Gulfstream Park Late Pick 4 - 9/12

[bogeydaman]

Shame on Gulfstream Park Yesterday. In the late pk4 yesterday Races 8 and 10 were carded for the dirt and 9 and 11 for the turf. Prior to the start of race 7 yesterday the (actually harder than the) normal summer PM downpour started at GP yesterday. The course actually took a sizable amount of rain prior to the 1st race as well (1st race was taken off the turf). It was obvious within a few minutes of the 7th race ending there would be no turf races the rest of the day. it also ended up continuing to rain through the 8th race.

There was no reason for GP to announce that the rest of the races would be taken off the turf (at that time) since the 8th was a dirt race except for the fact that the late pick 4 was starting in this race. So, the races were not taking off the turf as the 8th race was run. As the announcer announced the winning mutuals from the 8th race basically in a run on sentence the announcement came that the remaining races would be taken off the turf.

I get the fact that announcing the races off the turf would impact the handle which is why they did what they did, but what about protecting the players. I also get the fact that the turf races are provided an "all" which gives the protection as well. IMO the right thing to do was to announce the races on the surface they were to be run so the player could decide to play or not. There was no way they decided at the last minute to take the 8th off the turf.