Clockers

[Kasept]

Originally Posted by Bigsmc

With horses coming from all points, I would tend to take any clocker info coming from Santa Anita with a massive grain of salt and most certainly wouldn't pay for that information.

How do any of them know how a horse that is not stabled on the west coast, normally looks, moves, behaves in the am? If they don't know the trainer's program, how can they judge a workout or the intent of that work?

Yesterday, I had Santa Anita's John Malone specifically to address how the locals are coming into the weekend. Certainly, top clockers like ATR guests Malone, Mike Welsch and Gary Young can give indications of how any horse they are watching is getting over surfaces or if there perceptable changes in a horse as a week progresses. They can also offer finish up insights or gallop out times, etc., whether they are horses well known to them or not.

The majority of listeners to ATR have always seemed to relish these visits specifically because they are not as widely available regularly. (Though when a Welsch or Free, et al, visit during the year for stakes previews, they frequently cite the recent morning efforts...)