Barclay Tagg
Barclay Tagg
Barclay Taggis an American thoroughbred horse trainer. A 1961 graduate of Pennsylvania State University with a degree in Animal Husbandry, he is best known for conditioning Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Jockey Club Gold Cup winner Funny Cide. Horses in Tagg's stable have included Showing Up and Nobiz Like Shobiz. Barclay trains horses year round, spending spring in New York and winter in Florida...
asked derby good judgment kentucky tough
He has to be in tip-top condition. I'm not going to put him into a tough race. Probably good judgment and good sense would say not to run, but there is only one Kentucky Derby and he's done everything we've asked of him, so you think you have to give him a chance.
ideas run
I have some ideas why he didn't run very well, but I don't want to speculate.
biggest finish happy hard life proved run start
I'm just happy he showed some life this time. The biggest thing is that he proved he could still run hard from the start and finish strong.
good jump psyche sort
This is going to be a big jump for him. I usually don't like to do this sort of thing, but he's got such a good psyche about him. He does things with such ease. Mentally, it's like he's done it 100 times.
enter goes slower stretch tomorrow wednesday workout
It was a little slower than I wanted him to go, but we just wanted him to stretch his legs. Everything is on go, as long as everything goes well. I'd like to see how he comes out of the workout tomorrow and gallop him on Wednesday before we enter him.
deny good hard judgment wrong
Probably with good judgment and good sense, you wouldn't do it. But there again, they're only 3 once, and there's only one Derby. It's hard to deny them that when they've done nothing wrong in 2006.
good judgment kentucky
Probably good judgment and good sense would say not to run, but there is only one Kentucky Derby.
bring exhaust hope knock might mile preferred race seven start whether wins
I didn't want to bring him back going a mile and one-eighth in the Hal's Hope because there are some hotshots in there who might make him overextend himself, and I didn't want to knock him out. He's really not a six-furlong horse. I would really have preferred to start him at seven furlongs or a mile, but I wanted to get a competitive race under his belt, and whether he wins or loses, it shouldn't exhaust him.
caught cracked hit panicked running
Richie said he started to idle, and then Richie panicked and cracked him. You really don't want to hit him any more than you have to. He got him running again, but I think it caught him off guard.
last lost lucky worse year
Last year was a lost year for him, and we're lucky anything worse didn't happen.
fight hit rather second seen since start win
It was only his second start since July, and he had to fight hard. I'd have rather seen him not get hit and win by five, but I'm happy.
definitive good maybe pressure wish
It was probably too much pressure on him. I wish I had a more definitive answer. Maybe he's just not as good as he was.
goes grade horse lick lost missed saturday seem shot since step training
But he hasn't missed a lick in his training since getting down here in November, and it doesn't seem like he's lost a step in the morning. I don't know if he's still a Grade 1 horse or not, but if everything goes well Saturday we'll give him a shot at the Donn and see what happens.
belong hope sure
I don't know if we even belong with these horses, but you sure hope you do.