Dickinson Has First Entry in 8 1/2 Years
Apr 2, 2016 10:24:52 GMT -5
Post by Evelyn on Apr 2, 2016 10:24:52 GMT -5
I always liked him as a trainer and it's good to see him back in the game.
Dickinson Has First Entry in 8 1/2 Years
TD Thornton
TDN
Almost eight months to the day since announcing his comeback to training with a small-scale string of Thoroughbreds that will be based exclusively at his expansive, high-tech Maryland farm, Michael Dickinson will saddle his first horse in a race since 2007 Saturday.
Tide Is High (Broken Vow), a 4-year-old filly owned by Augustin Stable, is part of a 6-5 favored morning line coupling in the ninth race at Laurel Park, a 1X/2L $42,000 allowance. Entrymate Valued Strike (Smart Strike) is trained by Graham Motion.
True to the spirit of the 66-year-old conditioner’s maverick reputation for always trying to gain every possible edge for his meticulously placed entries, Dickinson jokingly related in a phone interview Thursday how he attempted to cadge a weight break for Tide Is High when calling in her entry to the Laurel racing office.
“When I entered the horse, I said, ‘Can I claim seven pounds for a bug trainer?’ Because I haven’t had a winner in so many years,” Dickinson deadpanned. “I did not get a positive reply, but I got a big laugh.”
Dickinson, the former British champion amateur jumps jockey-turned-professional trainer, owns multiple racing-related entries in the Guinness Book of World Records. He is known for saddling the first five finishers of 1983 Cheltenham Gold Cup, and he has parlayed unorthodox conditioning skills with United States-based flat horses into wins in elite graded stakes races. But Dickinson stunned the racing world in 2008 when he quit training to spearhead a synthetic racing surface company.
After traveling worldwide for the better part of a decade to pitch, test, and install Tapeta Footings, Dickinson announced Aug. 3, 2015, that he would be turning the day-to-day running of the synthetic surface business over to his wife and business partner, Joan Wakefield. This shift would allow Dickinson to return to training horses at his 250-acre Tapeta Farm in the town of North East, Maryland. Nicknamed “Chantilly of the Chesapeake,” the centerpiece of the lush, grassy facility is Dickinson’s proprietary-formula synthetic training track that consists of Tapeta footing.
Dickinson, who can be aptly described as “charmingly cryptic,” also revealed last year that he has personally developed a series of training methods and technologies that will remain exclusive to Tapeta Farm for the time being. He has hinted in past interviews that his arsenal includes simulated “high altitude” stables, a “biomechanical analyzer” that advises when horses are moving most efficiently, and a “broncho delivery system” that helps horses utilize oxygen intake.
“I’ve got more toys than a rich man’s son on Christmas Day,” Dickinson said, declining to elaborate on the specifics of his technologies. “I’m enjoying the training very much. It’s fantastic now with all the new facilities here at the farm. It’s very exciting.”
Dickinson said he has 10 horses in training right now for seven different owners. He’s basically been waiting for grass races to pop up in the region’s condition books before making any entries.
“We’ll have quite a few runners coming up in the next few weeks,” he said. “We were just waiting for the turf season. We don’t have any dirt horses.”
Dickinson would not admit to any nervousness prior to saddling his first horse since Dec. 8, 2007, at Turfway Park.
“I’ve been down this road before. Everything fell back into place. I’ve done this for 20 years, so I haven’t forgotten,” Dickinson said. “I definitely am not pacing around the barn looking for things to do to burn off nervous energy.”
Considering that he is known as a stickler for ensuring that his horses are perfectly placed to maximize their chances of winning, what does he expect out of Tide Is High on Saturday?
“It all depends if she behaves herself,” Dickinson said without venturing a prediction. “She used to run off a bit. It will come down to just how successful we’ve been in teaching her how to relax.”
Dickinson Has First Entry in 8 1/2 Years
TD Thornton
TDN
Almost eight months to the day since announcing his comeback to training with a small-scale string of Thoroughbreds that will be based exclusively at his expansive, high-tech Maryland farm, Michael Dickinson will saddle his first horse in a race since 2007 Saturday.
Tide Is High (Broken Vow), a 4-year-old filly owned by Augustin Stable, is part of a 6-5 favored morning line coupling in the ninth race at Laurel Park, a 1X/2L $42,000 allowance. Entrymate Valued Strike (Smart Strike) is trained by Graham Motion.
True to the spirit of the 66-year-old conditioner’s maverick reputation for always trying to gain every possible edge for his meticulously placed entries, Dickinson jokingly related in a phone interview Thursday how he attempted to cadge a weight break for Tide Is High when calling in her entry to the Laurel racing office.
“When I entered the horse, I said, ‘Can I claim seven pounds for a bug trainer?’ Because I haven’t had a winner in so many years,” Dickinson deadpanned. “I did not get a positive reply, but I got a big laugh.”
Dickinson, the former British champion amateur jumps jockey-turned-professional trainer, owns multiple racing-related entries in the Guinness Book of World Records. He is known for saddling the first five finishers of 1983 Cheltenham Gold Cup, and he has parlayed unorthodox conditioning skills with United States-based flat horses into wins in elite graded stakes races. But Dickinson stunned the racing world in 2008 when he quit training to spearhead a synthetic racing surface company.
After traveling worldwide for the better part of a decade to pitch, test, and install Tapeta Footings, Dickinson announced Aug. 3, 2015, that he would be turning the day-to-day running of the synthetic surface business over to his wife and business partner, Joan Wakefield. This shift would allow Dickinson to return to training horses at his 250-acre Tapeta Farm in the town of North East, Maryland. Nicknamed “Chantilly of the Chesapeake,” the centerpiece of the lush, grassy facility is Dickinson’s proprietary-formula synthetic training track that consists of Tapeta footing.
Dickinson, who can be aptly described as “charmingly cryptic,” also revealed last year that he has personally developed a series of training methods and technologies that will remain exclusive to Tapeta Farm for the time being. He has hinted in past interviews that his arsenal includes simulated “high altitude” stables, a “biomechanical analyzer” that advises when horses are moving most efficiently, and a “broncho delivery system” that helps horses utilize oxygen intake.
“I’ve got more toys than a rich man’s son on Christmas Day,” Dickinson said, declining to elaborate on the specifics of his technologies. “I’m enjoying the training very much. It’s fantastic now with all the new facilities here at the farm. It’s very exciting.”
Dickinson said he has 10 horses in training right now for seven different owners. He’s basically been waiting for grass races to pop up in the region’s condition books before making any entries.
“We’ll have quite a few runners coming up in the next few weeks,” he said. “We were just waiting for the turf season. We don’t have any dirt horses.”
Dickinson would not admit to any nervousness prior to saddling his first horse since Dec. 8, 2007, at Turfway Park.
“I’ve been down this road before. Everything fell back into place. I’ve done this for 20 years, so I haven’t forgotten,” Dickinson said. “I definitely am not pacing around the barn looking for things to do to burn off nervous energy.”
Considering that he is known as a stickler for ensuring that his horses are perfectly placed to maximize their chances of winning, what does he expect out of Tide Is High on Saturday?
“It all depends if she behaves herself,” Dickinson said without venturing a prediction. “She used to run off a bit. It will come down to just how successful we’ve been in teaching her how to relax.”
