Charles Trent
Q- Mark C asked, “with a lot of sales coming up what do you look for?”
A- First Mark it depends what sale you’re looking at and then what do you want. At the 2-year-old training sale, I look for a horse that has as good if not great confirmation as possible. Are their legs straight? Do they scope out good? If not, you are most likely buying a horse that will have issues. Now there are a lot of horses that run great and a long time without the straightest legs in the world, but we want the best chance possible. Next, do they look athletic which means nice shoulders, chest, backend and so on.
When it comes to training, it’s how easy they do the work. How does their stride look? did the rider push them? To me time doesn’t matter as much as how they did it.
If it’s a yearlings sale, it’s almost the same except the training part. Weanlings are a little harder because they change a lot in that year, but I still try to do the same.
Now, if it’s a colt or a filly. I love fillies that look like colts, nice and strong. A colt must look the part. The horse’s breeding is also important. Speed stallions and mares should produce a horse with a larger backend. Some stallions pass on traits like longer legs, bigger shoulders and so on. These are things a trainer or a bloodstock agent would know more about or a person that’s been in the game for some time.
After all of this, you still need some luck choosing the right one.
If you or anyone needs help with this, please email me at Bigcasinoracing@gmail.com
Q- John M asked, “when you’re handicapping a race as a gambler do workouts matter?”
A- Yes, they do but not likely in the way you’re thinking of. As an ex-owner and trainer, you learn that times don’t matter very much. I have seen champion racehorse’s work 4 furlongs in 50 flat on paper and a 10k claimer work 4 furlongs in 47 flat. That doesn’t mean that the claiming horse would beat the champion.
It’s all about how they did the work. Some horses do everything so easily. Some like working out very seriously and know when to turn it on. Some horses need a very strong rider to keep them from going all out every morning.
You need to answer questions like: did they work in company? who was their company? did they work with the equipment that they are racing with? These things are more important than the time of the work. Now for handicapping I always want to see a pattern in the works.
For example, if the trainer puts works every 7 or 8 days but all of a sudden, I see a 14-day break, it makes me think that there was some kind of issue…. and it definitely helps if you know the trainer and how they like to train their horses.
There are trainers that work them hard all the time and sometimes you will see trainers never put fast works into a horse. Knowing this can help you find a horse to bet on.
The bottom line is workout times are not everything because there is much more to it than just time.
About Charles Trent
Charles Trent started going to the races when he was 10 years old and bought his first racehorse when he was 18 years old. He’s been involved in the sport of Kings since. Charles understands both the gambling and training part of the sport.
He has owned horses on and off since 1985, trained horses from 1999 to 2008 and every horse that he purchased as a trainer got to the winner circle. Charles worked with top trainers and jockeys as an owner along with many great grooms, jockeys, jockey agents and even racing office personal as a trainer. Now, Charles is a Bloodstock Agent helping people start their journey in this Great Sport.
Charles will take your questions taking questions about horseracing from buying horses for racing to pinhooking, breeding, the ins and outs of the backside from a trainer’s point of view and even about gambling.
Send Charles Trent, Bloodstock Agent and Racing Manager of Big Casino Racing, your questions to Bigcasinoracing@gmail.com
