Asmussen's Op/Ed Re: Mandatory Dark Days

[Texarkana]

Steve Asmussen Op/Ed: Please Do What is Right for the Racehorse

I didn’t know this was happening, that racetracks were completely closed to training on certain days. This was not done where I worked years ago. I am assuming these places are closing the track but you can still jog the shedrow, etc.?

I agree with him that it is not in the best interest of the horse. I also recognize that managing a racetrack is immensely expensive and not getting any cheaper.

He calls for horsemen to be a part of these types of management decisions and I completely agree.

How else can we balance the rising cost of racetrack operations with the best interests of the horses? I’m curious to hear the opinions of others!

[snaffle1987]

I imagine some of it may come down to labor laws as well (dependent on the state) . Where I live; you cannot have employees work more than 6 straight days. They need to have 1 day off. In my line of work we have rotational hourly employee schedules but for a racetrack operating with track maintenance crews, outriders, etc it might be nearly impossible to find the workforce to do that and have the funds to do so. I feel like some of the reasoning behind doing this may go much deeper than Asmussen realizes.

I understand that the horses on the track get free stabling; etc because they are the main attraction paying the way for the betting public. But at what point can tracks continue to do so without any cost trickling down to trainers or ownership. If dark days are helping a track break even in these current times; then its’ what must be done for the viability for everyone involved.

I would be interested to hear more of the specific reasoning from tracks for having dark days. without that in depth explanation; it’s hard to argue both sides.

[Texarkana]

I agree there may be managerial reasons factoring into the decision. But as recently as 2018 every backside I had ever been to had training privileges 7 days a week. While I had heard of the closures recently due to Covid-19 or surface problems, I had no idea places had begun restricting training on a weekly basis.

I’m confused how labor laws would suddenly be a problem. There are many people in the horse racing industry who work 7 days a week, but I am not aware of employees of the facility being scheduled 7 days a week for surface renovations on any sort of regular basis. Sometimes for very short season meetings maybe? Track crew works for the track; horsemen, riders, officials, etc. all are under different entities or independent contractors.

Whatever the tracks’ reasons, I agree with Asmussen that the decision is detrimental to horses and safety.

[Rackonteur]

The way Steve Asmussen’s statement is worded is confusing. I can’t tell if if he is in favor of tracks closing one day a week “for” training – as he says – which means the track is closed to any activities EXCEPT training – or if he means tracks should close one day a week to training, meaning one day a week there should be no training done.

I’m also not sure whether the OP means horsemen should be “apart” from this issue, or “a part” of any decisions.

[Aussie_2020]

From the little I know of training horses I agree with him. To actually have a scheduled day off that is beneficial to the horse the trainer needs to be allowed to choose when they work. The comments about track condition after a day off are interesting. What good does it do to shut down for a day if it takes another day, or perhaps two, to get it back in shape?

[Texarkana]

@Rackonteur I edited for you. Thank you for pointing out my typo that considerably changed the meaning of the statement.

[Texarkana]

@Aussie_2020

From the little I know of training horses I agree with him. To actually have a scheduled day off that is beneficial to the horse the trainer needs to be allowed to choose when they work. The comments about track condition after a day off are interesting. What good does it do to shut down for a day if it takes another day, or perhaps two, to get it back in shape?

I agree that I don’t understand what good it does to shut down the track if it creates more work once it reopens.

My assumption is they do it to save on the cost of maintenance staff based on Asmussen’s words.

Asmussen’s statements makes me believe the management does not understand the nature of horses. I don’t know if that’s an accurate depiction of the whole situation, because as you know, there are two sides to every story.

From a horsemanship perspective, closing the track one or more days per week is not healthy. Most racetracks already have limited space and limited ways you can provide movement for these fit, young animals.

[punchy]

A few tracks I worked on had one dark day a week. You could shedrow. There was no racing the day after. I don’t think it’s so terrible for the horses, it was more a pain in the neck for the people. Perhaps that is what is driving his op ed.

Funny, there was recently another thread about how terrible it was to make people in the horse industry work 7 days a week…

[Texarkana]

@punchy if you don’t mind me asking, where and when was this? I ask because I never encountered it working in the mid-Atlantic late 90s through mid 00s. The horses I have been a part of owning have been stabled anywhere with mandatory dark days to my knowledge.

[Texarkana]

Since reading the op/Ed, I perused some of the overnights to see where this is happening.

I only saw mention of it at some of the LA tracks, specifically DD. But I didn’t check all the overnights.

[punchy]

It was Ohio, for decades. Turfway in Kentucky was off and on, and I think Mountaineer in West Virginia did too, not sure about now. I’ve been out of the loop for awhile.

What bugs me about the op ed is the heavy reliance on the horse welfare angle, and I really don’t think it’s an issue. There are so many other, more problematic practices to fix. I feel like he’s just playing the horse welfare card to publicly pressure the tracks to give him what he wants. And to set the scene, potentially, for blaming the track if his horse runs poorly or is injured. The whole thing feels very manipulative. I don’t mind that he wants to train 7 days a week, I’m sure many would prefer it. I just object to his method.

Curious, too, as this is something the HBPA normally would address. Of course, trainers are welcome to pay to stable and train at a private facility…

[Texarkana]

[quote=“punchy, post:11, topic:753418, full:true”]

It was Ohio, for decades. Turfway in Kentucky was off and on, and I think Mountaineer in West Virginia did too, not sure about now. I’ve been out of the loop for awhile.

What bugs me about the op ed is the heavy reliance on the horse welfare angle, and I really don’t think it’s an issue. There are so many other, more problematic practices to fix. I feel like he’s just playing the horse welfare card to publicly pressure the tracks to give him what he wants. And to set the scene, potentially, for blaming the track if his horse runs poorly or is injured. The whole thing feels very manipulative. I don’t mind that he wants to train 7 days a week, I’m sure many would prefer it. I just object to his method.

Curious, too, as this is something the HBPA normally would address. Of course, trainers are welcome to pay to stable and train at a private facility…[/quote]

Thanks! The operation I worked for had horses based out of all of those areas in the early 00s, though I’ve never worked on the backside of any of them. I don’t recall ever hearing that type of schedule for the horses I worked with, but then again, that’s not really something you would need to communicate back east.

I see your point about the welfare angle, but I disagree that he is just exploiting the welfare part. I don’t this this is solely a matter of wanting to train 7 days a week, it’s wanting to be able to train when is best for the horse, which is a welfare issue in my mind. But I’ve never been in a situation where there were days you couldn’t work your horses. It seems limiting to me. You clearly have more experience with this type of schedule and didn’t see it as problematic. That’s good to know and I appreciate your shared perspective.

I also wondered where the HBPA was in this conversation.

Edited: I tried to break up the quote like you could do on the old forum and jacked this all up.

[Aussie_2020]

@punchy Where did it say he wants to train 7 days a week? I understood it as he wants to adjust each horses training to suit their individual needs and racing schedule. So instead of having to take Monday off a horse could be off on Wednesday or Friday, etc. And it does seem to be a welfare issue, but like I said, I don’t train race horses so my knowledge of their needs is minimal.

[Texarkana]

@Aussie_2020 I think you bring up a good point.

The phrase “training 7 days a week” can be interpreted different ways.

When @punchy typed that, I thought it was in reference to his stable being able to have horses out on the track training 7 days a week.

But it seems like it could also be interpreted as individual horses training 7 days a week.

I worked for some stables where horses truly had to earn their living… even in places where they were expected to work hard, they always had at least one day off during the week. It wasn’t even necessarily done out of welfare or kindness: often it was because of how many riders you had available (or afford to have available), other times the horses were too sore after a strenuous day and physically couldn’t train.

The problem is, requiring everyone to have the same dark day doesn’t solve scheduling/staffing issues or address physical issues.

[punchy]

@Aussie_2020, @Texarkana: Right, I took him to mean wanting to control the schedule of the horses better, not that he wanted to train every horse every day. I guess i just got used to working around the dark day, so it didn’t really phase me. And we could shedrow or swim if we wanted to do something with a particular horse. Every now and then somebody would gallop one anyway, early; you could get away with it about once

[Texarkana]

@punchy

Every now and then somebody would gallop one anyway, early; you could get away with it about once