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Originally Posted by PhantomOnTour
I ask this because of a losing bet (  ) on Chasing Moonlight in the 5th at Aqu today.
It marked the 2nd consecutive race that he failed to switch in the lane.
The previous two starts he switched fine in upper stretch. Junior Alvarado threw one cross at him in upper stretch and then right hand whipped the rest of he way home while his mount hung and finished 3rd....looked like he was gonna go right on by.
I thought Junior would have thrown a cross or tried to shake him up and get him to switch, but he didn't.
Does this matter to you?
I know some really good horses never (or frequently didn't) switch leads...Affirmed maybe?
Are there horses who don't switch entering the backstretch in two turn races?
Sorry for all the questions, but i always followed the notion that they switch to ward off fatigue, for lack of a better term. |
I think that jocks might be hesitant to throw the crosses at mentally fragile horses...this particular horse has just shown to not fight really hard, he had a loose lead a few lines down and should have won, or at least been 2nd and he blew it. Maybe he has a breathing problem and can't 'finish' off a race and that's why the jock wasnt aggressively trying to get him to switch leads.
It looked like there was no way he was going to get beat, he was trained by a supertrainer, well bred, looks nice with a nice stride and just refused to pass. That was a tough beat, there was a point in the lane when you had to be counting your money.
To your other question, the answer is yes, quite often, horses will not switch leads when they enter the backstretch, especially the inexperienced ones...but i've found what happens more is horses will switch on the backstretch and then switch properly into the turn and then just never switch back.
Alydar was a historic great horse who rarely (if ever) switched leads. One of his famous sons, Strike the Gold, didnt switch leads in the Derby until he was blowing by, he switched with about 70 yards left in the race i believe and really seemed to kick into another gear at the end.
I think if you look at the highest levels of the game, you rarely find a horse who is 'great' who is hanging on the wrong lead and still winning a ton of races. Most great horses switch leads on cue, in order to beat top level competition, you have to do everything right.
