The new Gladiator movie or should I say the sequel to the original Gladiator hits the theatres later this month.
The new Gladiator spectacle follows Lucius, the young man whom befriended General Maximus Decimus Meridius, later to find out he was the son of the former “Commander of the armies of the north, general of the Felix Legions. Loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius......."
There really hasn't been much human growth from the days of gladiators, and colisseum entertainment as we witnessed the Netflix Special event, leading up to the exhibition of Mike Tyson and Jake Paul this past Friday nite.
The two earlier fights of Barrios vs Ramos, and Serrano vs Davis were true gladiator clashes, the drama, the blood, the only thing missing was lions or tigers feasting on human flesh.
We, as a society, need the shit show, the drama, the blood just like the days of gladiators, and colosseums, even though AT & T Stadium played like the Roman Colosseum on Netflix Friday nite.
Were You Not Entertained?
Gladiators were the orginal rock stars, they were revered, gambled on, and sacrificed for the good of the 'games, for entertainment.
We need entertainment, we need to be amused, even as handicappers, handicappers want to see the gladiators of our sport, the horses, and make their own decisions.
I have been asked so many times ' doesn't offering work videos hurts your prices?"
I believe that any Tom, Dick or Jayne can make up their own mind and make their own wagering decisions with their monies. They can root for their own gladiator based on their observations. it's really survival of the sharpest.
The sharpies will always have the advantage over the casual observer, but I can tell you with a guarantee most of them miss the importance of how trainers are really perceived by professionals whom have had years of experience watching horses and their trainers.
Yes, it is visual, but its all in the eye of the beholder.
I know a few trainers that I take the works of their horses with a grain of salt, they train everything the same, their maidens work hard every time out, so all the good works null and void each other, since its the norm for the barn.
I have done this for over 35 years being out at the track and watching, hearing, feeling how barns handled their horses, and take that to the Workout Video Library we offer.
The other part of watching horses is understanding the surface they are traveling over. In the afternoon, the track is manicured after every race. In the morning, there could be as long as two hours worth of traffic going over the surface, turning the dirt into a plowed field. A former jockey termed a chopped up track to be 'a minefield'.
This is a vastly underrated part of understading morning works.
Horses traveling over a chopped up track can look uncomfortable and not aesthetically pleasing, which for the untrained and naive eyes a detriment.
Watching horses thru our Video Workout Library can be exhilirating, fun and rewarding when you nail a horse in the afternoon based on your observations.
"How can you give the loser of the drill a 4 star work and the winner a 3 star?" a befuddled handicapper wrote me one morning. He tried to argue with me that I was wrong.
The scenario was not a clear cut observation it depended on the identity of the team, their style and their class.
Speed horse will always beat a closer in a head to head workout, almost all the time. Speed horse without being pressed is always tough as his or her speed can be the difference in a one on one, but the closer gets to sharpen his or her speed and even though can't match the speed horse early deserves extra credit.
The speed horse that the handicapper mentioned ran third in next start and the closer won his next start.
The general Video Workout 'Capper doesn't know that, they just take everything at the visual level, but 'the horse looked good' is usually the comment I hear the most, some of the time they are right, and some of the time they are missing critical insight.
As in the case of Serrano vs Davis this past weekend, many, including myself thought Serrano had won the fight, but because Davis had split Serrano's eye lid with a few selected headbutts it looked like Davis was in control.
Serrano's eyelid was bad, flapping over her right eye, but she had landed more punches and seemed to have Davis in trouble in the latter rounds.
The judges scored the fight with Davis getting a slight nod from all three of them, I truly believe, the bloody eye, was part of their decision.
Handicappers, whom don't usually use their eyes on a regular basis, are going to gravitate to what looks good to them, but if their insight is just a general observation, you would have had no clue that General Maximus Decimus Meridius had been stabbed by Commodus prior to their battle in the Colosseum, you would have considered Commodus to be the better gladiator, well, until his demise.
It's all in the eye of the beholder, just like the Paul-Tyson fight would have drawn a two star rating if it was a team drill on the track.
My note would have been, "Paul and Tyson, toyed with each other and never really stretched out in the work, maintenance mode:", but were you not entertained?