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#1
01-05-2008, 11:39 AM
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I hope some of you heard the Roger Stein Show this morning here in Southern California. It was great. He had Robert Shapiro of the CHRB on there and he absolutely grilled him. He told him that they need to convene an emergency session of the board to get the racing shifted over from Santa Anita to Hollywood. One classic exchange was when Shapiro said that Santa Anita hasn't come to the board with any kind of request to move over to Hollywood and Stein said something like "they didn't come to the board with a request to have to install this stuff either but yet you made them anyway." Shapiro also said the board didn't make the decision for each individual track as to which company they had to go with when then installed the tracks to which Stein reminded him that the board didn't give them much time to do much studying first.
Stein said that all three surfaces down here suck and said that in his talking with his fellow horsemen, he hears far different than what is printed in the papers.
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The real horses of the year (1986-2020) Manila, Java Gold, Alysheba, Sunday Silence, Go for Wand, In Excess, Paseana, Kotashaan, Holy Bull, Cigar, Alphabet Soup, Formal Gold, Skip Away, Artax, Tiznow, Point Given, Azeri, Candy Ride, Smarty Jones, Ghostzapper, Invasor, Curlin, Zenyatta, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Havre de Grace, Wise Dan, Wise Dan, California Chrome, American Pharoah, Arrogate, Gun Runner, Accelerate, Maximum Security, Gamine 
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#5
01-05-2008, 12:00 PM
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Calling somebody a buffoon is a sure sign somebody's argument about a topic is strong
 It will be interesting, when the mfg. replaces the track after this meet, if they redo the base, too. This was in DRF yesterday: Santa Anita | Posted 1/4/2008, 6:46 pm Everyone's focus on track By JAY PRIVMAN ARCADIA, Calif. - The first wave of a series of storms expected to pummel Southern California this weekend hit Santa Anita with light showers about an hour before the first race Friday as track officials held their breath that Cushion Track, which covers the main track, would weather the storms. The track was sealed following racing on Thursday, and even though the weather was dry Friday morning, the main track was closed for training, with all horses restricted to the infield training track. "We sealed the racetrack the best we could," said Richard Tedesco, the track superintendent at Santa Anita. "It's still soft. You can still dig into it. We put the seal of all seals on it. It's best we could do." Sealing is something that was done in advance of storms with Santa Anita's old dirt surface. Cushion Track was installed last summer, with one of its selling points being its ability to whisk water safely from the surface, leaving it dry no matter how inclement the weather. But Santa Anita's version of Cushion Track has not drained properly, which has resulted in extensive work both before and during this meet, which began Dec. 26. This is uncharted territory for all involved, because no one knows whether a seal will work with Cushion Track, a mixture of sand, fibers, and bits of rubber, all coated with wax. "No one's ever done this," jockey Mike Smith said during training hours. "Maybe horses will bounce over it like reindeer. On Dasher. On Dancer." "It's like the Bonneville Salt Flats," added jockey Richard Migliore, who had just walked the surface at the top of the stretch. "They might as well run on this," he said, pointing to the concrete near Clocker's Corner. Tedesco ran harrows over the track about 11 a.m., leaving a bit of fluff atop the seal. Shortly before noon, about an hour before the first race, jockeys David Flores and then Aaron Gryder took turns galloping a pony down the home stretch. Then Flores, Gryder, Smith, and fellow jockeys Jon Court, Garrett Gomez, Martin Pedroza, and Alex Solis, along with Jockeys' Guild representative Darrell Haire, met near the finish line with Tedesco, Santa Anita president Ron Charles, and Mike Harlow, Santa Anita's director of racing. The jockeys said they believed racing would be fine on Friday provided the rain largely held off, but they were concerned about upcoming days. Early Friday morning, Santa Anita took the first race, scheduled for the downhill turf course, off the grass and moved it to the main track to avoid having the horses cross the main track while moving from the hillside to the infield portion of the turf course. The first race, run at 6 1/2 furlongs for second-level allowance horses, resulted in a track record over the souped-up surface when Tropic Storm, under Gryder, led from start to finish in 1:13.69. He set fractions of 22.29 seconds, 44.34 seconds, and 1:07.61. Horsemen giving management a pass The ongoing drainage problem with Santa Anita's main track has not caused a rift between Santa Anita management and locally based trainers, who by and large have praised Santa Anita for trying to resolve a problem trainers believe was caused by Cushion Track Footings, the manufacturer of the surface. "I hope for Ron Charles's sake they can fix it, because this could not happen to a nicer guy," said Jenine Sahadi, a two-time Breeders' Cup winner. "He's doing everything possible, trying to get a safe track. It's distressing that he put in all this time and energy, and this is the hand he was dealt." Earlier in the week, Cushion Track Footings said it would install a new surface at Santa Anita at the end of the meet if the drainage problem is not solved. Mike Machowsky said the California Horse Racing Board, which mandated the switch to synthetic surfaces in 2006, and board chairman Richard Shapiro "need to step up and take responsibility." "They mandated this, and it cost a lot of money," Machowsky said. "I feel sorry for Ron Charles and the racing office." Despite the problems with drainage, trainers said the surface has been excellent for training. "It's a little fast, but it's been real good to the horses," Dan Hendricks said.
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"Have the clean racing people run any ads explaining that giving a horse a Starbucks and a chocolate poppyseed muffin for breakfast would likely result in a ten year suspension for the trainer?" - Dr. Andrew Roberts
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#6
01-05-2008, 12:02 PM
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Im not calling you a buffoon Im speaking to Sumitas.
You think its a normal practice to seal an all weather track? Mig says the track is hard as a rock, and the super says its soft, make sense? To be honest with you I dont care whats said in the DRF or any other publication. Some reporter just did a piece on Equidaily praising GG on their breakdown rate. The week before they had a bunch go down, over 10 eased and vanned. The day after they had one go down in the stretch. BTW that was 5 catastrophic breakdowns 12 eased and 7 vanned over a 6 day period. Just because its reported doesnt mean its the truth. You are hearing what they want you to hear not what is actually going on. How long are people going to believe these tracks are as advertised? Catastrophic breakdowns went up at Keeneland, will be up at GG, Woodbines track is a disaster, and Southern California cancelled Sat and Sun cards. If thats not enough to make you scratch your head a little bit and question what you are hearing then you must be making a commission on the stuff. Last edited by The Bid : 01-05-2008 at 08:40 PM.
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#7
01-05-2008, 06:03 PM
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all the AWTS are seeing increases in starters, sad to say that would also have to lead to an increase in injuries and breakdowns. they need to study percentages of starters to injuries, rather than just going with a total. that will tell the tale.
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Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new at all. Abraham Lincoln
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#8
01-05-2008, 05:59 PM
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good question. hollywood has gotten nothing but praise.
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Books serve to show a man that those original thoughts of his aren't very new at all. Abraham Lincoln
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#9
01-05-2008, 12:45 PM
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#11
01-05-2008, 01:01 PM
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Also, you say that anyone that wants to go back to dirt doesn't care about their horses. That's pretty silly. Does the same hold true for those that have stayed on dirt and not switched? Do all of the trainers that run on dirt at Churchill and NY and Florida not care about these animals either? One last thing. Do you really think that you telling me that you think I'm trash hurts me? You can state it to me repeatedly until your fingers fall off. I really don't care.
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The real horses of the year (1986-2020) Manila, Java Gold, Alysheba, Sunday Silence, Go for Wand, In Excess, Paseana, Kotashaan, Holy Bull, Cigar, Alphabet Soup, Formal Gold, Skip Away, Artax, Tiznow, Point Given, Azeri, Candy Ride, Smarty Jones, Ghostzapper, Invasor, Curlin, Zenyatta, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Havre de Grace, Wise Dan, Wise Dan, California Chrome, American Pharoah, Arrogate, Gun Runner, Accelerate, Maximum Security, Gamine
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#12
01-05-2008, 01:11 PM
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Okay - Cushion Track has changed the sand at SA. It's been pouring rain last 24 hours in CA, right? (how much did SA get?)
Has anyone seen anything written anywhere on if the track is draining better today or not? I couldn't get the video link to the track that was posted - what's it look like today, puddled up, still sealed, what?
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"Have the clean racing people run any ads explaining that giving a horse a Starbucks and a chocolate poppyseed muffin for breakfast would likely result in a ten year suspension for the trainer?" - Dr. Andrew Roberts
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#14
01-05-2008, 01:21 PM
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__________________
"Have the clean racing people run any ads explaining that giving a horse a Starbucks and a chocolate poppyseed muffin for breakfast would likely result in a ten year suspension for the trainer?" - Dr. Andrew Roberts
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#15
01-05-2008, 01:12 PM
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#16
01-05-2008, 01:19 PM
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#17
01-05-2008, 01:31 PM
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And to answer your question,if you can tolerate watching a dogfight,then it doesn't surprise anybody that you want to go back to the dirt we had out here.Backwards Beaumont trash finally got his dirt capping down,and can't learn how to cap synthetic.
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#19
01-05-2008, 01:39 PM
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First time swimmies is a good angle.
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Felix Unger talking to Oscar Madison: "Your horse could finish third by 20 lengths and they still pay you? And you have been losing money for all these years?!"
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#20
01-05-2008, 01:53 PM
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Hybrid Mode
