17 horses dead at Arlington meet
 

Last year 12 broke down. This year it's 17 with 2 months left in the meet. My heart goes out to those brave horses.

http://news.bloodhorse.com/viewstory.asp?id=34271

Got a call today that there's an article in USA Today about the horseman possibly boycotting. These guys can't agree on anything much less a boycott.

Very sad. RIP 17 horses.
Hope they really find the problem with the surface before more are lost.
Pine bark shavings, short term remedy...
I don't know this track, so..do you think they'll go "poly" long term?

Must be a pretty hard track(didn't they seal it yesterday to the point of it being a freeway?)Sometimes when they come thru that stretch there it looks like a wild pack of dogs chasing something while running downhill.God forbide you be a closer style horse in that town during the Summer.

Up until the past two weeks, the Arlington main track was the most closer-friendly track around. Speed near the rail and 2 path would die (literally I guess) race after race as some 3-4 wide stalker or closer would run everyone down. I've seen a few races at AP this year where 5 different horses would have the lead in the stretch.

To answer Downthestretch's question, I'd say its a good possibilty. Even the mainstream media has picked up on it as there was an article in the Metro section of the Chicago Tribune and a local TV news station did a story on it.

You'll notice that the track will be a redder shade this weekend because they are dispursing pine bark shavings rigourously to improve the track.....I know that they are really miffed by the large number of horses breaking down and are trying to improve the conditions but are unsure what the cause may be...

They lifted the track from the 16th pole to the wire last week during the off days and found that the base was fine, and the weather in Chicago hasn't been unusual for this time of year......most of the 17 horses that broke down were cheaper horses and most of the break downs occurred at the top of the stretch where horses are swapping leads and being really set down....It may be more of an aboration - but that is an excuse that won't fly with the media and horsemen....I wouldn't be surpirsed to see Mr. D yell for Polytrack installation during this off season.....CDI currently has the position that the jury is still out with the Polytrack as far as the positives ad negatives it brings to the table and I agree with that position, although I am no longer a full-time employee of CDI....

Thanks for your answers. I just don't like it when horses get hurt or die due to a "suspect" track condition.
This kind of thing gets its own "legs", and it's the last thing the tb racing industry needs, epecially with what we just went through with Barbaro.
Bad, bad PR.
Hope they "nip it in the bud".
DTS

Arlington will never get Poly...not a chance...Main track is safe....Do you guys think that trainers are going to take the blame for sending out sore horses? NO

Janks, Catalano, Williamson, Calhoun, Amoss...None of the better trainers have had anything break down....The only reason this is getting the publicity it is getting is because former governor Jim Edger had one that broke down about three weeks ago....my opinion

I have some sources very close to the situation who tell me that Mr. D could very likely call for Polytrack, and while CDI's stance on Polytrack has been noted, WHAT Mr. D WANTS DONE GETS DONE.....you can mark my words on that one because I know....

I know about Mr. D..It is one of those non-spoken rules like trying to claim off him...Illinois horsemen want NO PART of that crap, at least yet. They will be one of the last tracks to get poly, IMO...

Who says the horsemen are against it? I find it hard to believe that owners would be against it, given the large number of breakdowns. Also, the main track has been notorious the past few years now for having a dead rail most days. Unlike SoCal, I think it makes a lot of sense at AP. Almost as much a natural as Turfway.

well you folks see why i have currently taken my horse out of training here in chicago. the track here was just as bad last year, we were just lucky to not have as many put down but believe me people as i said last year on the espn board MANY of the horses were coming off bad after the races including the winners of those respective races. they wanna scale back racedays next year, they wanna say its"cheaper horses, they wanna say its horses being run too much but they constantly call around to trainers on entry day and try and talk them into entering and running horses to make the races go and or have fuller fields.........they wanna blame everyone but themselves!!!!!!!!!!!! cunningham you say you know but if you only knew the half of whats going on here youd be disgusted

I do'nt know where you got this dead rail and closers doing well because this weekend it was speed on top of speed. Some closers won but speed has been doing really well lately. I agree earlier in the meet the rail was dead but when it gets hotter, the rail gets TIGHTER. I, for one, will be unloading on speed horses this coming week. We have had no rain in three days now, nothing but sun baking it....

i read about this earlier today....one take that some had was that more trainers are running their horses more often due to lack of horses, and smaller fields. of course some of the trainers deny that--and some of the track people deny there's a problem with the surface. i'd imagine that much like most things, the truth lies somewhere in between. some trainers want to boycott, others say it's not the surface.
and of course, too often people say SOMETHING SHOULD BE DONE. problem is, they don't think things through and really get to the root of the problem, they just DO SOMETHING.