Turfway up 18.7%

Good news again for Turfway. Turfway experienced an 18.7% increase in all sources handled during their 25 day holiday meet. This is 4 straight meets where they have saw double digit increases in all sources handled. Turfway also saw an increase to on-track handled as well. On-track handle was up 7.5%.

Bad news is that there were 5 fatal breakdowns during the meet compared to 3 last year. Hopefully, that trend will decline.

All in all good news for Turfway.

Originally Posted by eurobounce

Bad news is that there were 5 fatal breakdowns during the meet .....

What ?
Does that mean that Polytrack is not the cure-all, end-all
for what ails thee ?

Perhaps they should start looking the the starting gate.
The basic molecule for glory or disappointment for many a participant.

Also, trainers licenses.
Are these knowledgeable horsemen,
ones able to nurse sore horses back to health,
or just the average joes off the street?

Originally Posted by The_Guy_Smiley

What ?
Does that mean that Polytrack is not the cure-all, end-all
for what ails thee ?

Perhaps they should start looking the the starting gate.
The basic molecule for glory or disappointment for many a participant.

Also, trainers licenses.
Are these knowledgeable horsemen,
ones able to nurse sore horses back to health,
or just the average joes off the street?

Well in the year before Turfway switched to Polytrack there were 24 fatal breakdowns. Since PolyTrack there has only been 8. So 8 in a two year period vs 24 in a one year period. I think the numbers speak for themself.

Originally Posted by eurobounce

So 8 in a two year period vs 24 in a one year period.
I think the numbers speak for themself.

That's a start.
I think even one on-track fatality is one too many.

While it's likely impossible in this day and age to achieve perfection,
the racing industry has perhaps unfairly pinned all its hopes on
synthetic surfaces without investigating the dire needs for improvement
in the Puett Starting Gates.
Now that Michael Dickinson's got the right idea and it's going
to be a tough sell, but I admire him for speaking out for the need
to change the way thoroughbred races are started.

For those of us who religiously watch the head-on starts,
find that on regular occasions you will see thoroughbreds colliding
like "the break" on a Billiards table.
Every subsequent move by the player is based upon that initial shot.
Similarly these races are being played out, with some horses
enduring crucial loss of optimal positioning. And other horses
who are suffering pains from that initial impact, on their joints,
ligaments, and muscles for the entire race,
under jockeys who cannot read the signs of the impact
or are yet powerless to control a frightened animal who's suffering mightily.

I ask fellow forumites here
when was the last time the racing industry called for improvements
to the way thoroughbred races are started ?

When Barbaro had to be reloaded in The Preakness only to get
tangled up with Brother Derek on his second launch from the gate,
still the leaders in the racing industry did nothing responsible.
How long will it be before another catastrophic incident
takes place on national television?

Originally Posted by The_Guy_Smiley

That's a start.
I think even one on-track fatality is one too many.

While it's likely impossible in this day and age to achieve perfection,
the racing industry has perhaps unfairly pinned all its hopes on
synthetic surfaces without investigating the dire needs for improvement
in the Puett Starting Gates.
Now that Michael Dickinson's got the right idea and it's going
to be a tough sell, but I admire him for speaking out for the need
to change the way thoroughbred races are started.

For those of us who religiously watch the head-on starts,
find that on regular occasions you will see thoroughbreds colliding
like "the break" on a Billiards table.
Every subsequent move by the player is based upon that initial shot.
Similarly these races are being played out, with some horses
enduring crucial loss of optimal positioning. And other horses
who are suffering pains from that initial impact, on their joints,
ligaments, and muscles for the entire race,
under jockeys who cannot read the signs of the impact
or are yet powerless to control a frightened animal who's suffering mightily.

I ask fellow forumites here
when was the last time the racing industry called for improvements
to the way thoroughbred races are started ?

When Barbaro had to be reloaded in The Preakness only to get
tangled up with Brother Derek on his second launch from the gate,
still the leaders in the racing industry did nothing responsible.
How long will it be before another catastrophic incident
takes place on national television?

I pretty much champion what you just wrote.

[paisjpq]

Originally Posted by The_Guy_Smiley

For those of us who religiously watch the head-on starts,
find that on regular occasions you will see thoroughbreds colliding
like "the break" on a Billiards table.
Every subsequent move by the player is based upon that initial shot.
Similarly these races are being played out, with some horses
enduring crucial loss of optimal positioning. And other horses
who are suffering pains from that initial impact, on their joints,
ligaments, and muscles for the entire race,
under jockeys who cannot read the signs of the impact
or are yet powerless to control a frightened animal who's suffering mightily.

this is a pretty great analogy...
I don't think thoroughbreds would be very successful using a rolling gate like the std.breds but certainly the starting gate is a dangerous place where injuries DO occur and it's a place for improvement....I wish I had a workable idea

Originally Posted by paisjpq

but certainly the starting gate is a dangerous place
where injuries DO occur and it's a place for improvement....

There really is no reason for the racing industry to ignore the fact
that not only horses have been euthanized because of incidents
in the starting gate, but how about these situations:

• assistant starters dying (happened at Penn National)
• jockeys being thrown after the horse injures itself at the start
• assistant starters holding onto the reins too long
• horses from the outermost post shy away from the field at the break
• tractor that pulls the gate in two turn races fail to start

And on and on.
Does the current gate procedures really offer cleaner - fairer - safer races ?
I seriously doubt.

[sumitas]

I agree. Poly can't do it all. How many times have you seen horses go to their knees at the start ? That sudden start not only causes injuries but also too often decides a race.

Originally Posted by sumitas

That sudden start not only causes injuries
but also too often decides a race.

I've been preaching this to several forums about the need
for improvements to the Puett Gates.
And apparently this forum in general seems to understand
the need for change. What those changes are
should be debated but currently are not yet under discussion
in the board rooms of the racetracks and shedrows of the racetracks.

I would not readily dismiss Mr. Dickinson's idea
for the Moving Starting Gate, as Stan Bergstein
authored a insightful and unique piece in his column last year
titled "Try Ditching the Starting Gate".

Suffice it to say Mr. Bergstein was right on the mark
on so many points and as a veteran horse racing fan
and a student of the game for more than 20 years
I endorse his views pertaining to thoroughbred racing.

And here is the wonderful Stan Bergstein article that appeared
last summer in the Daily Racing Form. Please read with an open mind
while you're counting all those Polytrack breakdowns....

So let's begin, not with the old gag about how many guys
it takes to screw in a lightbulb, but rather how many
it takes to start a Thoroughbred race.

The thought occurred watching the Belmont, with 12 riders ponying
the field, 12 guys or more shoving and pushing and locking hands
helping load the gate, two outriders, and of course a starter.

Twenty-seven people to make a starting gate work might make sense
if you flunked economics. It would have sounded fine if your name
was Clay Puett, who started building these mastodons.
It seems extravagantly labor intensive, however,
if you're a track operator in an industry desperately figuring out
how to make a buck.

You will pardon me, I hope, if I point out
it takes just two men to start a harness race,
one driving the mobile gate and one facing the field
and giving instructions to the drivers.
To see how well it works, watch any night on HRTV or TVG.

THE SOURCE:
http://www.harnesstracks.com/2006DRF/drfjune142006.htm