Works

[Shelby]

I saw a turf horse do a work over the dirt this morning on TVG.

If it's a turf horse, running in a turf race, why work him on dirt?

Conversely, do dirt horses sometimes work over grass?

Just curious.

[PhantomOnTour]

Most turf horses have to work over dirt because overtraining on the turf course can ruin it. They simply can't have 75 horses a day working over the grass and then conduct racing in the afternoon...it will soon become dirt!

Today may have been an exception if this horse worked at CD because they closed the turf to training due to rain. Ideally though, the big horses in the big races will get a work over the turf, and they may even make special accomodations to open the turf course for such horses, but don't tell that to the Euros who couldn't work over CD turf this morning.

[Shelby]

Most turf horses have to work over dirt because overtraining on the turf course can ruin it. They simply can't have 75 horses a day working over the grass and then conduct racing in the afternoon...it will soon become dirt!

Today may have been an exception if this horse worked at CD because they closed the turf to training due to rain. Ideally though, the big horses in the big races will get a work over the turf, and they may even make special accomodations to open the turf course for such horses, but don't tell that to the Euros who couldn't work over CD turf this morning.

No kidding!


Thanks for the explanation. That makes sense. I believe the horse was at Santa Anita. It was a Baffert horse. They were showing works earlier last week.

[lamboguy]

good question because the biggest problem i always have with any horse is either switching distances or switching surfaces. often times when a horse changes surfaces they hop right at the start and lose all chance in the race. with old horses i see no problem because they have had experience with changes like that many times, its the younger ones that i worry about.

lots of luck in the next 2 days with whatever breeders cup selections you wind up on and happy thanksgiving to you and your family

[Robert Fischer]

some horses train versatile turf horses over the dirt

at times it can depend on the turf course condition as well.

usually the better turf horses will work on the turf, but there are exceptions

[Shelby]

good question because the biggest problem i always have with any horse is either switching distances or switching surfaces. often times when a horse changes surfaces they hop right at the start and lose all chance in the race. with old horses i see no problem because they have had experience with changes like that many times, its the younger ones that i worry about.

lots of luck in the next 2 days with whatever breeders cup selections you wind up on and happy thanksgiving to you and your family



I'm not sure what horse I was watching, so I don't know how seasoned he was. Thanks for your insight. :ThmbUp:

I hope you have the best of luck and Happy Turkey Day to you, too! I'm getting ready to immerse myself into PP's here in a minute.

[lamboguy]

another thing that you can do is trust the trainer. certain trainer's like STEVEN ASMUSSEN never make mistakes with anything he does in this game. when you see one of his horses on the track, they are all fully prepared. he has the benefit of his father breaking and starting off most of his horses when they are young, so he has good communication to start out with. put that together with his training program, you will find his horses are super tough everyday.