We Run An Open Shop

In a recent interview I commented that training horses and the details of what happens on the backside of a racetrack is considered a “closed shop” by many people.  I don’t think it should be that way, and here are some examples of ways I try to keep our operation an “open shop.”

I use Twitter extensively for the people who are interested in our Stable and our horses. It’s a very good communicating foundation for those who might be interested in having a horse or a leg in a horse. Mike Piazza (Zilla Racing Stables) does a terrific job of commenting on Twitter to promote his operation. West Point also does a good job.

On Twitter, I try to give a very honest and levelheaded opinion of what might happen that afternoon or what I think happened after a race. Back in July when Amazing Anne ran third, we had a very heavy rainstorm that morning, and I felt the ground was a little bit dead. Junior and I both felt the filly did not handle the ground near as well as she does a firm course. I don’t feel that is information that should be withheld from people, especially those who are following amazing Anne. It explains why she finished third even though she was second favorite, and why she was beaten by 10 lengths. You can be honest and offer up an opinion after a race as much as you can before the race.

I think younger people really appreciate what we do on that front. If you ask any of the guys involved in syndicates or any of my owners we tell them we run an open shop here. And also they’re not my horses, they are your horses, so you can come and visit them anytime you want, just give me a heads up. There’s a trainer at Belmont with a sign outside his Barn that says absolutely no visitors. I find that incredibly off-putting for somebody who might be thinking about investing in a racehorse. The guy at that barn would be at the bottom of the list of someone that I would want to have a racehorse with. And we are always trying to educate our owners a little bit. I had an owner last year come back to the barn and I saw him feeding his horse a bag of dandelions. Well the horse had never seen dandelions. I have a protocol for the syndicate guys where I tell them, please come see your horse we love to see you here, but don’t feed them anything without clearing it first with Pearl or me or Sarah. But don’t feel like you can’t come in if we’re not there, just come in.

It is important to be as open as possible with the owners. I’ve been fired by one owner for being too open and being too honest with him. They couldn’t handle the fact that their horse wasn’t a superstar and wanted to run in a race where he realistically had no chance, and sadly the horse was taken away. But it’s also possible those type of owners will go through two or three other trainers and eventually they will realize that at least Tom Morley was being honest with us and that our horse wasn’t Secretariat. And then maybe they’ll decide to give me another go, because I told him the truth from the word go and that’s all I want to do. If your horse is slow we’re not going to spend two years training it, because it’s not going to get any quicker.

This game is built on dreams, and I would never have an owner not dream, but at the same time if you’ve chosen me and decided that I’m the man to train for you, then please listen to what I tell you. Because I’m not going to tell you something that’s not true.  It’s in both my interest and yours to have full disclosure.  If your horse is slow then it is important that you know,  so we can make an informed decision on where the horse should go or run.

– Tom Morley