Fractions, decimals, and other measurements

The circumference of Thistledown race track is one mile. Most other tracks are about the same, although some vary. (The real exception is Belmont Park, which is the biggest in the United States at a mile and a half.)

A mile in racing parlance is 8 furlongs; one furlong equals an eighth of a mile. Every track has large striped poles throughout the course that mark each furlong, as seen here:

Halfway between each of these large poles are smaller poles that designate a sixteenth of a mile. These poles, no matter the size of the track, are standard. This allows jockeys and the public to know exactly where the horses are at any given time in a race. When the horses reach the last large striped pole before the finish line, for example, everyone knows that they are an eighth of a mile from the end of the race, no matter where they started from, whether it is a 6 or 10 furlong race. When horses work out in the mornings and are timed (a practice called “breezing”), they usually work anywhere from 3 furlongs to 5 furlongs. And most American races are run at 6 furlongs, or 3/4 of a mile. I provide this information so you can get an idea of how trainers prepare horses to race.

Trainers like horses that they are working against the clock to go in 12ths of a second, usually. In other words, one furlong in 12 seconds, two in 24, three in 36, and so on. This type of running can tell trainers – and the public who bets on them – about the condition of the horse.

All this math, needless to say, makes me glad I paid some attention to my teachers in high school.

To pick up where we left off last time, my horse was about to run his first timed workout. After arriving in Ohio and being trained for several months, it was time to see if Monsieur Leclercq could run. On May 28th, with bated breath and stopwatch in hand, I watched our gray colt enter the track.  It was around eight in the morning. He broke from a gallop and was then instructed by the jockey, for the first time, to pick up his speed. His work was scheduled for 3 furlongs; measuring by twelfths, we figured 36.0 would be a remarkable time for his original effort. Nineteen horses breezed that morning, and as it happened, only one went in 36.0. It wasn’t ours. Monsieur Leclercq went in 39.6 and ran 17th out of the 19. Not knowing the other horses, some may have already been racing or have had many workouts. That said, I was still a little disappointed at my “son’s” lack of speed. Our trainer Andy said that for a first try, it was fine, but that our colt obviously needed more conditioning.  Andy told me that he would be galloping every morning, and that the next timed drill would be the following week, and every week after that to prepare him for his initial race. Our gray horse came back to the barn full of himself from his first attempt at actually running and looking excited that he’d finally been asked to do so. He ate all his food that evening, a sign that he came out of this exercise in good health and good spirits.

Our other prodigy, the mare Bourg Royal, was not doing as well. She appeared to have a nicer, easier way of going, but always seemed to come up with some little physical problem. Her training had not gone as smooth or as flawless as our colt’s. Andy said he wanted to stop her for a while and give her some time to recover from the rigors of training. Keeping in mind that only 60 percent of horses born make it to the races, we were willing to give her more time. But our apprehension over her was beginning to grow.

The following weekend, I again joined my partner on the backside to watch our colt work. This second workout would be longer, going 5f (or five furlongs). Measuring by the 12ths, a wonderful time for this workout would be one minute. (Different trainers use different distances with their workouts; there is no single right way to train a horse.)

Monsieur Leclercq went this longer distance in 1:04, 4 seconds slower than the fastest horse breezing that day. He finished 7th of the 8 horses who worked that morning; one horse ran 59.0 seconds, a sensational time for that distance. Again, Andy assured me that this work was for better conditioning, and that the next week’s work would be even longer. Still awaiting the news that he was getting close to a real race, I again went to the track early the following week.

This time, Andy sent the gray a full 6f, the distance of the race he would initially be entered into. His time was not great, again, but it wasn’t that much slower that the others that ran that day. Still, though, our steed seemed – to me, at least – to lack speed. Andy thought that his breeding suggested he might be a horse better suited to distance – referred to as routing – rather than sprinting. Hence the concentration on longer distance workouts.

For the next work, Andy thought Monsieur might show a bit more speed, with the colt’s conditioning, having, presumably, gotten better due to his longer breezes. So Andy cut the workout back to 4f.  Sure enough, the colt finished this one in 49.6, closer to the 48.0 goal, and was timed as the fourth fastest of the twelve that went that morning.  I don’t know if it was joy or relief, but I finally felt we might have a horse that actually could run a little bit. The next week’s workout would really get my juices going.

Andy mentioned that he thought we were getting close to a start, but that he needed to see a couple more things from our colt first.

Before any horse can enter his initial race, he must be starting gate approved. Horses must go to the starting gate several times in the morning, walk into the gate, and stand there without problems. The track’s official starter is there for this process and must give his OK.

After that, the following week, the horse must repeat the process and must also break from the gate, like in a real race. Most horses tend to be leery of the huge metal gate contraption at first, but once they realize it won’t hurt them, most listen to the jockey and go in.

It can take weeks for a young horse to acclimate to this entire gate process. Some never do. Our guy, however, did fine. It only took a few morning trips to the gate before he’d happily walk right in, stress-free. But the questions remained: would he break when the bell sounded and the gates open? And would he run in a straight line? Both were needed to get approval from the starter.

Andy scheduled a 3f breeze out of the starting gate for our boy. One way or another, we’d soon know what we had in him. This time I stood behind the gate to watch him load for what was obviously his biggest test yet. Monsieur Leclercq walked right in and stood quietly as two other first-timers entered their stalls. Then the gates sprang open, and he broke like a rifle shot.

From my vantage, he seemed to be running straight, and sure enough I got the wink of approval from the official starter. I ran down to the finish line to find out how he did, time-wise. Andy was smiling as I approached. He nodded at me. The colt had run a time of 36.4, third best of the 15 horses that worked that distance. Much better, obviously, than the 39.6 he first ran 4 weeks ago.

And then it happened.  Andy looked at my partner and me and said, “Okay. Let’s start looking for a race.”

(to be continued…)