For 60 days straight over the winter at Will Walden's Palm Meadows base in Florida, MGISW Rhetorical (Not This Time) underwent a different kind of training.Instead of being turned out for the off-season like so many horses, his trainer decided that it was time to unveil a new project where skills like dressage would be emphasized. The work that the gelding put in over those months has paid off and now the New York-bred Horse of the Year owned by Gary Barber, Cheyenne Stable and Wachtel Stable will point to next week's GI Manhattan Stakes at Saratoga.It all started after Rhetorical finished fourth in the GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Mile at Del Mar, which according to Walden prompted him to think twice about sending the miler to the pasture.“I just got to the end of the Breeders Cup and I'm looking at this gelding, whose weight is above what I could have hoped for at the end of what wasn't a particularly tough year, and he's dappled from head to toe,” said Walden. “He was super sound. I just didn't want to kick this horse out in Kentucky where the weather is about to get bad, and have him sit and freeze his tail off.”So, that is when Walden reached out to the one-and-only Aidan O'Brien.“Aidan eats, sleeps and drinks this stuff, but he doesn't over complicate it,” Walden said. “Wintering horses over there is cyclical and it's every single year. They've been doing this a long time and continually come out with top results. What he has in his barn might be different than mine, but these are horses. Athletes don't sit around during the off-season, do they?”Gstaad (GB) at the Breeders' Cup | HorsephotosWalden specifically asked O'Brien about Gstaad (GB) (Starspangledbanner {Aus}), who won the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Del Mar on the same weekend that Rhetorical ran in the Mile. Gstaad just took the G1 Tattersalls Irish 2000 Guineas at The Curragh May 23.“I wanted to know what the next three months looked like for Gstaad and Aidan was incredibly open about his program,” said Walden. “The way that I understood it was the main focus is flatwork. Getting the horse to use themselves and strengthen his or her back and top line. He mentioned bringing in top-level event riders that focused on making the horse use itself beyond the traditional exercise of a basic gallop.”Walden said he did dressage for about four or five years with his mother, Rebecca, when he was younger and added that he knows what it can do for a horse's muscle structure.“Aidan said to throw as much food at them as they'll eat and let their biology do the rest,” he said. “What you want with dressage-based training is for them to develop their back muscles by using themselves.”Walden got together with one of his main exercise riders at Palm Meadows and put together a plan for Rhetorical.Our 2025 @BreedersCup contenders Rhetorical and Gordon Pass have decided to implement a little dressage into their off season training regimen. Looking good boys! @DCHI23 pic.twitter.com/elanvFdCGc— Will Walden (@wwaldenracing) December 11, 2025“I've got some really talented riders and if you explain what you want, then they make it happen,” said Walden. “I don't have access to the facilities that Aidan has at Ballydoyle and bringing in outside event riders isn't quite in the cards, but Palm Meadows suited our needs with this L-shaped gallop trail that they have. It's deep and sandy, which was perfect.”Rhetorical won the GI Coolmore Turf Mile at Keeneland last fall | Coady MediaLike football players who work out on sand volleyball courts during the spring and summer to build their leg strength, Rhetorical did the same. He was joined by Gordon Pass (Instilled Regard), who was in the Juvenile Turf at Del Mar with Gstaad.“The L-shaped gallop intersects with the seven-eighths pole in the chute of the main track,” he said. “We would jog them slowly halfway down the L, then take a right into the chute where it was quiet and there was no traffic. In the chute we would have the horses do circles both ways for about 4 1/2 minutes each way with each circle about 20 yards in diameter. I would send videos to Aidan and he would kindly offer constructive criticism like, 'have your riders slow down and get their weight back' and 'have them drop the horses head just a bit and really make him use himself.' He was extremely giving with his time.”After about 25 to 30 minutes of this kind of training, Rhetorical would return to the barn, but he wouldn't be cooled down. Walden said that they literally pulled the tack off of him, put a set of bell boots on him and the horse went directly into a round pen for about an hour and a half.Rhetorical enjoying some well deserved time off. pic.twitter.com/QtVALWshGk— Will Walden (@wwaldenracing) November 25, 2025“He'd have water out there, get some sun on his back, and he could walk around and stay loose,” said Walden. “He'd come back to the barn, have a bath and then he'd walk for 20 minutes while he dried off. I think we sort of overdid it on the weight that he gained, but once he started working, you could see where the muscle had just developed up over his back and through his hindquarters. He became a bigger, faster version of himself.”Walden said that this kind of training really gets a horse to connect differently with the rider because they have to think through what they are being asked to do.“They have to communicate on a different level than just the exercise rider putting his hands down while galloping around the racetrack,” he said. “The horse has to slow down and really be intentional and connected to the rider when doing flatwork.”Will Walden | Tod MarksThe same program was applied to Speed Shopper (Quality Road), a 5-year-old mare who won the GIII Christophe Clement Stakes at Gulfstream Park in late January. Walden said that she responded well to the workouts. After a troubled trip in the GIII Orchid Stakes, Speed Shopper won the GIII Bewitch Stakes at Keeneland April 24.“My dad [Elliott Walden] was down at Palm Meadows to check on some horses and he commented on how their body language was just so good. They are more relaxed and happier.”Walden said that not every horse has responded to his dressage training, but Rhetorical is an example of a horse who really has enjoyed the level of fitness that it has provided. After all, the 5-year-old stretched out to win the second top-level race of his career when he went gate-to-wire in the GI Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic on the Derby undercard.“He'd never gone more than a mile and a sixteenth,” said Walden. “But he was able to go farther and really dominate. I think everything in a horse's development plays a part. I can't put in what God left out, but what he did over the winter, how he's evolved and matured, has allowed all this to come to fruition.”Walden confirmed that he will be making some tweaks to his program next winter, but for now the Manhattan is on his mind as he readies Rhetorical for a return to Saratoga, where the dark bay has three wins in four tries.“I'm always going to try to understand these horses and exactly what moves them,” Walden said. “That's how we evolve in this business. My job is to keep them happy and healthy so they can participate in whatever division they tell us they're ready for.”With all the right tools at his disposal, Rhetorical's own 'Manhattan Project' is on track.Rhetorical wins the G1 Old Forester Bourbon Turf Classic! pic.twitter.com/NQ57HzuvEs— Churchill Downs (@ChurchillDowns) May 2, 2026The post Manhattan Project: Walden’s Off-Season Regimen Keys Rhetorical’s Rise appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.