Hard hitters in the punting stakes

I once was part of trying to set up a coup:-) I had a horse with Waiho Real Mod ran 2nd in first three outhings in Tvl at same time had a filly at Barend Julias World (at the time Barend told me this horse will win first time out in Tvl(eventually I think she won 6 out 12 and place 5 times (I sold her to the Shams to pay my account with them at the time:-) ) So we decide to cut the risk we will go to Bloem to pull the move.I had a bookie at that stage that as soon as I put money on my horses he claimed it all over ,so Waiho agree to enter with Barend Jannie Bekker on Real Mod and Lisa Presswood on Julias World so Real Mod open 4/1 I put on 5000 and the horse shorten to 8/10 while Julia open at 12/1 and drifted to 25/1,because the word is out that I fancy my other horse so I get on at an average price of about 12/1 on Julia at four bookies.In the ring Real Mod rear and fall onto Bekker scratched at the time she is 4/10 so now Julia is the fav and a huge deduction she started at about evens if I remember correct she win as she wish 400m out the commentator say the further they go the further she is going away.With all the planning I made about 50000 BUT she chipped her knee in that race and with op and the standing keep plus rehab cost me nearly all the money I won .

Then I had a horse Curator a Linney Head that was trained by Jannie Bornman shocking Gauteng form I think closest he came was 10L off yet Jannie told me this horse work extremely welll and he had another horse on the day that he fancy the double came to 250/1 Manie Heyneke who was a friend of mine and a bookmaker of note laid me to win 100000 and never took it back or claimed it he reckoned NO chance Curator won easily and the double landed .I was on track so we got totally smashed and I ended up giving the horse away for a sheep to a Wessie guy that was a patron of Fritz Roux he got his horse but I am still waiting for my sheep:-)

Anybody remember Warrior Man win by 17.5 L at Turfontein. I know a lot of money was won. Al Nitak was another one that cost the bookies bombs

Garrick Wrote:

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> This thread has got me going!
>
> Another legend of my youth was Solly Goldberg. I
> remember him regularly doing a double circuit of
> the betting ring claiming R2,000 OF a horse with
> each bookmaker - of which there were 30 odd. ( In
> those days a 'claim' was honoured whether you
> wanted to lay it or not ).
>
> Apparently he got rubbed out. Or so the legend
> goes.
>
>Solly was a character of note and against all odds he died from natural causes G, ..owned a nightclub in Capetown The Catacombes i think it was called and was also in the clothing trade, was partners with my late brother in law Roy Clack..was very friendly with Dana Siegenburg and always had a good few stories to tell..(tu)(tu)(tu)

Interesting points, yet just set aside for one moment the arguments about the 'stuff' trainers use, what is illegal and what is considered legal. And perhaps set aside personal bias.

In any activity on earth there are individuals who rise above others, be it in business or sport.

Jean Heming was many years ahead of her time, She applied a few principles that the town criers easily forget about.

Some trainers are also guilty of pointing fingers at colleagues for 'using' this and 'using' that - hence the greater success of said colleagues. They should be careful before judging or making wild assumptions.

There are a few basics that everyone (more or less) knows about, and perhaps some of them believe they do follow these basics, but before anyone cries foul, do consider:

1) There are a handful of trainers who simply get their horses FITTER than other trainers. They spend more time studying developments and research into training and fitness regimes, they experiment away from the norm and they pluck the fruits.

2) ABSOLUTE ATTENTION TO EVERY DETAIL in the stable. I once quoted Ormond Ferraris saying, "(My success) depends on knowing every horse in my stable intimately, its habits, its quirks, its eating patterns. That's half the battle won."

3) PLACING: There are a handful of trainers who spend hours studying forthcoming races, looking closely at the form of their rivals nominations, fitting their next intended race in with a long-term plan for each horse. Their hours of hard work pays off, they don't let it slip - they PLACE horses in the right races and win more often; they do that better because they have an avid interest in every horse and know what their runners are capable of.

4) STABLE MANAGEMENT: Cleanliness, bedding and feed arriving on time, ongoing education of grooms and other staff, veterinary treatment on time (many slip due to unpaid bills, horses are neglected and run badly); saddlery and equipment always in working order, etc. If you ever get a chance to peep into, for example, Mike Azzie';s yard at Randjes... take your lunch with you, you will be able to eat it off his stable floors!

5) FEED/EXERCISE RATIO: The legendary trainers of yesteryear trained by the "eye" - they determined every individual's feed/exercise ratio, in other words, when you feed a horse a certain amount of food, how well does it work or how well does it run. Does it put on kilo's immediately, or does it lose weight quickly. Are all the horses in the yard fed a predetermined amount at feeding time, i.e they all eat the same amount, or do they adapt feeding for each horse? In due course, the wily trainers knew exactly how much to feed their individual runners for optimum performance - a step ahead of the rest.

6) QUALITY OF FEED: There are varying opinions here, but I guess the saying "You are what you eat" holds as true for most horses as it does for most humans. Better quality food equals more energy, more intense training, fitter horses, better results.

7) CASH FLOW: This is an important aspect of training and something critics forget about. Stables with well-paying owners have a good cash flow. They don't have to scrape the bottom of the barrel for inferior quality food, bedding, tack, whatever. It's no secret that most trainers battle to make ends meet. There are good horsemen out there who can't deliver the optimum results because somewhere in their operation something was neglected due to a lack of available cash. Little things spin off into bigger things... the stable suffers, runners perform below par, other stables have the edge. In addition, trainers with rich patrons buy superior quality bloodstock, which puts their trainer a few steps ahead to start with.

Maybe I've missed something, please add, the above is just some of the things (I think) I learnt over the years. Point is, before you dismiss successful trainers as 'dope merchants" - make sure of your facts.

Some trainers are simply a class above, using the basics.

... and as a follow-up to previous posting:

No, before you say it, I am not naive, of course certain medications are used within roughly prescribed withdrawal periods. Some trainers apply certain medications,others don't. Rogues may come up with patently harmful substances from time to time, Some of them have over the years been identified and punished.

No, I am not a trainer, I know zilch about how and when to work a horse, what to feed it, etc. - in reality have made my own assumptions based on visiting dozens and dozens of stables, researching the careers of individual trainers and just watching them work,

Feel free to add or correct me if my assumptions listed above are off the mark.

Well written freeeracer (tu) I enjoyed reading your interesting points on training .
Thats how it should be if you want to win every race evey time but what about punting stables do the rules change ??

Nice write up....freeracer...and it applies to any business...(tu)

Thank you Charl for your post and contribution always appreciated

charl some very nice point. i will add may be two

1. groom - this you touch on with stable management. for me the unsung hero of the yard is the groom. very little acknowledgement is give to these guys who do 99% of the work on the horse. now charl say he go to many stable and so do i. let me tell you you will laugh the diference you find in the "mood" of these stables. the result on the track for me is a direct proportion to how trainer treat hes groom. some stable you go the trainer and asistants are scream and shout at grooms almost all the time. the groom is sullen hear the horse get tugged in the mouth when the groom is angry, the groom dont love hes horses he dont enjoy the job he have is just do for the money and for me the result come show on the track. other yards their is hapiness and smiles from grooms the guy are working but all so they are enjoy the job. that is where i want my horse if i still own

2. jockey/work riders - go look at stables that no have the dedicated jockey and compare results with those who have. most time the stability mean the rider get to now horse he ride and their is the advantage. some stable especial the one in pe you can have horse run 10 race with 10 diferent jockeys. all so these stable use jockey for blaming of poor run so jockey get fired. these result in most jockeys no want to ride for these type of stable. for me even the small stable who have a jockey ride two or three rides a meeting and who ride for other stables in between is much better than those who use who ever is available

gg Wrote:

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> Well written freeeracer (tu) I enjoyed reading
> your interesting points on training .
> Thats how it should be if you want to win every
> race evey time but what about punting stables do
> the rules change ??


gg, I dont see why the rules should change. I reckon a good punting trainer is one that applies all the right principles and knows pretty well when his horse is 100% spot-on. If he's studied form and weighed up his chances against the others in a race - and he believes his horse ticks all the boxes, a gamble will come off most of the time.

"Try to see through the 'window' of the trainer," the US racing scribe Steve Davidowitz once wrote. That's the key.

freeracer Wrote:

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> gg Wrote:
>

---

>

---

> > Well written freeeracer (tu) I enjoyed reading
> > your interesting points on training .
> > Thats how it should be if you want to win
> every
> > race evey time but what about punting stables
> do
> > the rules change ??
>
>
> gg, I dont see why the rules should change. I
> reckon a good punting trainer is one that applies
> all the right principles and knows pretty well
> when his horse is 100% spot-on. If he's studied
> form and weighed up his chances against the others
> in a race - and he believes his horse ticks all
> the boxes, a gamble will come off most of the
> time.
>
> "Try to see through the 'window' of the trainer,"
> the US racing scribe Steve Davidowitz once wrote.
> That's the key.


So no skulduggery , thats good to know.

Thanks and Keep the post coming , always enoyed your articles !