Any insights on whether or not there appear to be more non-catastrophic training injuries on synthetics vs. dirt?
It really is a nice area. I used to live less than a mile from there in Monrovia I used to ride the Barbie horse to the tack shops that catered to the racetrack. A third of the people I in my tiny circle were one way or another involved with the track, grooms, outriders, hospitality.
What started out as a 1 home lot with room for a backyard and a stable had had by the time I rented there in the 90s had three small rental houses on it and a 5 horse stable in the back Last time I drove by they were cramming 4 & 5 multi storied monstrosities onto those same lots. multiply that by the hundreds of acres that SA is on and you see the motivation to get rid of track and replace it with a few thousand overpriced condos.
The turning point for me was P. L. B’s breakdown during the Baffert interview. It hit me later that the odds that a breakdown just then in front of cameras were winning the lottery odds. It would not happen by chance so then I reached for my shiny hat and started to wonder what might be up. Unless proven otherwise I am leaning towards the land grab angle.
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How would you make a horse breakdown on command on camera at just the right moment?
Inquiring minds want to know…
Startle them enough to break stride. I posted couple of crude speculation on page 17. Why is your post so combative ?
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Startling a breezing horse enough to make them break stride would probably also catch the attention of people and other horses in the immediate area. And if the horse had blinkers or a shadow roll on, it would be even harder to accomplish. Plus, imagine the timing! Get the horse to the exact right place in the camera angle, and Pow! Hard to believe everything came together so perfectly during an impromptu interview.
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I pray all run safe today! I’ll be tense in the Santa Anita derby.
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Discussion now on NBCSN – torrential rainfall?
Roadster wins SA Derby. Everyone looks OK after the race.
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Thank goodness all 6 came back safely!!! Congratulations Roadster!
Not Santa Anita, but Cathedral Reader in the Madison Stakes at Keeneland was pulled up near the quarter pole, vanned off and subsequently euthanized today 
Christina Blacker (TVG) said that Dallas Stewart (trainer) was in tears leaving the paddock after loosing Cathedral Reader.
Talk about the highs and lows of this sport. The race immediately following the Madison was the Central Bank Ashland Stakes won by Out For A Spin, trained by Dallas Stewart.
How awful :(. May she R.I.P and her trainer find comfort.
Doesn’t he (Stewart) and his wife do a lot of TB rescuing and rehoming? How sad for them. .
I seem to remember that she was one of the owner’s favorites. She was a Shackleford so she hit my radar last year.
In the middle of a glorious day at Santa Anita, I called a friend of mine who manages a good sized farm. He sounded terrible, distant. One of his favorite mares was kicked by a pasture mate that morning who broke her pelvis. She left an 8 day old foal and he was on the road taking the foal to another farm that had a nurse mare. She was booked to Violence–yeah she was that kind of mare.
Horsemen I’ve known have a kind of gallows humor or maybe it’s resignation. No one who has over ten horses ever has a completely good day.There’s is just too much that can go wrong. Santa Anita has over 1500 horses. I’m not sure the modern mindset can handle a world where young mares die in a pasture and young horses die on the track and I’m not sure what racing can do to change that.
But for some of us, it was a wonderful day.
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FEI:
Next Friday, Apr. 12, jockeys riding at Santa Anita will do so without a whip, according to a letter the Jockeys’ Guild sent Friday to the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB), Santa Anita management, the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC), and the California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT).
That’s one of the stupider things I’ve ever heard. What exactly is taking away the jock’s whips going to accomplish?
Is there any evidence to suggest the majority of the fatal breakdowns occurred when the horses were under the whip?
What if there’s a wreck when a tired horse bores out in the stretch and collides with another runner, a situation a jockey can prevent by fanning a whip, not actually striking the horse with it?
SMH.
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Yesterday at Santa Anita was definitely not business as usual. First of all, the racing was Breeders Cup class. Bellafina is probably the best three year old filly in the country and Roadster and Game Winner are probably the early favorites for the Derby. McKinzie is one of the best older horses and now Gift Box stamped himself worthy as well. And Vasilika has just won 13 out of 15 of her last races and tiptoeing into the collection of the best claims in history.
Yes the protesters were chanting and holding signs at the head of the main entrance but over 30,000 people ignored and went anyway. The mood if anything was defiant. I talked to a number of people I didn’t know and they were sad this winter happened, confident it was straightened out and contemptuous of people who tried to use it against the sport. Security was tightened and the jocks were escorted back and forth from the jocks room but I still saw some that stopped for autographs and selfies.The weather was glorious. At one point, I sat on a bench in the paddock area next to the NBC camera people resting until the big race and they were clearly enjoying the day, the horses and the sheer beauty of the surroundings. A helicopter hovered all day long over the track and I wasn’t sure it was for security or if some ghoul up there wanted to catch a breakdown. It crossed my mind that some crazy person might want to use a big day at Santa Anita to make some horrible statement but fortunately my imagination was running away with me.
All the horses came back OK but there was a worried murmur when Ms Bad Behavior completely blew the turn. I’ve never seen anything quite like that at a fullsize big league track and I wondered if it was a preview of the whip free day coming up.
The media was there in force and they saw great racing on a great day. Maybe they will even come back.
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So Ms Bad Behavior lived up to her name.
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I wonder (haven’t seen the race) if the blown turn had to do with the whip ruling? Lots of race horses are cue for a change with the whip.
The No Whip isn’t in effect yet – next Friday according to ruling.
Agree.
Jocks can’t use leg/heels/seat aids! How are they suppose to cue the horses?? Grabbing an ear and whispering?
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