LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Quintons Gold Rush couldn't run for the roses Saturday until he stood for the fifth race Wednesday.
So the 3-year-old colt was walked purposefully into the paddock at Churchill Downs with the allowance company on the afternoon card, then began the leisurely, or laborious, process known as schooling.
The premise is simple: Horses are less likely to have an adverse reaction to a situation they have encountered before. Or so the hope goes.
"Basically, what you want to do is bring horses over in a racing environment and go back to the barn without running," said Scott Blasi, assistant trainer for Steve Asmussen. "It gives them a sense of "okay' every time they come over here they're not going to have to run their eyeballs out."
Three stalls are set aside at Churchill Downs specifically for schooling, but Asmussen squeezed in a fourth because of the small field in the fifth. Trainer Elliott Walden had one of his horses halfway down the row.
The process is not glamorous. At times it was difficult to tell who was "working" and who was hanging out. Ensconced in the shady 17th stall, Quintons Gold Rush swooshed his tail a few times, worked his bit. Occasionally he appeared to glance up at the casino-meets-Disney edifice of the remodeling project that was intruding on the picture postcard view of the twin spires.
One could almost hear him thinking, "a bit much."
Asmussen, meanwhile, stood still, except for the occasional nod to a passing groom or friendly face gliding behind the green-painted rail a few feet away.
There is a method to the mundaneness, for standing in place with the horse as long as five minutes at a time.
"This is more than they'll ever have to do during race day," Blasi said. "So it benefits them."
Even the more sedate horses, Blasi said, are schooled with the fractious because "we think this is good discipline for them." As Asmussen handled the high-dollar client, Blasi had each of the other colts make a revolution around the walking ring, then angle into a stall. He would check the saddle, adjust it, take it off. Do it again.
Boring, but crucial stuff. A trainer cannot afford to find out on Derby day that photographers make his colt skittish or any other potential misfortunes.
"You want to get along with them race day, so if there are any problems, you want to correct them while you're schooling," Blasi said. "You don't want to be trying to correct it race day when you're getting ready to run them. You need to have them acting the way you want before you bring them over here."
