How did he manage that? Lucky Lad (brown and white colours far side) produced a stunning late surge to win the Gr 1 Golden Horse Sprint when all had seemed lost. (Candiese Lenferna Photography)
The legendary Italian horse breeder, Federico Tesio said “The thoroughbred exists because its selection has depended not on experts, technicians or zoologists but on a piece of wood: the winning post of the Derby,if you base your criteria on anything else, you will get something else, not the Thoroughbred.”
But what has never been asked is whether the thoroughbred, being wired to race, instinctively knows where the finish line is, at least on racecourses he or she is familiar with, and does he or she know that his task is to get their first?
When watching Lucky Lad’s finish on Saturday in the Golden Horse Sprint one could not help noticing that this horse seemed to recognise the finish line with about 25 metres to go.
He quite distinctly had a change of resolve at that point.
He had been running on strongly but it looked likely to be one of those frustrating races for favourite backers where the deserved winner’s flying finish was going to come just a touch too late.
However, at the 25m mark he quite clearly puts his head down, his ears back and produces a devastating surge which makes the impossible possible.
There is the well known fact about horse’s incredible capacity to take in their surrounds to the extent that they will spook if there is something unusual on the side of the bridal way they are used to walking on.
Lucky Lad won the Gold Medallion at Hollywoodbets Scottsville last year by over five lengths and was eased down and probably given some congratulatory horse-talk by Fourie when crossing the line.
Was there something in his memory bank that enabled him to recognise the finishing line on Saturday?
Well they say what makes involvement with horses fascinating is that they are unable to talk, so one can never stop learning more about them.
However, a question such as the one in this article will probably remain a mystery and even an in depth study into it might not reveal the truth.
However, it certainly seemed beyond coincidence that the most devastating 25m surge of Lucky Lad’s increasingly noteworthy career came when he needed it the most.
You be the judge in the below two videos, the first where you can see the finish from the normal side-on and front-on angle and the second where there is a video included from a drone.
