Versatile

[David Faulkner]

Hello, does anyone have the concept defined when a horse is versatile? This definition has to do with running on one surface at various distances or running on various surfaces. Dirt Turf AW at a specific distance, example Router. oh he is able to run on any surface and distance

[Kelly Haggerty]

As I understand, it means the horse can do one or more of the following:

1) run more than one type of distance (sprint, mile, route)
2) run on more than one surface
3) run on the flat and steeplechase

The tricky part is figuring out which of these the horse has. It will usually be some combination of the parent's abilities.

[Evelyne Cergerac]

I might as well ask here too!

I've read somewhere that the versatility can change every 8 weeks (I think it was 8) and also will depend if the horse has peaked or not. When said horse is no longer versatile, does that mean the horse *loses* ability on 'secondary' surfaces/distances or it has improved so much on a 'primary' surface/distance that the horse is no longer considered versatile by the algorithm? Kinda curious if anyone has had a horse which was versatile as an improver then was no-longer versatile (like after a festivus) but still hadn't peaked.

Also, is the versatily comment purely about racing ability or does it touch on breeding qualities too?

[David Faulkner]

As I understand, it means the horse can do one or more of the following:

1) run more than one type of distance (sprint, mile, route)
2) run on more than one surface
3) run on the flat and steeplechase

The tricky part is figuring out which of these the horse has. It will usually be some combination of the parent's abilities.

Thanks for your comment, imagine that it is as you said to find out where the horse is versatile. It would be better if the versatile comment showed what the horse is good at, versatile on surface and distance in both, even in jumping.

[Kelly Haggerty]

I might as well ask here too!

I've read somewhere that the versatility can change every 8 weeks (I think it was 8) and also will depend if the horse has peaked or not. When said horse is no longer versatile, does that mean the horse *loses* ability on 'secondary' surfaces/distances or it has improved so much on a 'primary' surface/distance that the horse is no longer considered versatile by the algorithm? Kinda curious if anyone has had a horse which was versatile as an improver then was no-longer versatile (like after a festivus) but still hadn't peaked.

Also, is the versatily comment purely about racing ability or does it touch on breeding qualities too?

This sounds like a fantastic Edge article....hint hint @Entry Clerk

[David Faulkner]

I might as well ask here too!

I've read somewhere that the versatility can change every 8 weeks (I think it was 8) and also will depend if the horse has peaked or not. When said horse is no longer versatile, does that mean the horse *loses* ability on 'secondary' surfaces/distances or it has improved so much on a 'primary' surface/distance that the horse is no longer considered versatile by the algorithm? Kinda curious if anyone has had a horse which was versatile as an improver then was no-longer versatile (like after a festivus) but still hadn't peaked.

Also, is the versatily comment purely about racing ability or does it touch on breeding qualities too?

Wow, if it's like you said, it's even more complicated to know what a versatile horse can do, and if its ability is lost at some point, the chances of participating in an important race are lost because there is no longer any ability in the horse.

Today I saw that a DR is versatile, a real son of a man, now I don't know if he is capable of handling the three surfaces, or can run the three distances.

I couldn't work on it since it runs tomorrow, Monday, I wanted to do a job in TR, if it works in Turf