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Joe Takach

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6-----PREMATURELY BREAKS THRU THE STARTING GATE

Closely akin to horses who are forcibly loaded as last mentioned, are horses who prematurely push the starting gate open before the starter opens all the stalls simultaneously to begin the race.

Whenever you see this and people running to cancel their tickets, take heed. 

These people are in the know! 

In the past, each and everyone of these players hustling to cancel their ticket(s) have been badly “burned” many times.  In fact they’ve been hurt so many times in the past, they know that it is nothing but “downside risk” to hold any tickets on premature breakthroughs.   They very, very, very rarely win races whether or not they run off or are held by an assistant starter.

There isn’t a human being alive who can show a profit betting premature breakthroughs.  And anyone who tells you that he can should see a doctor, as premature breakthrus are one of the absolute worst signs in all of horseracing.

Expecting a premature breakthru to run to his old number(s) is sheer lunacy—he positively won’t!

7-----STIFFED

A horse can’t possibly run to his “backpaper” if his jockey isn’t allowing him to do so.  His rider might not permit him to run to his best for any number of reasons to include outright “stiffing” as per trainer instructions.

I know, it is against the rules of racing for a jockey not to put forth his best ride and therefore offer the horse every opportunity to win. 

While it might be against the rules, we all know that the racing stewards all suddenly go “blind” when it comes to “stiffs” and very few riders are ever cited for any lack of effort.    

If you need proof of this, merely watch a returning vacationer who “needs” and is being “given” a conditioning race to fine-tune his overall conditioning or an inexperienced two year old.

How many times have we seen a returning “router” literally burned out in a suicidal speed duel of some kind that begins on the very first step out of the starting gate, when in the past he’s always been a stalker or midpack runner when visiting the winner’s circle?  If your answer was countless or many times, then you’ve been watching the same races as yours truly.  It happens every day!  And again, most often riders are only following trainer instructions.

Even though we’ve already discussed pre-race warm-ups, it’s worth reiterating, as many “stiffs” center around pre-race exercise.

It is apparently okay and within the rules of racing not to properly warm-up a returning vacationer (or any horse for that matter) with the full knowledge that the runner has virtually no chance of winning under these specific non-warm-up conditions. 

The pre-race warm-up gets all those needed oxygen-delivering red blood cells up from the spleen.  Without them, horses usually run out of gas long before turning for home.  If you doubt this for one moment, just ask any veterinarian other than those employed by the state itself (any state).

If the “vet” is totally honest, he’ll tell you that the pre-race warm-up is the most important thing you can do to enhance a horse’s chances of winning 10 minutes before the start of ANY race! 

If the vet is employed by the state, he’ll most likely “play stupid” and tell you that you’re either wrong or the pre-race warm-up really doesn’t matter.  Remember, he has to “justify” the non-warm-ups (many of which are crippled and only entered for claiming purposes).  Any “rocking of the boat” by a wise-assed state vet who scratches too many horses in the pre-race, will result in his immediate dismissal and replacement by more of a “yes” man whose only concern is his weekly paycheck rather than the welfare of the horses he’s supposed to be protecting.

If you doubt this for one moment, go to your local racetracks and start keeping records of pre-race warm-ups as I have over the past 40 years.  The empirical evidence is absolutely beyond reproof! 

If they ain’t warming up before the race, they are losers 99 times out of 100.  

And if you think that a NON-pre-race warm-up horse is going to run back to his best numbers or his best race, call me at once------I got some “swampland” in Beverly Hills I can let you have for 20 bucks an acre!   

NEXT WEEK: PART 4 and CONCLUSION

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