Any current or former owners in here???

No worries...He is definately cheap and obviously has some problems but he was an expensive yearling (75k) and we figured he would at least be good enough to win a 4k claimer and basically pay for himself. I know he has only run twice but we are really starting to get concerned that we bought a complete rat. He is 5 and has banked over 70k. I think I may at least start off by telling him I want a new jock on him and see if that helps. I also want him to school the horse in the gate because at 5 he should be over those problems by now.

Definately am going to tell him to switch jocks. I dont think the guy we used in the first 2 was very aggressive. A majority of the races run there are won on or near the lead and does show speed on the form so we will start off with switching to a strong gate rider. Thanks for the advice. It's much appreciated

Quote Originally Posted by Midnight1:

paul...I'd definitely have a chat with the trainer. If he's never showed problems at the gate in the past, I'd want to know what changed to make him act up. Is he not getting a good warm-up prior to the race? Is he acting up in the paddock as well?

 

Don't be hesitant to speak openly with the trainer. He works for you not vice versa. Hope it works out for you & your family... 

He is acting up just a tad in the paddock. Nothing too serious. He's a monster of a horse and part of me thinks that the jock we used the first 2 times was a little afraid of him. He's making the lead against top allowance horses at Tampa over the winter my feeling is that he should be good enough to make the lead against 4k claimers at FL but like I said before he is breaking dead last. The race we claimed him he broke on top. So to me something is just not adding up. Hopefully the change of jock and a couple other minor adjustments will make him run better.

Quote Originally Posted by paulc:

My family claimed our first horse in the end of July. The horse was running his first race over the track shipping in from Tampa and Deleware. He had never run at such a low level and his last few races were very good against much better company. The horse also had great breeding  and was being bet off of the board. Make a long story short he runs 2nd in the race we claim him. He also throws a shoe and basically runs the race on 3 legs. I wasnt to familiar with horses throwing shoes but was told it is quite painful to horses to run without a shoe. Doing so he tears up a hoof. We give him time to heal (5weeks) and in the 2 races he has run since we have had him he has not run well at all. He broke dead last each time and he is a horse that needs to be on or near the lead. He has also acted up pretty bad in the gate. I honestly expected him to win his first race for us. So far he has done nothing but cost us the 4K and the $50 a day training fee. My question is this...Would I be out of line to be more involved, such as telling the trainer to use a new jockey and telling  the trainer to watch the condition book more closely for easier races for him to run in? I almost kind of feel like I am being taken advantage of. He is calling the shots and I have done nothing but shell out cash. Any advice from any current or one time owners would be appreciated.

Firs of all, how old is the horse and who is the sire/dam.......that miught provide a clue as to what direction you need to point the animal in.

If he has a hoof problem, like thrush or something pointing toward thrush or similar, put the horse on layoff until he's completely healed. One reason he might not be getting out of the gate and running flat is becuase he is in pain when pushing off the bad hoof.

My other advice, sir, if it's not the hoof that is causing gate problems....get a jock who can get a horse out of the gate and settle him early. If the gate problem is chronic, your trainer needs to take him back to gate schooling.

Thanks for the info...The hoof wasnt a chronic problem we dont believe. He tore it up when throwing his shoe in the race we claimed him. We gave him some time for the hoof to heal and like i said maybe I was expecting too much out of him. If we could just get him to pay for himself would be ok with us. He has great breeding so hopefully when we put a more aggressive rider we'll know better of what we got and keep our fingers crossed that the horse does not have major issues

Thanks for the advice...he get's his non-winner of a race for a year condition back in a few weeks so hopefully the easier company should do the trick