they have had horses with mr. tagg for a very long time. as far as i know they did fire matz and hire delecour, i think the delecour's are real good trainer's and i am sure the jackson's will do very well with them.
one thing they all had in common is that they all train in fairhills.
Tagg has had major horses for the Jackson's for many years. In fact he had the "other" Lael horse in Barbaro's Derby. I think he ran third.
The horses left Matz' barn and were walked across Fair Hill to Delacour's last spring. A friend of mine who is friendly with Leigh happened to walk into the barn as they were settling in and regognized them. Her eyebrows went up and Leigh just said, yes and nodded. Leigh and Arnaud are very good horsemen but I will offer that they were not the Jackson's first choice. Leigh was recommened to the Jackson's by someone else and would have been crazy to turn the horses down.
There were some behind the scenes reason for the change, as is often the case. The reasons are moot at this point. People who own horses make changes for tons of reasons from very serious (concern over care or treatment) to very frivolous (the trainer's wife looked at the owner's wife "funny") and millions in between.
Leigh and Arnaud are very good horsemen but I will offer that they were not the Jackson's first choice. Leigh was recommened to the Jackson's by someone else and would have been crazy to turn the horses down.
They were recommended by Graham Motion who Leigh use to work for. The only reason they got them.
Motion was the 1st trainer that the Jacksons approached but he was full, having picked up all the Team Valor stock only a few months prior and he and Anita recommended Leigh and Arnaud.
Motion doesn't want to be overextended and I don't blame him and I'm not sure he wanted to deal with the "Brothers of Barbaro" and their attendent fans. It was certainly nice of him to recommend a lesser known trainer (albeit a former assistant and very good horsewoman) and decent of the Jacksons to take his recommendation. I am curious if they were offered to Tagg. He has the one "Barbaro Brother" now. He might not have wanted to deal with the "Friends of Barbaro" himself.
