#Soundbites - How can the coordination of stakes races / condition books be improved?
Article by Bill Heller
Tony Dutrow
That’s a very good question because that is a needed: a source of information for horsemen. So many of us have a decent horse, and we want to make it a lot easier on ourselves to see what is out there. If it was as easy as going to a website, it would take literally seconds and that would give you all your options. I don’t know how to collect all that information, but if the information was there, I’d love it.
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Ian Wilkes
We all have to work together. I think we can do a better job. There are only so many horses you can run. A national stakes program would work. Some stakes are on the same day or a week apart. The Iowa Derby and the Indiana Derby were on the same day. Why can’t they be in a series of races on different days? Also, we’ve got to do something to make bigger fields for races like the Travers. We have so many choices with fewer horses. The whole industry needs to work together on this, on everything.
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Carla Gaines
Oh, God. I’m so locally based on the West Coast. Particularly, three-quarters of my barn are Cal-breds. I don’t venture out of the state much, but, for sure, any type of coordination in any business is always a positive thing. Previously, when I had horses we’d consider running in other places, you’re trying to figure out how to run here or there. So it would be a good thing.
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Cherie DeVaux
They can put it in one place where it could be searchable. Also, the stakes are on top of each other which makes it hard for each of the stakes to attract a decent field. But it’s also hard as a trainer. You’re trying to get appropriate riders and sometimes that gets difficult.
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Charlie [Charlton] Baker
That’s kind of a difficult question. I would think it would take an overseer, a person just in charge of doing that job to contact all racetracks and get the dates so they coincide. Having them coordinated might be a better idea of how to do it.
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John Sadler
All the tracks have to get together and figure out a program to work for everybody. But they have to really want to do it. They don’t like to work with each other. We have a long history of that. Santa Anita would never work with Hollywood and Del Mar didn’t work together with them. So it’s just about what it would take. It wouldn’t be that hard.
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John Servis
I think each track should have a condition book committee, made up of horsemen and the racing secretary and his assistant on a monthly basis to go over the condition book. Also, I think they need to have either a larger or stronger graded stakes committee to evaluate the stakes a little better.
#Soundbites - What's the hardest aspect of training?
Christophe Clement
You’ve got to be kidding. The list would be too long and you will not have enough room to cover it in one page. You’ve got to find the talent; you’ve got to find the help; you have to keep your owners happy; you have to find the right races. The list is endless. It’s not getting any easier. That's all I can tell you. In 2024, compared to twenty years ago, it’s not a one-man job anymore. It’s a team job now. It cannot be one individual. It’s got to be a team, I’m very lucky. I’ve got a great team.
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David Donk
Overall, probably the administration work. Managing the regulatory and administration of the business. With horses, I don’t think there is one. Just be patient and do the right thing every day.
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Joe Sharp
The most difficult aspect of training would probably be the human resources, managing people’s expectations and things like that. I would say that the animals are the easy part of the business.
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Tony Dutrow
I think the most difficult aspect of training for almost all trainers is the quality of the horse, trying to get their hands on a good horse. Now, once I have that good horse, I don’t think there’s anything difficult about training a good horse. A good trainer, and there are a lot of them, knows how to train. I can only hope that I’m on the same page as my client. That’s where I want to be. The client and the trainer can’t be feuding and fighting about where he is going to run and the details of all that. The horse will feel that.
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Mark Glatt
The most difficult thing about training is keeping horses racing sound. They’re athletes, of course, and they get injured. We have to put them in the best situation we can. Keeping them from getting injured is a difficult task.
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John Kimmel
That’s an interesting question. I think the most difficult thing is to run it as a business model that actually doesn’t cost you money. It’s a poor business model to begin with. For all the time and effort, if you just look at what it takes to train horses, the increasing labor costs, the increase of feed price, it makes it very difficult to train a horse and break even. It’s basically a negative cash flow pattern. That to me is the most difficult part of the business. I think the biggest problem that we face as trainers is trying to be somewhat cost effective. I think that’s why a lot of people are dropping out. It’s very tough to run things the proper way.
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Craig Dollase
The horses don’t talk back. They can’t speak for themselves. You have to be a good horseman, always do the right thing by the animal. Dealing with the animals who don’t speak back to you is the tough part of training. You’ve got to be inquisitive about things and always put the horse first. It can be a difficult task at times. You have to be in tune with the horses.
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Eoin Harty
Where do I begin? I would say the most difficult aspect of training is obtaining new owners and keeping the owners you have happy. It’s a very competitive industry, and there’ll always be somebody that seems a little bit more attractive than you do. So you have to constantly deal with that, you can never rest; you can never turn your phone off. You need to appease a disgruntled client or attract a new one.
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Scott Lake
(Laugh). Honestly, it’s probably dealing with all the different personalities in the industry. Each owner handles good news and bad news differently. Your help might not like the way you say something. One guy’s fine with you yelling at him; the other guy’s not. In every aspect of the business, there are different personalities.