RETURNING WITH WORKOUT

Fires when the horse has been off more than 30 days and has a recorded workout date within 14 days of today's race. Without a recent workout, a layoff horse's fitness is completely unknown. With a confirmed recent work, at least the basic conditioning has been verified. This is a modest but meaningful risk-reduction signal for layoff horses — it does not guarantee readiness but eliminates the worst-case scenario of a horse returning from a cold barn with no preparation.