Almost everywhere members of the profession are overworked and underpaid. The Racing Form would like to pass onto the tracks the expense of hiring clockers. In Florida, Maryland and elsewhere, the clockers get no official support if they are trying to do their jobs well. Only California has a system that requires accurate identification of horses when they come onto the track. They'll probably transfer him somewhere else because he's a troublemaker." If he challenges the trainer, the Racing Form will never back him up. If he takes the trainer's word, there are no repercussions and he may be in a position to cash a bet later. "This is a common situation," Milner said, "And the clocker is in a no-win position. The first-time starter comes out and works in 47 seconds flat, and the clocker hollers down, 'Hey, trainer! Who did you work?' So the trainer gives him the name of the horse who's about to break down. The other is a first-time starter on the verge of a big race. "Say a trainer has two horses who resemble each other: one horse was injured in his last race and the trainer is praying to get it claimed. "To identify horses, clockers have to depend a lot on trainers' good will," said Milner, a veteran of the profession who is now a handicapper for the Miami News. But if she is working at the same time that a half-dozen horses are on the track, some of whom may be unfamiliar to the clockers, Rosen will be hard pressed to get everything right. This indicates to him that the bay filly Bolshoi Melody has white hairs on her pastern, two hind bandages and what he describes as a half-short tail. A typical entry: BF 78 Bolshoi Melody (symbol for a number) WHPA LOuts? RHPAB 2HB (1/2st).
#DRF CLOCKER FULL#
Rosen maintains a thick book full of inscrutable descriptions of the horses at Gulfstream. They rely on descriptions of horses on the foal papers that a trainer is supposed to file with the racing secretary, and also on their own prior observations. "Anybody can learn to use a stopwatch," Rosen said, "but identification is the really hard part." More than 1,000 horses may be stabled at a track and when they come out for a workout, they don't wear name tags.Ĭlockers first try to identify the stable from which a horse comes, according to the color of the blanket or saddlecloth he is wearing. One of the reasons is that clocking horses is a very difficult job. But published workouts are rarely so illuminating: often they are inaccurate and deceptive. The reports of workouts should give handicappers a way to access horses who have not raced recently, and should also indicate how horses are maintaining their condition from race to race. Pittsburgh Phil, a legendary horseplayer at the turn of the century, likened the role of the clocker to that of a scout in the army.
"Son," the old clocker said, "as long as you have this you'll never need a. When Jim Milner was a teen-ager, he hung around the clockers at Belmont Park until an old-timer welcomed him to the fraternity by presenting him a stopwatch. "You have to get used to it."Įven the clockers share this assessment of their profession. "Everybody hates us - owners, trainers and players," said Dick Rosen, the clocker at Gulfstream Park. No occupational group, not even used car salesmen, has such a reputation for chicanery. Outside the profession, it is widely believed believed that if a promising young horse works sensationally - say, a half-mile in 46 seconds flat - that workout would appear in print as a mediocre 50 seconds, with clockers reserving the correct information for themselves and their clients. "It means that 46 and four equals 50," the veteran said, and everybody within earshot laughed.
#DRF CLOCKER HOW TO#
After he had gone through his initial on-the-job training, learning how to wield a stopwatch and identify horses, a cynical vetern of the profession asked him, "Have they taught you clockers' arithmetic yet?" A new recruit was hired here last week as a clocker for the Daily Racing Form.
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