Practice Makes Perfect

[Sightseek]

Nice article about various trainer's theories and methods and a look back at how some of the champions worked many years ago.

In the early 1960s, Jerkens trained Beau Purple, a graded stakes horse who once worked 1 1/8 miles in 1:48 and two-fifths, a time that would win many graded stakes. One week after that monster drill, Beau Purple went out and won the Hawthorne Gold Cup. A week after that, he returned to win the prestigious Widener Handicap. Jerkens recalls the grueling 1 1/8-mile works trainer Max Hirsch used to put into Assault, winner of the Triple Crown in 1946. Hirsch would send one horse to breeze with Assault during the first half of a work. When that mate would tire and drop out, a second horse would jump into the fray and attempt to finish with Assault.

http://www.drf.com/news/kentucky-der...-makes-perfect

[Merlinsky]

Really cool. Thanks. I've always wondered about past methods. You'd have to think some of these would work today on some horses that are otherwise hot housed. Afleet Alex can't be the only one wanting/needing some extra time out on the track.