IMO you make some good points SoCalMan. For me, one of the biggest things about workouts is knowing that horses and trainers are individuals. They don\'t all do it the same. So to properly evaluate a work you have to know what does the trainer typically do with his stock, and what does that horse typically do in the morning.
Take a horse like Always Dreaming. Pletcher will let his horses run a bit in the morning and likes the rider to encourage or at least let his horses have a strong gallop out. Always Dreaming has been a very good work horse down in Florida. So if he would have shown up here and worked poorly this AM that would maybe mean something.
Contrast that with a horse like J Boy who is pretty lazy in the morning. If he were to have a relatively unnoteworthy final work that probably doesn\'t mean much. On the other hand, if he were to suddenly show up in the morning and have a very fast final work doing it all on his own then that probably does mean something.
For CE, I guess the first thing to note is he worked when asked (he has refused to work before in the AM). So that\'s a good thing for starters. Casse usually doesn\'t let them do much the final work before the race, so I wasn\'t expecting this colt to wow anyone in his final work or his gallop out.
The other thing that no one really talks about is how these horses come out of their work is probably more important than the work itself. So it really helps to know how they were galloping and acting in the morning before a work to see if anything changes afterwards.
Kentucky Derby is one of the best times of the year to learn about works if you don\'t have a private clocker. It\'s one of the only times where the horses are under so much scrutiny that you can get a lot of information about how they are acting/feeling/doing in the mornings. Hell, now days you can even watch them live on a cam while drinking your coffee in the morning.
