Saratoga Backstretch Article
 

How does this compare for the backstretch workers at other tracks?

Imagine that. An anti-horse racing piece from The Daily News.

Not really the point. If it's a problem, it's a problem.

I agree that conditions should be improved, but recongize that there's an agenda behind the piece and it has nothing to do with improved backstretch conditions.

Oh so there isn't a money-saving agenda from the other side?

So since there is an agenda should they just ignore it?

Lets not make this a black white thing.

Apparently, you missed the part where I agreed that backstretch conditions should be improved.

In this case, the message, however, is obscured by the messenger.

1. expose agenda
2. worry about conditions

You're a saint!

PopFly is an agenda thief...can't be trusted.

"Newspapers have agendas. They want bad news"

OMG!!

Well lets just disregard that article because those god-damned liberal newspapers have an agenda. We've got to keep the facade up that we're the greatest race track on earth and when you come here the fountain in the infield will make you at least two years younger.

OMG! Poor people have bad living conditions! This is shocking, thank you NY's Hometown Paper. Where would we be without these hard hitting articles. Please.

Yes, backstretch workers deserve cages don't they. This is a horse racing board. This has nothing to do about being poor.

Not at all where I was going, of course they don't. No more than anyone else does. That said, my comments were more about the revelation this article provides (none). This might not be common knowledge to anyone outside the sport but by the same token; landscapers in NJ, fruit pickers in CA and restaurant workers in Manhattan share very similar conditions. Hopefully this will not always be the case.

Publicizing these types of issues has done very little for inner city projects throughout the years. This is a similar type of circumstance, no? These are, in effect, public housing, which I am not sure if you have lived there but they are not well known for upkeep.

This is why it makes sense to do something about it. These are hard working good people.
I do agree, the issue is that history has shown that it is unlikely to happen as long as the state gov't is in charge. Not well known for sharing with the less fortunate under any circumstances, despite news coverage. I have never worked a backstretch, but did know a guy at MTH who said it was "OK", didn't get much into details honestly but he had no specific complaints.

:tro: Except for the crime part. Backstretches can get rowdy at times.

Honula lies.


She lies.

Choctaw?

If you took one of the dorms and put it on Saratoga Lake they would be calling it rustic. They aren't luxury apartments but are hardly squalor. People camping around lake george pay good money for similar.

Thank you for weighing in. There are also measures in place on behalf of NYRA to improve the backstretch, notably the BEST, which was handed a check for 20k on Monday. That's certainly not enough to get things up to many people's standards, but it's a start.

The comments made earlier in this thread regarding the media at large having an agenda pertain more to dealings with NYRA. When in a three day period you have Ed Fountaine making negative remarks about a 2YO race not being split and mocking a "new and improved NYRA" then Paul Moran writing about how the racing should be cut back (he's clearly a terrific businessman) then read a piece about backstretch dormitory conditions, it's easy to think "What the hell else is there to b.itch about?"

If one were to actually believe much of what's written by "respected" journalists regarding NYRA, they'd adopt a very dim view because the alternative is never portrayed.

well if any of you have seen how most people live in mexico you would think they 'made it'. many of us started out on the bottom and had to work our way up.if they are any good they will make more than min wage.even if you gave half of them more money they would just send it home to mexico and stay where its free with their friends.the argument about toga putting in sky boxes with ac vs making the backstrech look like holiday in is comical.work hard you will move up..thats the american way.

Couldn't agree more. 14 horse 2YO race or two 8 horse races...duh. The other one who just sticks nothing but negativity out there is Vic Zast in the Bloodhorse blog about Saratoga. Virtually every single piece of his had some volume of negativity about something happening, more often that not...claiming races.

The overall quality of racing at Saratoga is very good. But people criticizing the volume of racing because of the quality is beyond me. It's a question of whether they run at Belmont or Saratoga...one way or another, the horses will run. Considering the great business NYRA does up there, it's a simple decision.

Anyone will agree...a NY-bred turf sprint claimer at Saratoga is just inherently more enjoyable than the race being run at Belmont. People just complain too much about things that simply shouldn't be complained about!

thankyou. not to mention that many of these workers (and don't get me wrong , I'm not discounting their value) are illegal....and have better health care and childcare benefits than I do.

It doesn't help any of the participants in the sport that NYCOTB owes around $100,000,000 in unpaid billls to NY racing .