my horse inside race track

Question
Dear Crocker,
My horse always slow down in last 400 m when the horses come and don't concentrate in the race?! please help me

Answer
The horse needs to slow down the pace and run with the horses who keep coming up on him. This is not a simple task to retrain a thoroughbred to "slow down". The jockey may not be doing the right thing or the horse is just too strong for him to rate back. A lot of nice horses are ruined by teaching them to go to the lead right away or if they are worked at their max speed capacity in the morning. A horse needs to learn from the start to take cues from their rider and control it's pace. It may be too late for this horse if he has been programmed to leave the gate at full speed. If the horse is sound then I can only suggest exercising him more miles and teaching him to relax galloping behind and beside other horses. The horse needs to actually be taught to pass in the final stretch. This could take months or never happen at all. I call it, "blowing their mind" when the problem doesn't resolve. The brain of a race horse is the most overlooked organ when it comes to fitness training. The horse can be the strongest and fastest in the race, but if their mind is not healthy then you have a fraction of his potential. If the horse can handle the heavier work loads of distance, then I suggest also working him at sub-maximal speed for 400 meters, the morning of the race. This may take the edge off of him and he may relax for the jockey. If your horse is a young horse then he may need to mature. If he is a colt then he may have his mind on other things. I hope this has given you some help.

Christopher Crocker

http://CrockerRacingStable.com