Spas, swimming and workouts: A day in the life of a racehorse

Riccardo Corona explains...

It is divided into two sessions. The morning one starts at 5am. First thing, I speak with the night watchmen to find out if the horses ate their food, drank their water and everything was OK during the night. Then we check the horses’ well-being, especially their legs. Racehorses are like kids with a sugar rush. They are trained to be extremely alert so any loud noise can make them react. So even though they wear protective bandages, we check every horse thoroughly to ensure they have not hurt themselves during the night. We also check their temperature to ensure they don’t have any dormant illness. We then ensure the horses follow the exercise routine tailor-made for each horse by Saeed Bin Surour. We have a 75m swimming pool, which the horses use every day. It helps them loosen up, strengthens their legs and gets them fit. At around 6-6.30am, the riders come in, they are briefed by Saeed on the exercise routine for the day and then they take a group of horses that belong to the same category for their rounds. It gives us another chance to assess the horse. Before they go for their rounds, we take them through the gates, it’s kind of a rehearsal for the big race night. The second set goes around 8.15am. The general exercise routine around the tracks takes about 45 minutes. Then the horses are checked again to ensure they’ve not hurt themselves during exercise. Around 10am, the watchmen take over again, feeding them their breakfast. The second session starts around 3.15-3.30pm when the horses go through a similar routine. They are fed again around 5.30pm. That is a standard routine. But when the racing season is on, it’s slightly more intensive.