Xanadu, here is a piece of advice that just came into my head while perusing the form for Monday's last day of racing at the grand old Spa- Saratoga. Labor Day weekend here in the states has always been a bit of a downer as it signified the end of Summer, the beginning of the new school year, and as an adult- the end of the upstate NY meet.


ASSISTANT TRAINER RECOGNITION SYSTEM

(nice technical name, huh)
Here in the states, as I'm sure in OZ, the big outfits have many horses. Now do you really think a guy like D. Wayne Lukas, Robert Frankel, or Gai Waterhouse are really putting their hands on their horses? It's not even possible here, where most big trainers have horses running all over the country. Top trainers become top trainers through heads up organizational skills and reading the condition books of all pertinent race tracks. They manage their team like a GM of a professional sports team and are integral to the team's success. But just like in sports, without a good game day coach, the team will lose. ASSISTANT TRAINERS are these head coaches. They give helpful hints to the big guy with his name on the program and this Trainer has the final decision, gting all the credit for big equipment changes, stretching a sprinter out, or changing the horses running style. The poor, hard working Asst. is quite happy for awhile, being the right hand man and bringing in some decent cash while having the responsibility of running a barn yard full of workers and horses. Inevitably, the realization that they are really running the show hits and they are forced to make a risky decision; strike out on their own or play it safe and stick with the security of the big time trainer. Competitive by necessity, the assistant moves on with one or two horses from a thankful owner and/or from the Big Trainer who knows he couldn't have done it without the asst. Big Time has been there too.

Follow these assistants when they go out on their own and realize that their stable won't be powerful right away. Look for the same angles that made the Big Guy such a winner and exploit the bigger price you will get with this relative unknown. The key to all this is learning the assistant trainers' names and keeping it fresh in your memory bank. no one else will even know who he is. I made some big scores on Todd Pletcher when he first broke away from D. Wayne Lukas and now he is the top trainer in America.

The one advantage to this system here, is the lack of in your face information about horse racing. There are all kinds of places to get the information you need and want but you just have to work for it. The casual race fan in America doesn't even buy the Daily Racing Form- this is the Rosetta Stone of racing and I truly believe you can't win without it. The little rinky dink programs sold on track are basically useless to me. Some of them don't even have any other horses listed in the past erformances except the winner of that race. People are ready to sacrifice invaluable information for the sake of saving a couple of bucks, which in the long run should cost them anyway. In Australia, horse racing is treated with respect and adoration as the great sport should be. But that means more people follow it, more information is easily availavble, and the average person at least understands the game. This cuts down on your element of surprise concerning the Asst sneaking in under the radar for a while, giving you your own private gold mine.


D. Wayne Lukas school of trainers-graduates
Todd Pletcher
Dallas Stewart
John Kimmel
even Steve Asmussen and Linda Rice had contacts with D. Wayne while they were learning the game at an early age from their respective parents breeding and pin hooking operations