Re: Race Spacing before derby - Spiral aftermath (1135 Views)

I've always been amazed at the significant differences in racing between US and UK and this prep/spacing issue has always puzzled me. When I was in London it was commonplace to go to big races with 1 (maybe 2) prep races - in fact (slight digression) for some of the big steeplechase races it was not uncommon for horses to go best fresh (at 3 miles !). I know most of the trainers used pretty scary hills (and interval training) to get horses fit - and I don't know enough about US training methods to tell if that is a difference. Certainly the myth of 3 prep races has trainers hooked and that in itself builds the case. It has to be said that Godolphin (with the UK influence) has been going to CD on less than 3 preps and has not had success - though that may be down to the horses they sent there. Michael Dickinson was an innovator in his time in the UK, with uphill interval training being big for him I believe. It shows here in the US in that you always know a MD horse is going to be fit fresh - if he ever got a Derby horse I would guess he would go the derby on a light schedule. A lot of words to say that 16/1 on 2-prep Saarland (William Hill International) may be juicy after all.