Trainer Questioned

My horse (MR 78) has won three sprint races(1000m) everytime coming from well off the pace.Because there are so few (1000 m)races programmed for her in the next few months,why don`t you try and put her over available 1200m races? NB She has only ever raced over 1000m all her life so surely it should be worth trying????

Following on from Macs question

Why do some trainers feel they can add on extra % to the stakes when the authorities stipulate what trainers and jockeys should be paid out?

the fantasy- the fact that she comes from off them is a good enough reason to try. However, respiratory issues could exist which would work against the horse over further.

Richie - the Competitions Commission would probably frown on any form of "price fixing". It is free enterprise, so Trainers can very well charge what they like. Example being that Ronaldo and Messi earn a lot more than any Bafana Bafana player...

@LG _-pls explain if you cold how long this Herpes virus has been around - Is it a new thing affecting horses due to lower resistance because of inbreeding? I ask because as you know I was always in awe of Mr Robbie Maroun and when he raced his babies they may well have had 5 starts as 2yr olds each by now (i think that one This England maybe had 9 starts before the Nursery)- Mrs Hemming was also not shy to race them early if they showed and obviously Mr Spies Snr was never shy to let them go(The Magner yard and Mr Ferraris also often had early runners and David Payne also) - We started way early years ago - maybe early November at Newmarket yet it seems now the first few races are benefit races for the Spies Yard every year - Do the other trainers have some reason why they don't bother to let the precocious ones run until maybe March /April? I ask this s their are many cheap horses bought by new owners who in reality are never really going to win one race yet trainers hold onto them until they are 3 and then race them and th poor owner has wasted his cash on something that would have done better running 5th over 800m rather than earning nothing and ending up souring the entry level owner to the game - Obviously each horse is an individual but really some trainers milk patrons -

The Australians have already had their Magic Millions race last week

....Mr H ....Equine Herpes has been around for as long as I can remember 30 to 40 years but cases were very infrequent and often misdiagnosed by vets...in fact I started prescribing lysine supplements for herpes simplex in humans....a remedy that worked very well in infected horses..... I dont know if the occurrences of this viral infection have increased due to the plethora of other airway complications which are attributed to inbreeding...

Mr H - you and Muhti and myself share similar sentiments. I have had 800m race winners and back to back Ruffian Stakes winners. So what happened ?
Honestly, I dont know a lot about other causes. One thing is for sure, i do feel sorry for the poor blatantly immature juveniles that are pushed into the ground nowadays, just to win a weak juvenile race and then go nowhere after that. The Trainers that you mention were masters and most of their early horses went on to win more races.

Muhti is spot on. We used to be able to control EHV. However, EHV has mutated and has now become a major problem, costing Owners millions. The facts are there. The powers that be have failed to make vaccinations mandatory in sa. Just google last years outbreak at fair grounds in usa. Its on NOLA website or such. See how the authorities react. Note that we could not get vaccines here during that period because pfizer pulled all stocks globally to help fight the spread of the disease over there.

Yet here...nothing. A worrying fact is that the same Vets who charge out the millions, to treat the sick horses.....are the vets that say that the ehv vaccine does not work....and the powers that be believe those vets, so the rule is not made....and they keep charging....you work it out...our vets are obviously all worthy of nobel prizes and everyone in the states and the rest of the world are wrong...?

The point is that we have proved that we have ehv throughout the herd in sa and a proven vaccine exists. It should be mandatory that foals are vaccinated but it is not. By the time we start vaccinating in our yards, its too late.

......a case of prevention better than cure....for sure... :huh:

.....what is the cost of mandatory inoculations..... are the vaccines available here.....looks like an opportunity for a pharmaceutical company to get some action...

My feeling or maybe even frustration that I have found is that one may purchase a horse from a ready to run sale. So they are not that far of may 3 to 6 months to build muscle and they should be set to go.

What trainers do is hold those horses back or send them back to the farm , this is where injuries happen in the paddocks and or barns , So taking their time the trainers actually end up fixing horses for months hence they run as 3 year olds . Meanwhile the owner thinks he is getting an early runner gets a years bill instead.

One can see after 3 or so runs in Baby races if they have it or not . Speed , confirmation and balance with a good stride or action. That way the owner can descide to push or get rid of them and move on . Prize money vs Costs are very close so to say the horse cant run at that stage helps the owners make informed descisions and if not taken as a fool.

A trainer friend would phone me and offer me a horse .
My reply would be as long as he would own at least a 25% share in the horse .

Many trainers consider RTR not to mean ready to run but ready to rest. Many have been pushed very hard to make the gallop look good to the detriment of thr horse.

Agree fully with Craig. About 70 percent are nowhere near ready to run. About 80 percent again of those are in flight mode. They either canter or bolt flat out. Nothing in between. Bad habits are easily formed and slowly removed. Thats a fact of life with horses. And then u have to school these horses for stalls too... and the sooner, the better does NOT apply. You need to go back to basics....

Muhti - Pfizer have brought the vaccines in under their subsidiary brand Zoetis. All vaccines have a shelf life. They stopped bringing them in a few years ago but i became very involved with the issue and we now have stocks. The problem is that they are not mandatory and to be effective, the entire herd must be treated, from foals upwards. Within 3 years we will have a small percentage of ehv present in the herd - about 8 percent.(we would also save Owners a rough estimate of R10M per annum) Right now it is 100 percent, proven by research. But the vets who did the research now want more money.... (and it is alleged that unless that money is provided here for us to make our own vaccine so that someone locally can profit from it, there will be no approval nor progress to use the existing vaccine from Zoetis.) As I say, this is the story doing the rounds. I cannot confirm this.

The vaccine comes in a 10ml bottle which is 10 doses of 1mm. With the bottle comes 10 stickers to be stuck into the passport as verification. The cost is around R950 per bottle, which results in R95 per horse. Add in a few rand for syringe and needle, cold chain courier. The vaccine , because it is not a mandatory or controlled disease may be administered by the Breeder orTrainer without vet costs. We enter the info and sticker in every horse's passport, on page 26 under the heading "Vaccination of non controlled diseases".
Again, i must reiterate that the horses are already infected by EHV when we get them. We are now trying to build a new immunity, very much like waiting for your child to get polio and then trying to vaccinate....

The vaccine is called EquiVac Innovator EHV-1/4.