I admittedly don't gallop my horses much once they start racing so I'm sure some have changed that I don't know of. Here are how changes have worked for me:
I've only had horses that changed once they were already racing. On one level this makes sense. Before racing my horses only have 3 opportunities to change. I race most of my horses through their 5yo year so they have 7 opportunities to change while racing. That being said I gallop all my horses multiple times before racing so have the opportunity to see all 3 of those change points whereas I gallop very few of my horses that are actively racing yet that is where I'm seeing the changes. Makes me wonder if there is a bias towards changes happening latter or if a lot of what I see is that first race bump.
The changes that I know of have only been single level changes. They go both up or down.
I don't remember all my changes but here are two I do remember:
Jublia - paint middle distance mare. Em Pee Vee - Carpet Premier by Whosyourdaddy. All her preracing gallops were stakes. I galloped her for the first time postracing debut towards the end of her 4yo year and she had moved up to freak. That was also around when she started throwing 90 speed figures.
Dreamland - turf miler. Frankel - Learing to Love by Guinea Saurus Rex. Preracing gallops were all allowance. Galloped him about 1/2 way through his 3yo year and he had moved up to stakes. Galloped him again towards the end of his 5yo year and he was back at allowance. Galloop upgrade was postgelding so not sure if that played a role or not. Counter to that was as a 2yo he won a number of stakes one with an 88 speed figure so he could have potentially changed as early as a late 2yo.
Guinea Saurus Rex is his own interesting story. He was a wings galloper pre racing (so today's productive) and his career debut was a 7th place finish in a maiden race with a 53 speed figure. Next race he won with an 81 and he went on to win over $2 million including 2 steward's cup second place finishes. I never galloped him again after he started but I'm guessing he improved. Very glad I showed more restraint than I normally do and didn't geld him after that first start. Interestingly that same year I had another colt,
Kitalpha, out of Guinea Saurus Rex's half sister who started out as a wow galloper and broke his maiden first out with a 78 speed figure. I figured that was my superstar and while he was a nice horse he only managed 2 stakes wins in his career and $400,000 in earnings.
