Why do some stables results go in patches ?

[Coggy]

Obviously there are factors that can adversely affect a stables runners e.g. viruses etc.
Why is it though that certain stables seem to alternate between being in red hot form, followed by running cold ?
A perfect example is Twiston Davis who seems to do this season after season. He couldn’t buy a winner at the moment – 0 winners from 29 runners since Aintree. Shortly though, if previous seasons are anything to go by, virtually everything will go in.

[Lingfield]

Some ideas:-

Virus

Horses ready early in the season but don’t hold form

Type of horse e.g. off the flat, slow maturing, going requirements

Horses have jabs (flu i think?) around turn of year

[kentdougal]

It’s perfectly simple if you have a successful time your horses go up the handicap and stop winning until they’ve lost enough times to come down again to winning marks
regards
Doug

[Shabbs6]

Agreed with Doug. Its actually something i was thinking about not long ago but the only thing that really made sense to me was the same answer Doug has Im sure there are other factors in it but the mark its running off does have a major impact on the running of a horse untill its back down to a winning mark…then the same thing happens again…and again lol

Regards,

Shabbs

[apracing]

Clearly the issue of handicap rises and penalties in novice races has a significant effect, but I’ve long believed that horses react to the atmosphere of the humans around them.

So that if the people are confident, happy, excited, buzzing, the horse responds and performs better. If the people are miserable, depressed, quiet, worried, the horse runs below it’s best.

What produces happy people? Well winners do, when a stable is going well, everybody is cheerful at morning stables, chatty on the gallops, etc. I’ve seen this happen in practice at a smallish yard that had a potential Cheltenham horse – suddenly the atmosphere in the yard was one of real excitement and the lesser horses, including one I owned, all came to life. The stable had 20+ winners in the space of six weeks in the run up to Cheltenham, including a treble one afternoon at Taunton. Horses won that had not won before and never won again, including mine.

The star horse did his part and won at Cheltenham, but came back sore, was never the same again, and nor was the stable.

For a more recent and smaller example of what can happen, think back to the day the Twiston Davies stable had three winners at Cheltenham. They win the Gold Cup, the Foxhunters, and the whole lot are running on adrenalin, trainer, jockey, stable staff etc.

Come the last race, did all that confidence flow through into Pigeon Island and enable him to win the Grand Annual. Or is it just a coincidence that his only win in 15 tries over fences came on that day?

And perhaps the same stable is having a rough patch at the moment because their star horse broke down in the Gold Cup, their stable jockey had a row with the trainer, now the younger son, whose Aintree win might have turned things round, has suffered a serious injury.

AP

[petski]

I totally agree AP. I’ve said similar things in the past about how human atmosphere seems to effect equine performance. I’ve seen yards where there has been unrest on account of divorce, death, BHA investigation etc. and it has conincided in a loss of form from the stable.

Might make interesting reading if anyone has data on stable yards form before and after a BHA investigation.

[moehat]

Stable staff make a huge difference as well, I would imagine..the trainer and jockey might be the centre of attention, but a good travelling head lad [look at that girl who works for P Nicholls; I bet her attention to detail is second to none] or work rider are worth their weight in gold. Then food; look at stables that have had a turn of fortune when they change their hay or feed. Also, as has been said earlier, horses pick up on atmospheres; you can put a smile on your face but if you’re not happy a horse will know. On the subject of trainers out of form, is Venetia Willims having a bad season, it’s not like her not to have a winner at Cheltenham.

[Author]

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