Worlds Apart No More

By Harper Hutchins

There are hundreds of differences between American racing and the sport around the world. Whether traditions or regulations have kept these differences in place–from the weight scale to the use of lead ponies to racetrack stabling–America, frankly, often seems to be on the other side of the world. One difference that is not as noticeable for a patron watching the big screen is the gate-schooling leading up to a race. In traditional European racing, gate schooling is done by the trainer, with the final check done by the gate crew prior to the race. This can lead to inconsistency in the starting gate from the many different training styles. 

John Pepe, assistant starter for the Singapore Turf Club, said he believed that there was a better way to conduct schooling in Singapore, and has just concluded a three-week stint in Saratoga learning under Bob Duncan, the former starter for the New York Racing Association who has developed a world-wide reputation with the natural-horsemanship methods he employs.

“I heard about the work Bob does from an article Bill Nader forwarded to me when I was working for the Hong Kong Jockey Club,” said Pepe. “I had previously spent six months training with a well-renowned horsemen in the U.K., but I wanted to learn more and see how things are done in the U.S. and that’s why I chose Bob. The fact that Gai Waterhouse had called on Bob’s services before made training with him even more attractive as I’m a big fan of hers.”

“Sometimes I feel like I’ve spent the last 25 years making up for the first 25 years.”

–Bob Duncan, on how his gate-schooling methods have evolved Waterhouse thought so much of Duncan she has previously sent several of her staff to America to work with him and his crew here to see his process from start to finish. Ballydoyle’s Aidan O’Brien and American Todd Pletcher, among others, have asked him to travel to their training centers to start their young horses or work with problem animals.

Gate schooling in America is prominently done by the gate crews themselves. Horses arrive early in the mornings at the gate and are worked on one by one or in small groups. Duncan and his team work the gate crew for Saratoga’s Oklahoma Training Track, while the gate crew for the afternoon racing does gate schooling on the main track. While the afternoon crew is more focused on horses that have already learned to go in the gate and are getting a refresher course, babies and ‘problem’ horses head over to see Duncan’s team. 

Pepe said that in Singapore, things are quite different. He described the use of typical starting gate tools, like buggy whips and hoods, among other things.

Duncan wasn’t always cutting-edge when it came to natural horsemanship gate schooling. 

He started working on the gate in the late ‘60s. “I was anxious to learn it so I decided I would just concentrate on every horse I saw to try and learn something about the horse at the gate and what methods we were using,” said Duncan.
At the time, he said, “the crew wanted to dominate the horse or make them (go in) because they were big strong guys and could do it. This would lead to difficult horses becoming more explosive, and more and more horses would just fall by the wayside because they didn’t want to race.”

Pepe said that the main difference between preparing horses in Singapore and with Duncan’s crew was the time devoted to schooling.

“I’ve found that in Singapore, a number of the horses aren’t properly prepared for their first race start as they don’t get adequate and proper gate training from the beginning,” said Pepe. “These horses then have behavioral issues that make it difficult for our starting gate team to deal with on raceday. I also wanted to learn some of the less aggressive methods used in dealing with difficult horses and that is something I have definitely learned from Bob and his team.”
That was something Duncan had to learn as well. 

As Duncan grew into a role where he had more say in the way horses were handled, he chose to incorporate some new training techniques for a more humane way of gate schooling. He says that it was not until he had been on the job for 20 years that he able to meet and share insights with people like Monty Roberts, Pat Parelli and Ray Hunt. These people inspired Duncan to learn from them and adapt their ways of ‘leadership through trust’ into gate schooling and horse racing as a whole, in turn creating a much more effective way for horses to learn to stand in the gate, creating a safe environment instead of fraught with fear. Duncan has traveled all over the world to teach gate crews that there is a better, more caring way to handle horses in the gate. 

John Pepe has said he is hoping to take what he has learned back to Singapore. “Bob’s schooling is broken down over a over a few days, little and often, until the horse is at a stage where it is led into the gate quietly, stands there calmly and breaks from the gate quickly when the gates open. Other schooling methods I’ve seen would do this whole process in one morning. Bob never used a buggy whip or even a blindfold in the three weeks I was there. In fact, I don’t think he has one.”

Pepe will bring those new methods home and hope they’re accepted. 

“Hopefully, I’ll be able to put the skills and knowledge that I learned from Bob into practice here in Singapore. Quite often trainers will approach me for some advice when they have a difficult horse that is either reluctant to walk into the starting gates or fractious once closed inside the gate. Even though it is the trainers responsibility to gate school their horses, it is the Club’s starting gate team that has to handle the horses on raceday so it is in our interest to work together with the trainers to do some remedial work with any difficult horses.”

Home now for just a few days, he said the curious are already coming around. 

“In an ideal world, all horses on track here would be schooled in the same way that they are at Saratoga by Bob and his team,” said Pepe. “I’ve had some questions from trainers about what I learned from Bob and how it works in U.S. so hopefully I’ll be able to get Bob out to Singapore in the near future and maybe one day even set up similar gate training procedures here.”

TDN Intern Harper Hutchins is a student at Boston’s Wheelock College, and is Bob Duncan’s stepdaughter.