Lawyer Ron Goes to Pletcher..

[Sightseek]

Originally Posted by Kasept

If there was an unhappiness with things you think they could have made a rider switch first, had McKee specifically been the issue..

I'll speculate that there's a Breeders' Cup Classic appearance at the center of this... Stonewall likely wants in and Holthus may have been advising against?? Makes as much sense as anything...

Frankly, and I'm not looking to insult Holthus or McKee with this, I don't think they did a good job at all trying to find ways to get Lawyer Ron to relax. You cannot get a free-running horse to "rate" by tugging on him. All that does is make him run harder. That exhausts rider and horse.. You throw the reins at him and let him rate on his own. The horse will do it HIMSELF... You then pick up the reins when you want him to get back into the bit.



(As a sidebar to the above, I had a great talk yesterday with Precisionist's trainer Ross Fenstermaker who had Chris McCarron do EXACTLY this in the Silver Screen and Swaps... 5,000 win rider Tony Black also discussed it yesterday with us on ATRAB and said the same thing... Fenstermaker will be on the show tonight to talk about his late Hall of Famer, and I'll now try to get McCarron as well...)

My first thought was that Pletcher finally has his Classic horse...

I would have done the rider switch first.

[paisjpq]

what a classless way to do business...this switch moves LR up in my eyes, though I still think he has little chance if he goes in the classic...I feel bad in a way though for Holthus, even if it is just business he's gotten the horse this far...

[Scav]

Originally Posted by paisjpq

what a classless way to do business...this switch moves LR up in my eyes, though I still think he has little chance if he goes in the classic...I feel bad in a way though for Holthus, even if it is just business he's gotten the horse this far...

Not sure it moves him up anymore then he is. Hard to teach an older horse how to do something new you know. It is like teaching a 20 year old how to tie his shoes a different way. If anyone can do it Pletcher can but I think, from a gambling perspective, this horse is going to get unloaded on now, and some serious value against him, given the right competition

[paisjpq]

Originally Posted by Scav

Not sure it moves him up anymore then he is. Hard to teach an older horse how to do something new you know. It is like teaching a 20 year old how to tie his shoes a different way. If anyone can do it Pletcher can but I think, from a gambling perspective, this horse is going to get unloaded on now, and some serious value against him, given the right competition

I agree with you ...undoing this horse's desire to be rank and on the front end will be a difficult task even for a guy like Pletcher...but I think a rider change would have been the first and best step to take before a trainer change...I wouldn't bet on LR before so I don't intend to start now.

[Pointg5]

LR doesn't always run off, he's only done that twice now. It's not like he's speed speed speed...I don't think it will change his odds much with Pletch, most people do not respect the horse much to begin with...

Well I have never been convinced Lawyer Ron was all that talented. I like Holthaus and I like McKee, but I dont think style of McKee or Holthause ever fit this horse. If Pletcher can get LR to improve like he did with Fleet Indian then Lawyer Ron is a definate threat in the BCC.

[Pedigree Ann]

Is it possible that the new owners want to race Ronny in the big name races on the coasts, whereas Holthus would tend to keep him in the Midwest? That would make some sense for a farm trying to 'make' a stallion - let's face it, winning the Donn H would mean more to most stallion shoppers than the New Orleans H or Oaklawn H.

Look guys,
They overpaid for this horse, everyone in the business knows that.
He can't get them back at stud what they spent on him, with his record now.
The horse may just be the kind who can't relax, who knows.
But when you kick up a zillion bucks to buy a horse, you have to do what you have to do to try and get your investment back.
You wanna talk about sporting? Sporting is kicking up that kind of dough back in the spring to buy the horse. Does anyone not think that was "sporting"?
Its business, thats all. And I would suspect that Holthus got a commission on the sale, as well as the 10% of his lifetime earnings so far. I don't think they will be having any benefits for him anytime soon.
I'm also pretty sure that Holthus never goes to Florida in the winter, and ususally goes to Oak. I'm sure they were looking ahead at the big picture and wanted him in Florida this winter anyway, or California for the Malibu series. The change would have been made then anyway, so why wait.
Holthus is a great trainer, and he did an awesome job. Its just business.

[pmayjr]

It's funny that Lawyer Ron's ownership group can make a quick trainer switch decision like that, but Sackatoga still won't dump Tagg in a last-ditch attempt to get F.C. right.

I think getting rid of Holtus was a classless move, but I do agree that maybe the owners hated how they couldn't get Lawyer Ron to settle. I'm assuming that's the reason why this is happeneing.

But Sackatoga should do the same with Tagg. They've tried everything else, TRY THE TRAINER SWITCH!

I think it's a pretty bad move, and they did it a low class way to boot.

[mclem10011]

The horse has got talent, he very fast we all know that. As seen by his most recent effort, LR does what he wants to do, and McKee was along for the ride, and isn't strong enough to control this particular horse. No knock on J. Mckee, we know he's a great rider, and Holthus is a great trainer, but I feel that it may have been time for them to part ways. Pletcher what can you say, the guy knows his stuff, and if anyone can get this horse to rate somehow, TP may be the man for the job. Who would be the choice to ride LR in the BC, or maybe more importantly who will decide to take the chance on a wild ride that day? Top jocks who seem to be firmly with other BC day mounts. Time will tell I suppose, should be an interesting story to follow.

[JJP]

If they're smart they'll ignore the BC Classic and point toward the Cigar Mile. I've never been convinced LR can go 1 1/4 miles.