Yonkers - Gilbert is hot

[Not4Love]

Does anyone play Yonkers on a full time basis?? I see they have another 40% trainer. He is doing better than Lou Pena . His name is Gilbert Garcia Herrera . I'm a casual player and have been for most of my life. Never heard of this guy. I also noticed that george Brennan drives for him.

[LottaKash]

GH Herrera, is another Cal-Expo castaway....He was a cheater there too (altho I can't say that with certainty...but I remember outcomes that had my head scratchin, is what I remember)

He knows Pena quite well too....Birds of a feather....

I suppose to be fair, GHH is a competent enough trainer & driver, but he is doing much better here than there (cal expo)....So imo, YR has a way better complement of Horses and Drivers to be sure, so how come all of a sudden he is better than ever at a better track with better horses and better trainers and better drivers ???????????.....

These days anything is possible....If it continues, it will be the demise of Harness Racing at any track that permists this "Super-Trainerism"....

GHH has always owned most of the horses he trains and drives, wherever he called home-track....I use to bet on him when I used to play the "left-coast" tracks, he did ok for me there....I just don't get his super powers nowadays, is all....

When any trainer hits 40% winners, one has to wonder....In yesteryear, it never happened, and if it did, it was only seasonal or for a block of time, not perennially as these super duper guys do now...

I ain't buying that poop....

best,

[melman]

LK---I don't know this guy from Adam. But to be fair that 40% fig is from only 30 starters. That's way to small a sample IMHO.

[LottaKash]

Originally Posted by melman

LK---I don't know this guy from Adam. But to be fair that 40% fig is from only 30 starters. That's way to small a sample IMHO.

You're right Mel, I seem to jump the gun sometimes....

Still, Herrera comes from that Pena, Hensley connection from Cal-EXpo and LosAlamitos....I am always watching....Actually tho, I figure these things into my spots, and many times, about whether they are a go or no go....I 've gotten a feel for them you might say....So at this juncture of the game, I am not quite sure what I want anymore....Except more and bigger winners...HAHA !...More !!

best,

[wilderness]

This excerpt from the Jul 2002 USTA Hoof Beats.
The article begins with the following explanation:

Forgive Alan Horowitz if he sounds scholastic when he talks. The leader behind the revival of Sacramento harness racing is actually a college professor by trade, who traded a tenure-track career at the University of California-Davis for an equine insurance business that became a racetrack management lifestyle.

Way down further in the Q&A:

HB: Who would you say are the current leaders in California harness racing besides yourself?

Horowitz: At our horsemen's organization, we still have David Neumeister and Harvey Stein. We have David Schell. Some of the horsemen we have are Rick Plano and Paul Blumenfeld. In the barn area, you still have the major stables who were here years ago--Bobby Johnson and Rick Plano and Bob Gordon and Paul Blumenfeld. Then you have sort of a middle ground that's been becoming very impressive; trainers like Gilbert Herrera, Bruce Clark and Rocky Stidham.

[The Bit]

It's just Lou Pena in a different form. Pena was training Gilberts horses before Ole Gilbert came east young man. So he comes east, and bingo he's a 40% guy, just like our boy Louy. So what do you do when they are in the same race knowing they are probably living, eating, partying together? Or at the very least conversing?

[The Bit]

Race 7 from Chester on Sunday ... Nap doesn't take a seat for anyone when he's driving for Lou if the horse is ready, and if he does he retakes before you can say Juiced ... Except when it's Gilberts horse. He let Gilberts horse clear than did the unthinkable and sat the pocket. Was it because he knew Gilberts horse is on the same fuel as Lous or because Gilbert is Lous best friend? Only he knows.

And now you have Lou's girlfriend, Jennifer Sabot, entering horses in her name just to add another dimension. Lou used to train horses the she was listed as the owner of. If you go back to August I put a post up about this circus.

[baconswitchfarm]

Lou is a heavy drinking lazy moron, who got some top gas. Gilbert is a top level horsemen who now has the same gas. Lou is never at the barn , Gilbert is the hardest working guy in his barn. Gilbert will stay on top for a long time as long as the gas keeps flowing.

[The Bit]

Lou was at Chester Friday night drinking it up with his cronies in the grandstands while the card was on going and his horses were running. He had his Lightning Lane sweatshirt on and looked to be hanging out with Jay of Lightning Lane amongst others.

I guess his help manages to get the horses off the trailers and on to the track.

[Not4Love]

In today's game (harness/thoroughbred). I get suspicious if a trainer is 40% with just 10 starters. I've been at this long enough and up until maybe 10 -12 years ago even 30% trainers were unheard of.