Workout Reports For the Smart Players.

No one knows everything, you can get lucky some of the time, but in horse racing it is all about information, it is about knowledge, and knowledge is power.

You get a million opinions on social media and most of them are garbage, and that garbage can easily rot the fundamentals of information and the mind of a horseplayer.

There are many characters on social media that attack, just to attack and demean, anything and everything that goes against their narrative. Social media is all about ego and pride.

A good handicapper has a balanced, objective mind.

I applaud any horseplayer that takes the steps to make themselves more informed and educated in THE racehorse.

I was asked recently 'what would be the one thing I would recommend to a novice handicapper.

Horses win because of their current state of form, not from last month or when they raced last, it is how they approach each and every race. They give you clues, horses are extremely emotional animals that can tout you on themselves or make you think twice about following.

Case and Point

I heard all Derby week about how great Honor A.P. was doing.

I wasn't on that bandwagon.

First off all was the average effort put forth in the Shared Belief, his last prep for the Derby.

In the Shared Belief he was bumped extremely hard and knocked into his neighbor's post position by Cezanne, he traveled wide, but what I didn't like was that, on the head-on of the race, he was trying to get out late.

He was lugging out drifting at least two lanes in last 16th of a mile.

When a horse drifts, its a physical thing, they are lacking the balance on all four limbs, thus like your car having one bald tire, it would pull drastically, and you would feel it in your steering wheel. What was it that made Honor A P drift? Did he have a bald tire....and where.

First of all, most horseplayers do not ever watch a head on of a race. Ever.

Studying movement and understanding what it takes for a horse to go from point A to point B can be a rewarding experience as it can answer questions of why certain events takes place and the head on reveals much more if you apply yourself.

I am predominantly obsessed with how horses push off from behind, and believe that the rear end is the cause of most major issues up front in horses.

You have to take care of the hind end, the push from behind is critical to a horses stride. No push or short of a push from behind creates a shorter stride and eventual problems due to the stress put on the front assembly of an equine athlete.

I pour over how horses travel from hind to front, how they jog, and gallop and whether they use their hind end proficiently.

I felt Honor A P did NOT.

This is his work on August 22nd at Del Mar, courtesy of XBTV, who does a fantastic job bringing you videos of workouts, at XBTV.com , see how he stretches out, switches leads front and back, but, see the slight hitch in his right hind shortly after turning for home

The hitch suggests he will have to take a few strides to regain his balance behind and create a full push to extend stride up front. If so, it highlights that his push from behind, maybe on the right is a bit compromised and it will take him longer to accelerate and stretch out that amazing stride.

I recognized it during a Zoom Class we were conducting, everything about the work was good, but then I noticed it.

Watched it over and over with our group.

This was our final report on Honor A P for the Derby Workout Report. I had to reassess his works after noticing the hitch on August 22nd. He did stretch out well after re engaging his hind end, but that took time, and pulled up well once doing so, but felt his last work on August 29 we didn't feel he had the bounce and push from behind.