DRF WKND (Hersch): Not Unusual for Filly Champs to Struggle

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by Rupert Pupkin

You say it is "nonsense". How So?

I agree with you that there are times when people think a horse was not all out simply because the jockey didn't whip them. I don't agree with that. If a horse is being fairly vigourously hand-ridden, they are probably all out. Whipping the horse is usally not going to make much of a difference. But when a horse is under a hold coming down the stretch and is geared down, how could you say that it doesn't make a difference? It makes a huge difference.

It makes a huge difference in the morning too. If you have a great horse, you could get them to work 5 furlongs in :58 or you could get them to work in 1:02. It depends whether the jock asks them or not. A horse will obviously run much faster if you ask them than if you don't ask them. That is true in the morning and it is true in the afternoon.

All I mean is that horses running supremely fast under any condition, as fast as Rachel Alexandra ran last year particularly, are expending tremendous energy whether under wraps or not. Those efforts take a certain toll on a horse and require a certain amount of respective rest to recover. I'm certainly just parroting 'sheet' philosophy here, but I've seen enough evidence of its' accuracy to espouse it. Additionally, I've learned (from Andy and Chuck) that the 'could have won by more' credo is generally a fallacy.