Top trainer Sean Tarry sent out Culture Trip to be second on Thursday earning a figure of 90 behind The Sands. The Pomodoro gelding ran just two days later on Saturday at Turffontein and won a good race over Bien Venue, boosting his speed figure to 96. Punters are not used to handicapping runners with such close- up form and it begs the questions – what is the ideal gap between races?
Answer – it depends. Each horse is unique and whilst some go best fresh others need regular racing to perform well. Dirt racing can be especially tiring given the furious early pace and deep tracks so in America it’s common for horses to have five-week gaps between races to allow them to recover from that physical exertion. Turf racing is generally less exhausting given the typical pace profile of slow early and fast late – my research shows that three to four weeks interval is ideal for the majority of entries on the lawn.
Those are merely informed generalisations. It pays to check what interval has worked for individual horses in their past performances. Culture Trip is one of those rare species that does well when backed up quickly between races. Connections make a difference too, and it helps that he is conditioned by a champion trainer who knows what he is doing. Tarry would not run his charge if he didn’t think he could handle it.
Vercingetorix continues to make a favourable early impression as a stallion. His daughter, Tallin (speed figure 86 +) won fluently on debut to provide Callan Murray with a welcome back home winner. The lanky jock has been working in Hong Kong and Singapore without much joy so decided to return to SA.
He doubled up in the following race on Port Key, like Tallin also trained by his old boss, the world class, Mike de Kock. The Silvano gelding last ran nearly a year ago – the opposite end of the interval spectrum to Culture Trip! With SA losing top hoops like Lyall Hewitson, Aldo Domeyer and Grant van Niekerk in the past year to the Far East, Murray will be trying to take advantage of the vacuum their departure has created.
As a closing aside, Brandon Lerena is another jock to have recently emigrated. He opened his Australian adventure with a winner at his first ride when getting long-shot Mystery Trick home in Race 7 at Kembla Grange. Good on yer, Brandon!