I remember having a beer with my friends and watching the 2011 Kentucky Derby when one of my friends asked me if horses know if they won or lost. Now, most of you probably know the answer to that question, but some still do not. What is even more frightening is that some people who go to the track every single day do not know that there is a mental aspect to horse racing.

The great Carl Nafzger always compared his horses to football players, and like most things he said there was a subtle brilliance to this seemingly simple analogy. Football players – especially wideouts and slot recievers will mainly succeed based on their physical capabilities; however, there is the task of keeping your eye trained on catching a football when you know that a lineman is coming after you. The second task is primarily mental and separates the good ones from the great ones. It is a secondary talent much like a horse’s willingness to fight inside the eight pole, but is necessary in order to accomplish greatness.

To play with Mr. Nafzger’s analogy a little bit more, a receiver who shuns violence has a limited amount of routes that they can successfully run; likewise a horse who hates getting bumped and fighting inside the eighth pole has only one path to victory. He basically needs a clean break and as to try and lead the field, take a breather at the three-eighths pole and run like lightning down the stretch in order to effectively end the race before he gets to the eighth pole. This is a very specific scenario if you ask me.

Two horses who epitomize the scared wide receiver are Verrazano and Normandy Invasion. These are probably the second and third most talented horses in training right now, but they hate contact-they hate a dogfight.

Verrazano is lucky to have Johnny V as his jockey. The man is an excellent judge of pace and always seems to find a hole when his horse needs running room. Unfortunately for Johnny V. he hasn’t had much success with Verrazano because the horse must be on the lead regardless of how suicidal the fractions may be. This is why Verrazano has such a spotty record and will probably continue to struggle.  After all, you don’t see too many horses winning wire to wire on turf tracks in Europe.

Normandy Invasion embodies the herd mentality. Where most horses get brave on the lead he wilts. Take a look at last year’s Kentucky Derby. Most horses with the lead at the top of the stretch in the most electrifying moment in sports would have at least held on the to lead for another 200 yards. I really think that a win bet on Normandy Invasion is basically a donation without the tax benefits. The shame is if he develops that killer instinct the rest of the handicap division will be in huge trouble.

On the flipside of all of this is Zenyatta. Here is a horse who won nineteen race and lost one – and that was by half a nose! The thing is, in nine of those races she started her run too late and really should have lost, but her fighting spirit carried her to victory. Being a descendant of Street Cry, she exhibits extreme alpha tendencies, which helped her defeat every horse she has ever raced against, except Blame.

Now, I don’t want you to start anthropomorphizing these animals to the point where you become the guy on Horseplayers who was “hanging out” with Goldenscents. However, I do want you to acknowledge that the sport of kings is a mentally taxing endeavor and adjust your handicapping accordingly.