Hi again. I’ve got some 3year old colts who are staying F energy and A fitness. (is the accepted way to not this F/A) I’ve put a couple on the farm and a couple are staying at the track. I’m trying to see which one leads to recovering energy quickest. I think the farm, but none have budged fitness for a few weeks. Is this a situation where these horses are just REALLY slow to recover and what I’m doing doesn’t matter?
Resting at the farm does indeed result in quicker recovery time in physical energy and in natural/mental energy. Some horses do take forever to get energy back and some get it back within a few days. You’ll also see with fitness that some horses are easier to get fit and some keep their fitness well while others lose it quickly.
It also depends on the starting energy level. If you breeze your horse 6f every day for a month, and then run him in a 14f race, his energy could very well be, say, -300%. Even if he regains 20% a day (which is the max without any extra boost from being at the farm), it’ll take over 2 weeks for him to just back to 0%. To get back to 100% energy would take about 3 weeks. (That’s assuming he does nothing at all during those 3 weeks as well…no workouts, no races, no shipping). If he regains 5% a day (which is the slowest), you’ll be stuck waiting almost 3 months for him to get back his full energy. (Again, with no farm rest benefits.)
Is there a way that we can see the NE for our horses, just like we get to see Energy and Fitness? I think I remember seeing posts on this subject in the past but couldn’t find them and don’t remember what was said? My recollection is that there was some reason why it was difficult/almost impossible to program.
I’ve had horses race which had A’s or B’s for their Energy and Fitness, yet run as if they couldn’t put one hoof in front of the other? As they are running in appropriate class races (i.e. no maidens running in G1 Stakes races), on what is apparently their preferred surface and at distances they have won at/run well in the recent past, plus they’ve had 3+ weeks rest since their last race, I can only assume that this is due to low NE. I tend to send my horses home for a rest after a number of races, based on age (e.g. after 4 races for 2yo’s, 6 races for 3yo’s and 8 races for 4yo’s and up).
Can you please remind me why this NE info isn’t available for us to see or is this a feature that you are working on (when you get any time to do so)?
Thanks.
It’s not impossible to program, but it is unrealistic. You can look at a horse standing in his stall and see that he’s energetic/tired, or looks fit/flabby. You can’t tell if he likes racing or is mentally exhausted or not.
There are jockey comments that refer to NE. The feature I would like to add is the ability to tell your jockey what information you would like at the end of the workout (liking for equipment, racing style, NE status, etc.) so that you can know what information you’re getting. It’s not hard to program, but like so many other things, I just haven’t had time. 
It could also be low confidence, running style that they don’t like, they could be getting blocked in by other horses (i.e. just a “bad race” from a logistics point of view), they could hate the jockey, etc. Or, you know, they could just not be that good (in general or on that particular day).
That may be part of your problem. 6 and 8 races in a row without a break is a lot. Plus, you could have a hard-knocking 2yo who might be fine with 6 races without a break (though personally, I try to send all my horses home after 2 races, regardless of age, unless they look like they can handle more), or you could have a delicate flower 5yo who runs one great race and then needs a few weeks off.