Need Advice

Katie Grenier · Post by **Katie Grenier** » 17 years ago

My filly Heiressthunderfirm has been doing well in her races and I was pondering the idea of weather or no to point her toward the Breeders Cup. She has been racing rather well and I put her in her first Stakes race Week 7 in which she placed 4th in. She has already been nominated, but am wondering how do I go about getting her to the Breeders Cup, as in What races I need to put her in to see if it would even be worth me running her in the Breeders Cup races or not. Any Advice would be greatly appreciated, as I would rather ask now than to find out later that it was a really bad idea, and that I should have stuck to the Grade III stakes and worked her up to the top instead of throwing her to the wolves.

<a href='http://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.php?HorseID=31358' target='_blank'>Heiressthunderfirm</a>

Nikki Everdeen · Post by **Nikki Everdeen** » 17 years ago

I wouldn't, to be honest. She only has 19 points, first of all, so she probably wouldn't draw in, and she isn't even a stakes winner yet. She looks promising, but I'd stick to the lower races until she proves she ran win them, then move up from there.

Ryen Hanna · Post by **Ryen Hanna** » 17 years ago

I concur with Nikki...she has potential, but in all reality her chances of even drawing in are slim. For now, just keep working her up the ladder!

Katie Grenier · Post by **Katie Grenier** » 17 years ago

Thanks... I'll just keep going in the direction I've been going with her, and will wait until I get more points on her and also more stakes races and her NW3 race on her before doing anything.. The last thing I want to do is ruin her after getting her this far.. Thanks again, and how many points should she have before I even consider something like the breeders cup?

Laura Ferguson · Post by **Laura Ferguson** » 17 years ago

I don't know if I'd be focusing on points so much. A lightly raced horse with a ton of ability in its first four starts has less points than an accomplished veteran nearing the end of his career, and yet, the lightly raced horse may very well defeat the veteran, even though he has less points.

Points matter only if the race oversubscribes. Given the number of stakes in Year 16, it is possible that several of the Breeders' Cup races will not fill to capacity, but the horses that _are_ in there are usually among the very best of their division. Upsets do happen, but you need some indication that your horse is capable of rising to the occasion.

So, if I'm running in a Breeders' Cup race for 3yos and up, I want a horse that has, at a minimum, won a stakes, preferably a graded stakes, in conditions similar to the race I'm entering, and at least some sign that the horse can be competitive against the best.

I'm not really sure why you worked her on dirt the same week she ran in that stakes - I suspect that didn't help her chances there. Anyway, I'd want to see her win a race or two more, and show she's competitive against some of the tougher fillies in the division before I even thought Breeder's Cup. As it is already Week 10, and she's not running this week, that's a tall order to rush her to make it.

Katie Grenier · Post by **Katie Grenier** » 17 years ago

okay.. thanks.. the workout on the dirt was a mistake. I was in a hurry and was trying to get a couple of workouts in and accidently put her to work on the dirt. I really appreciate the advice and I'll work with her as best I can in that, I will concentrate on getting her raced and winning some stakes races without over racing her. Which is a valuable lesson I learned last race year.

Thanks to everyone for the help

One last thing.. I've noticed that a lot of my horses have been getting rank during their races is there any equipment changes that I Should try in order to fix this? Is it just the horse "feeling it's oats" so to speak? Or, could it be just that the horse was "squeezed" by other horses during the race and didn't like the traffic? Or, does it have to do with the amount of time I've been waiting between races where they've got too much energy and need to burn it off in a constructive way?

Such as with my horses:

<a href='http://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.php?HorseID=25781&' target='_blank'>Binacatallalong</a>
and
<a href='http://http://www.simhorseracing.com/ho ... seID=28766' target='_blank'>Silver War Eagle</a>

Laura Ferguson · Post by **Laura Ferguson** » 17 years ago

I couldn't open the link to Silver War Eagle, and I'm in a rush getting ready to go to work, but, with Binalong

She needs a figure 8. She's been showing signs of being rank all along with all those dueled and hard held early comments. It's not constructive - it's the horse not wanting to rate and run off with the rider. When you go too fast too early, you have nothing left for the stretch - hence all the tireds and evenlys. A rule of thumb in running the races I run (3 miles to a marathon) is for every 10 seconds per mile too fast you go in the first mile(s), you're going to end up going a minute too slow per mile in the later mile(s), and that has proven to be true. If a horse fights in the beginning, you need to work out something to get the horse to relax. The figure 8 is the obvious piece of equipment, sometimes it takes blinkers or another piece of equipment (earmuffs, etc). But, start simple with the figure 8, that may be all it takes. Another option is to stretch the horse out, but that doesn't seem to work in her case.

Katie Grenier · Post by **Katie Grenier** » 17 years ago

I the problem I was having was I had seen people ask about horses be rank before but when I tried to search the treads for the answer nothing came up.. It was probably my fault in the way I was doing the search but I also couldn't remember the answer either. Thanks for the help.. I'll definitely start out with the Figure eight, and I figured Bina needed the f8 just in the fact of her not running straight during her races. As for Silver War Eagle here is the comment I got on his week 10 race "Stumbled start rank looked for room evenly" the race was at 1 mile on the dirt. I even got a rank remark on Heiress as well her racing comments were "Broke well rank mild bid inside evenly" that was at 1 1/8th miles on the turf. I'm wondering if I should put her (heiressthunderfirm) back at 1 1/4 mile since she urged to the wire in her previous race. Although I was also thinking about adding the f8 to her also with the angling in comment on her week 10 race, but also remembered that someone had said that the angling in isn't something that is corrected by the figure eight, but they also couldn't remember what they used to correct the angling in problem.

I really appreciate the help and I will definitely put a figure eight on Bina, and will more than likely strech Silver War Eagle out a little more, and may do the same for Heiress. If anyone can think of anything else that may help, please feel free to pm me. I've always been on the outside looking in on horse racing but just don't have the experience of being on the sidelines and working with race horses to know what equipment does what besides what the steward has written as a general rule for the SIM. Thanks for the help with the rank issue & understanding the issue better, Laura

By the way, Silver's page came up as a bad link for me as well so let me try it again.

<a href='http://www.simhorseracing.com/horse.php?HorseID=28766' target='_blank'>Silver War Eagle</a>

I tested the link above out so it should work now, at least it worked for me anyway

, Thanks again, for all the help