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Originally Posted by Observer
And yes, a horse can go around a left turn on the right lead (which would be "wrong"). However, this makes the horse unbalanced and less efficient.
I'm not likely to be as critical of horses that show a tendency to run on their wrong leads .. like people, horses can show a strength on one side over the other. So I'd rather see a horse with a wrong-lead tendency than a horse doing it for the first time today.
I'd also rather see the wrong lead tendency in the stretch than on the turn.
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It's pretty easy, for me anyway, to see that a horse is on the wrong lead in the stretch run --the gait appears 'unnatural' or the horse seems to be climbing (in the worst case). Then again, I've watched alot of races.
Your suggestion to watch their feet entering the stretch is right on.
To this point I haven't payed attention to leads on the turn (or backside)
but I suppose that with a bit of practice it would be easy as well. Would be interesting to carefully watch the action of horses going around righty.
Would going around the turn on the wrong lead be 'harder' than running through the stretch without changing?
All other things being equal, probably.
I agree with Observer, who seems to be saying that leads need to be taken within the context of the horse (its history) and the particular race.
