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Eager to Win, And Keen to Prepare — How to Know Your Horse is Ready for Its First Race
With your boots on and your sights set on your yearling in the yard, it’s easy for anyone to feel swept up in anticipation of that very first race. If you think it’s just excitement that you’ll have to deal with on race day, wait til you experience the doubt and waves of anxiety from wondering where exactly in the team your horse will place during its first race. Trust us when we tell you that no matter how much effort you and your trainer have put into training, there’s no escaping that feeling of being caught up in the excitement from knowing it’s your yearling’s first race out on the track.
Everyone wants to win, but horseracing is a sport that sees tremendous efforts and due care involved, when preparing a yearling for a successful racing career. Beyond just winning, it’s the effort of care and proper routine that sees racehorses ready for the track and in great shape to minimise the instance of injury. Your trainer would be intimately familiar with your racehorse’s needs throughout its training routine. But how in-tune are you with your horse’s training progress? Knowing when your horse is ready is often an exciting point for many new racehorse owners, and provides all the incentive needed for you to keep involved with your trainer’s ongoing effort.
Training is Structured — Compare Performance Between Sessions
It all boils down to your horse’s athletic performance, so it should make complete sense for you to start by building a familiarity with its training progress. Speaking to your trainer about your horse’s performance will reveal a number of key areas to watch for, in terms of how fit and able your racehorse is. Of course, most of these key performance indicators will involve your horse’s speed, and ability across a variety of distances.
Any good trainer will keep these indicators into consideration, so they can keep track of a racehorse’s progress over time. More importantly, keeping performance references is what allows your trainer to develop effective training benchmarks to push for with every training session. Additionally, gauging your horse’s athletic performance metrics against the performance of other racehorses can provide real-world references for you to decide when it’s time to let your yearling hit the racetrack.
Monitor Your Horse’s Heart Rate
Racehorses are known for their big, strong beating hearts that pump blood and oxygen throughout its muscular frame and limbs. Of course it would then make sense for your horse’s heart rate to feature as an indication of its level of fitness. The elasticity of your horse’s heart rate is the key to understanding how well conditioned your horse is for rogressive bursts of effort.
This is mainly to do with a training and race technique, which sees jockeys riding their horses while keeping their energy levels conserved for a final burst of speed towards the end of a race. Your horse’s health and ability to raise and lower its heart rate as quickly as the race demands is a crucial factor that will determine its readiness for race day.
There’s Plenty to Tell, Just from The Way Your Horse Looks
It’s not an exaggeration to say that a seasoned racehorse owner can tell with just a look, whether their yearling is ready for its first race. In fact, there are plenty of positive and negative signs you can discern, just from your horse’s posture and movements during its training. Racehorses in top physical condition tend to move easily and fluidly, with no traces of hesitation or sluggishness in their steps. Additionally, a trained eye will easily spot a ‘happy’ bounce, or spring in its step, wherever your horse moves towards.
Apart from its build and physical state, racehorses can exhibit signs of moodiness that determine their emotional state of being. If your horse is exhibiting signs of rebelliousness or nervousness during training, you can bet that it probably needs a bit more time before it’s physically and emotionally prepared for its first race.
The Big Day Comes with Its Own Routine
By the time your racehorse has had adequate training to be considered ready to race, it would naturally have gotten used to its own training routine. Few people will be as familiar with this routine apart from a racehorse’s trainer and owners. While this routine naturally creates a set of conditions that prepare your horse for its grand day on the track, it’s important to recognise how race day will come with its own uniquely separate routine.
Depending on what time your horse is registered to race, it helps to lower the usual amount of exercise that you put it through at the start of the day. This keeps your horse in peak performance, with no energy needlessly spent outside of the actual race. Depending on your trainer’s programme or experienced recommendation, most racehorses will also eat less on the day of the actual race. Of course, keeping the time of race in mind can also help you manage your horse’s hunger and mood, if by chance they make their debut later in the evening.
Raceday Veterinary Checks and Heart Rate Monitoring
Different stables keep their own set of standards when performing veterinary assessments of horses before a race. Among these activities can include a heart rate measurement to spot any potential anomalies. This can include internal injuries, fatigue, or even disorders like anxiety. Afterall, horses can rightfully get excited or even anxious before their big debut. Keeping that empathy in mind can mean all the difference in allowing you to adequately prepare your racehorse for its grand day.
Nakeeta by half a length
Nakeeta
Ebor winner 2017
Nakeeta
The Ebor winner for 2017 makes this horse ideal to win the Melbourne Cup.
A nose
2leghths
Nakeeta by 3/4 of a length
0.75 lengths
1/2 length first Scottish horse to win
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1.5 lengths
I think by a photo finish
.4 length
Will win by 1.25Lengths
3 Lengths
Its a guess
Nakeeta will win by 1.75 lengths
3/4 length
A head
Nose
0.5L
1 length
Half a head
Neck