Prior to beginning their racing careers, horses go through a significant amount of training in preparation for their maiden voyages. The training involves building stamina, taking cues from a jockey on their backs, running with horses in close proximity, breaking from the starting gate and various other subtleties.
As they progress in their training, the horse’s trainer is looking for indications as to the racing surface (dirt or grass) and distance (sprint or route) a horse will prefer. Despite all the observation and input, where a horse will ultimately excel is “part art and part science”.
A good example is The Sinner Is You, a two year old colt we bought last year at a “Two Year Olds in Training Sale” in Florida. The colt’s sire (father) is Into Mischief who is a premier sire. The average winning distance of races won by horses sired by Into Mischief is 6.72 furlongs (approximately 7/8th’s of a mile). The broodmare (mother) is Sister Baby who never raced. Sister Baby’s sire was Lord Avie who came first, second or third in all sixteen of his career starts at distances up to one and a quarter miles.
In The Sinner Is You’s first career start in February 2019 we ran him in a dirt race at 6 furlongs (3/4’s of a mile) where he finished eighth. After the race the jockey said he thought he didn’t care for the dirt. In his second race in April 2019 we ran him on the grass at 6 furlongs where he finished fourth. Fourth was an improvement but at no time was The Sinner Is You going to win the race. In May 2019 we ran him on the grass again at 6 furlongs and he finished eighth but made a run near the end of the race. After the race the jockey said he ran “at times” during the race but was not completely focused and probably wants to race further than 6 furlongs.
On Sunday we ran The Sinner Is You at Belmont Park. The race was 7 furlongs (7/8th’s of a mile) on the grass and we added blinkers which prevent horses from looking around and keep them focused on the task of running! We also dropped him down a notch in terms of the caliber of horses he was competing against.
The end result was exactly what we hoped for. The Sinner Is You broke well from the starting gate, maintained his position, and accelerated when asked by jockey Junior Alvarado to win by a half length.
Replay of the Race
It isn’t possible to say with certainty which of the changes since his prior race was the key to winning. Was it the extra furlong (1/8th of a mile), the addition of blinkers, competing at a different class level, perfect ride by Junior Alvarado, experience of three prior races?
Racing horses is part art and part science!