News and Notes:

Derby Workouts and Trainer Tip Offs

One of the best ways of keeping tabs or just trying to add more insight into your Kentucky Derby contenders is to monitor their workouts. I find one of the best websites for monitoring the workouts is at www.drf.com They have a workout report every morning for the last 2 weeks prior to the big race.

In trying to gain an edge when reading works I like to see a horse actually work in his workout. Easy breezes are ok. They usually signify that a trainer likes where his horse is presently and just wants to maintain his current condition.

However when a horse "runs" during his work usually a trainer is trying to add some conditioning to his horse. So if you already have a horse that has been racing and training well sometimes trying to add more conditioning will get the horse to peak within his current form cycle.

It's a hard think to gauge and you don't want to overwork the horse. However try and listen to exactly what the reporters say about the quality of the work being done. Sometimes you can detect more than you first realize. And of course trainers have a certain way of working their horses so it can be a tricky read. But paying attention to what is being said by the trainers and work reporters can sometimes give a deeper insight than first thought.