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...
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.
happen start
Too many things can happen to start getting excited.
beat beyond win
First, he's got to win on Saturday. I'm not going to think beyond that. I don't even know if he can beat Like Now.
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.
absolute handle hard horse knew manages pleasure plenty run smoothly
I thought he wasn't going to run and it was going to be a disaster, but Cornelio said he had plenty of horse and he was just cruising. He knew more about him than I did. It's hard to tell through binoculars. He manages to handle things smoothly and he's an absolute pleasure to train.
came
I thought he was finished. And he came on.
derby enter full good looks wednesday
He was full of himself. If everything looks good on Wednesday (of Derby Week), I'll enter him and if everything looks good on Thursday, I'll ship.
fast last quite
He didn't go quite as fast as he did last time. This is what we wanted.
growing kept
He kept going lame. He was going through growing pains, I guess.
good hurt last looks stop strong training
He hurt his back last year, and we had to completely stop on him. He looks good and strong now, and he training better than ever.
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.
came hope runs
He galloped out strong; he came out of it well. He's doing really, really well. I hope he runs well.