the recent $50k claimer- maybe it is a pet.

[DeadCrab]

25-30 years ago, working a horse 3F on race day was not unusual. Today, I would view it with some skepticism unless the horse had done well with this regimen before.

It might help take some vinegar out of a horse that tended to get rank early in routes.

[RonTiller]

I checked the data on all races since Jan 1 2005. 88 cases where a horse works out and races on the same day, 6 winners. 45 of the 88 were immediately after a layoff of 45 days or more, so perhpas the trainers were giving the horses a last minute check before deciding whether to scratch. There were 1455 cases where a horse works out and SCRATCHES on the same day, so perhaps this supports that hypothesis.

I would be careful to draw any hasty conclusions; that, for example the workout took too much out of the horse, leading to a lower than normal win %. The sample itself may very well be skewed towards horses that are suspect enough to require a last minute workout to dertermine fitness to race later in the day.

Or not. Who really knows? (although I have a sneaking suspician that Dave Schwartz knows more than he's telling)

Ron Tiller
HDW

[ryesteve]

I checked the data on all races since Jan 1 2005. 88 cases where a horse works out and races on the same day, 6 winners. 45 of the 88 were immediately after a layoff of 45 days or more, so perhpas the trainers were giving the horses a last minute check before deciding whether to scratch. There were 1455 cases where a horse works out and SCRATCHES on the same day, so perhaps this supports that hypothesis.
If only 88 went and 1,455 scratched, I don't think it's because 94% of the time the horse revealed himself to be unready to race. More than likely it's because the trainer had already made the scratch decision, and/or the horse was an AE or MTO, and the trainer wanted the horse to get some work in lieu of the race he wasn't going to have that day.

[BlueShoe]

Back in the not so distant "old days" it was quite common to work a horse the day before he raced.Often this was a short,fast blowout of 3 furlongs meant to hone good form.Not common today,it still may be done.Since the DRF goes to press before that days works are tabulated,the work will not show in the form.Some,but not all,tracks will post or announce works not in that days DRF.

[ponyplayerdotca]

I'm not sure about Autumn Mist's case in particular, but most tracks have a rule about having to have a published workout within the last 30 or 60 days prior to the race to be eligible to run.

Perhaps, this trainer had to work her that same morning to get her eligible to have run in that race at all.

I know that WILD DESERT, 2005 Queen's Plate Winner, had to workout at Fort Erie on the morning of the 2005 PRINCE OF WALES STAKES for this exact reason (he finished 3rd or 4th).

It also happens once in awhile at Mountaineer. Some trainers don't decide until the day of the race to ship the horse (weather, scratches, etc.). When they ship in late for a race, and they don't have that published workout, the horse usually takes a 3f spin in the a.m. to satisfy the racing secretary.

Again, this may not apply to Autumn Mist at Hastings last Sunday, but I offer it as another possible reason as to why it occurred. :ThmbUp: