On Demand: New shoes and work in the stalls for Sky Sports News racehorse

Last Updated: 06/09/13 10:37am

On Demand debut approaches

Sky Sports News racehorse On Demand is making her final preparations for her racecourse debut at Lingfield next week.

To ensure she quite literally gets her racing career off to a fantastic start, her trainer Andrew Balding has been working on her exit from the stalls.

"You can simulate as much as you can at home but there's nothing like the real thing and hopefully there won't be a hitch."

Andrew Balding

The two-year-old filly has been in full training with Andrew Balding for seven months and is now set to take on a seven furlong race - but she is still getting fine tuned for the intricacies of race day.

"To have a horse accept the fact they're in a confined area is part of the challenge and once they've accepted that is getting them to jump out so they don't forfeit too much ground to their competitors," explained Balding to Sky Sports News.

"On race day it's slightly different because they might be waiting for their rivals to get loaded, they could be stood in there for a long time and sort of fall asleep. Or there are different noises and sounds which might agitate them.

"So you never quite know until race day; you can simulate as much as you can at home but there's nothing like the real thing and hopefully that won't be a hitch."

On Demand has also been fitted with new shoes for the race day - her aluminium race shoes are lighter than her every day equivalents and will hopefully give her an edge at Lingfield.

"They're not as durable as training plates and that's why they don't wear them the whole time," said Balding. "But for race day they say an ounce on the foot is the equivalent to a pound on the back and the lighter the shoe you have them on race day the better.

"They say it's like having your nail trims or your hair cut. They're fairly oblivious to it."


Stay tuned to Sky Sports News as we track her final preparations.