A frequent question asked by new fans trying to learn more about horse racing is, “Where do I begin?” My immediate response is generally, “Get to know your trainers.” While learning about topics like distance, class, and pace are important … in my opinion, none are as important as learning about the tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses of trainers. With that thought in mind, we continue our series of articles called “Know Your Trainers.”
In this series we will dig into the statistics of some head trainers and try to make sense of the numbers we find. We thought it might be fun to present the numbers in a “competitive” manner by pairing trainers. With that said, we are not trying to judge the trainers or claim that one is better than another. Our intention is to pair trainers who have statistics in comparable categories and present some plausible reasons why they might differ.
The two trainers in this article, Peter Miller and John Sadler, both work on the Southern California racing circuit. Read More >>
A frequent question asked by new fans trying to learn more about horse racing is, “Where do I begin?” My immediate response is generally, “Get to know your trainers.” While learning about topics like distance, class, and pace are important … in my opinion, none are as important as learning about the tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses of trainers. With that thought in mind, we continue our series of articles called “Know Your Trainers.”
In this series we will dig into the statistics of some head trainers and try to make sense of the numbers we find. We thought it might be fun to present the numbers in a “competitive” manner by pairing trainers. With that said, we are not trying to judge the trainers or claim that one is better than another. Our intention is to pair trainers who have statistics in comparable categories and present some plausible reasons why they might differ.
In our recent reader survey we received several requests to see trainer comparisons on young trainers. We decided to pick two that we know well and have interviewed in the past. The two trainers are on different racing circuits. Tom Morley trains in New York, while Ben Colebrook prepares his charges in Kentucky. Read More >>
A frequent question asked by new fans trying to learn more about horse racing is, “Where do I begin?” My immediate response is generally, “Get to know your trainers.” While learning about topics like distance, class, and pace are important … in my opinion, none are as important as learning about the tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses of trainers. With that thought in mind, we continue our series of articles called “Know Your Trainers.”
In this series we will dig into the statistics of some head trainers and try to make sense of the numbers we find. We thought it might be fun to present the numbers in a “competitive” manner by pairing trainers. With that said, we are not trying to judge the trainers or claim that one is better than another. Our intention is to pair trainers who have statistics in comparable categories and present some plausible reasons why they might differ.
So let’s continue with two of the big names in California, Bob Baffert and Jerry Hollendorfer. Our focus will be in these areas; Graded Stakes, First-Time-Starters, Del Mar, and a couple of profitable angles we uncovered along the way.
A frequent question asked by new fans trying to learn more about horse racing is, “Where do I begin?” My immediate response is generally, “Get to know your trainers.” While learning about topics like distance, class, and pace are important … in my opinion, none are as important as learning about the tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses of trainers. With that thought in mind, we continue our series of articles called “Know Your Trainers.”
In this series we will dig into the statistics of some head trainers and try to make sense of the numbers we find. We thought it might be fun to present the numbers in a “competitive” manner by pairing trainers. With that said, we are not trying to judge the trainers or claim that one is better than another. Our intention is to pair trainers who have statistics in comparable categories and present some plausible reasons why they might differ.
So let’s continue with two of the big names in the business, Shug McGaughey and Chad Brown. Our focus will be on two main areas; Graded Stakes and 2-Year old horses, with a couple of extras that we uncovered by surprise. We limited the data to the past two years, with the exception of Graded Stakes Dirt races for Shug, where we included three years to get a comparable data sample.
On a recent visit to Belmont Park, I witnessed an exhilarating finish between Walk Close and Wave The Flag. Both horses rushed to the finish line, overtaking the 3-5 favorite Sweet Acclaim in the final yards. A nose separated the tandem at the wire. Together, they combined for a $155 exacta. The trainers of the top two finishers: Christophe Clement and Graham Motion. Below is a video replay of the exciting race. Walk Close is #3 and Wave The Flag is #7.
This race was a $100,000 turf stakes race. And, moments after the finish, I had a flashback to an eerily similar race at Keeneland in April where another two horses trained by Motion and Clement raced to the line, besting a 3-5 favorite in the Grade-3 $150,000 Bewitch Stakes. On that day the two trainer’s charges (Inimitable Romanee and Aigue Marine) combined for a $263 exacta. They went off at odds of 14-1 and 20-1. For those keeping score in these two races, it’s Motion-1 and Clement-1 … for a push.
For horseplayers that track trainer statistics, the outcome of these two races were predictable and profitable. We choose these two trainers for our next “Know Your Trainers” segment to explain why.
A frequent question asked by new fans trying to learn more about horse racing is, “Where do I begin?” My immediate response is generally, “Get to know your trainers.” While learning about topics like distance, class, and pace are important … in my opinion, none are as important as learning about the tendencies, strengths, and weaknesses of trainers. With that thought in mind, we are starting a new series of articles called “Know Your Trainers.”
In this series we will dig into the statistics of some head trainers and try to make sense of the numbers we find. We thought it might be fun to present the numbers in a “competitive” manner by pairing trainers. With that said, we are not trying to judge the trainers or claim that one is better than another. Our intention is to pair trainers who have statistics in comparable categories and present some plausible reasons why they might differ.
So let’s start with two of the big names in the business, Todd Pletcher and Bill Mott. Our focus will be on two main areas; Graded Stakes and First Time Starters (FTS). The statistics presented were gathered with Daily Racing Form’s online software Formulator. We limited the data to the past two years, but you can go back five years if you want a larger sample of data.
