class of a thoroughbred- some opinions

Performance , ratings and Class

Aboline (rating 93) won Bangalore summer Derby beating Jacqueline(90) by short head and many experts went gaga over this feat and exclaimed that class, merit and rating(of official handicapper) is the ultimate end of handicapping. This happened on 12 July 2009. One week later on 19 July 2009 a filly called Conceptual(89) beat Icebreaker (115) – twin classic winner by 7 long lengths- making all of them go motionless, speechless and incommunicado! Another example. Sparks(63) in Hyderabad monsoon Derby beats easily and convincingly many highly rated runners –Davenport(82), Fleet Indian(77), Red Renegade(84) – to name a few.

Handicapping a horse or a horse race is not an easy job, although handicappers are aplenty who sometimes under their name and many times under assumed names post their selections .

But I’m not discussing individuals (homo sapiens) here ,but trying to express my opinion about horse racing and its components . Class is one of the most important attribute (or aspect or factor or parameter ) of a race horse.

What is CLASS? It is the ‘racing ability’ of a thoroughbred to win a race.

Class is subtotal of pedigree (including breeding criterion ) , performance , current condition and some external influences which make a horse win or lose a race. I’ll give just one example of each before closing down this short exposition.

Pedigree: Abs Fabs(Burden of Proof- Sunny Clime) is a stayer ,everyone knows it today because she has won Mysore Derby and Kolkata Derby and placed in many classics . But before winning Mysore Derby she was made to run in some nondescript sprint races and only after she won Mysore Derby experts ‘discovered’ her staying ability and she ran Kolkata Derby as a favorite! Sprint Star is another classic example of this ignorance.

Performance : It is the subtotal of ALL past performances of at least last one or 1 ½ years and not only last 3 or 4 races. Trainers bring down the handicap of their wards by placing in unsuitable distance races till they are confident of winning a race and then place a runner and go ‘for a kill’ when everything is favorable . Innumerable examples can be cited to prove this point. Indian Dancer(Hyderabad-227), Generalissimo(Pune-204) are some recent examples of this trend.

Current condition :Mansoor – an Indian Derby winner after a year or two of his Derby win was made to run as 5 0r 6 year old in Calcutta and was running and losing class A races! Perhaps he lost in Class VB also!
A thoroughbred rarely can maintain his racing fitness for a long time spread over a racing career of 2 or 3 years. Very few trainers can maintain and improve the ‘racing fitness’ of their wards. If a runner is tracking well , comparable to his past work, he/she has every chance to win in ’his class’. Diego Rivera, Rhapsidion Snow, Oasis Star are some examples who confirm this point .Autonomy after losing in Indian Derby as second favorite ran only one race in Pune and ‘gave in’ meekly to Juventus in a 1600m race but ran a mock race in very fast time 13 days before Invitation cup. Antonios , ran 3 long distance races in 2 months prior to Invitation and was a bit jaded in that race and lost it .
Analyse the track of Fleet Indian before Mysore Derby and comparing it with his track before Hyderabad Derby it is clear that he has improved in the intervening period and with a better jockey his chance has improved . He did prove it.

Therefore, class of a thoroughbred can not be assessed by the number(rating) assigned to him/her but a broader view must be taken to identify his/her ‘true class’.

horse racing - some controversies-some opinions

Horseracing is a complex game , where homo sapiens and thoroughbreds try to prove and disprove each other wrong!

A thoroughbred is an animal but a homo sapien is also one ,with a difference that homosapiens can program, control, manipulate the behaviour,performance and the final result of a race in which a thoroughbred participates. But he is a genuine specimen of his breed, while a homo sapien may not be - normally speaking .

Over a period of time many theories ,based on experience and observations have been put forward by racing experts about breeding, performance, weight,current form, pedigree, etc.
I'll write a short article ,supported by examples from Indian racing, to explain some of these points - which many punters fail to understand or account for in their analysis.