The Canter down

I have always wondered what is that people look for in a horse when it canters down to post.
Sometimes the presenters say a horse "floated down" or was on his toes ...etc
For the life of me I cannot make head or tails they all look nearly the same to me.

Can anyone say exactly how to make out a "fit" or good looking horse?

Plus they come back "breathing fire" :)o

Imo there is not an 'exact' answer; in general a horse should be seen to stride out nicely; a shortened stride can be indicative of not being too 'sound' and may lead the horse to not perform as expected during the race; there is also a belief that 'sweating' pre-race is a sign of the horse not being at optimum fitness. Ideally one would like to see your fancy nicely dappled and looking eager to race. For me horses that play up at the start and has to be re-loaded is a definite no-no (although by that time it is normally too late to do anything about it).

most difficult to make difference between a beautiful and a fit horse, because they look very similar.
some horses that play up, just want to race, others are not concentrated, nervous.
some horses seems calm and fit, but they are just sleepy.
the small difference...

some horses just look extremely like winners, thats all. 30-50 percent of them win.

Correct statement on their hooves.

I look at the trainers eyes to see if he floating or not.

Nice to get the occasional sms saying this or that went down well!!!

I like to see the ribs on the horse.

I always look for a horse to be longer in the front than the back as I know from experience it is easier and faster running downhill than uphill. This also be achieved through the use of special shoes, like the ones the bird in Abba used to wear.