Agree completely Laurie.
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I know at their tracks here in Maryland the pressure to run your horses is relentless, I can only imagine what it’s like there with their horse shortage. One time I claimed a horse that broke down after the wire. She was vanned off and eventually put down following unsuccessful surgery. I got a call the next week asking me to enter her. I can understand that they didn’t know she was dead but they certainly knew she was vanned off.
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Your post made me verify something…NYRA had a similar fiasco back in 2012. A common denominator is the presence of PJ Campo, who was NYRA’s racing secretary back then and is someone with a title in TSG.
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Interesting poll question currently on Paulick Report’s web page https://www.paulickreport.com
In light of the fatalities at Santa Anita and subsequent publicity over equine welfare and safety issues, should the Breeders’ Cup board move this year’s championships from Santa Anita to another racetrack?
Yes/no response and no, I am not seeking, per se, how you’d vote but more a personal observation on how the poll question was worded that did make me really think about my response.
For me, the bolded phrase made me think and rethink my answer. For me, wasn’t really what I thought but for Santa Anita and for racing (really regardless of TSG’s shenanigans) the subsequent publicity could be huge if there was a catastrophic breakdown. Sure, maybe the same horse would have had the same catastrophic injury at a different track if the BC races are moved, but the level of negative publicity I think would be so much more if that injury occurred at SA vs just about anyplace else…
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I can somewhat understand the pressure to run horses. Lets look at it from a business perspective. to run and operate a track is a highly expensive endeavor and Santa Anita is sitting on prime real estate. Bob Baffert and his co-horts have a large block of stalls at SA and many trainers have complained in the past about his lack of running his horses.
Tracks need to pay the bills. When you are SUPPLYING stalls to the horses with no fee, you need those horses to run. If they are not at a point in their career to run, they are returning from injury, they’re too young to race, etc; they should be elsewhere training to return to a physical readiness to run. Stalls at the track should be for the horses who are in training regularly and ready to run to a regular schedule. I know many wont like to hear that but in the modern day in age, its the truth. The only way Santa Anita can operate in a profitable manner is if the horses they supply stalls to are entered to race at a regular clip. And I am not saying they need to race every week or two. But they need to race enough to cover the cost of the stalls they were provided. If they don’t; ownership//trainer should be covering the cost for the stall on the property.
If the calculations work out that the horse has to run every 2 weeks to cover the cost of stall (cost of stall includes the stall and manure removal etc), obviously that isn’t fair to the horse or safe. The only other option is to start charging for stalls on the track and that cost would trickle down to ownership. Eventually I see this going the way of eliminating on-site stabling at some of these tracks and doing things the way of Europe and Asia: Ship Ins.
Santa Anita should have all of those financials worked out and I am sure that they do. They fully understand how often a horse has to run in order to cover their financial cost of supplying housing and space on the grounds. It would be very interesting to see those calculations. that’s no excuse for them calling up trainers and asking them to run horses every 2 weeks but when you are Bob B and have 30 horses in the sheds that run every 6 months on average, how is that financially feasible?
Lets also see a list of every horse stabled on the grounds w/ trainer name, historical race dates, planned race dates (if any) and overall avg.
There is a reason why so many tracks have gone under in recent years. Its not financially feasible.
I personally think they need to call the race meet, revaluate, resurface the track entirely, start fresh in the fall. If resurfacing the track does not put a dent in the fatalities then there is a much larger issue at hand.
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I 100% think they should move it. If a horse so much as loses a shoe it could be the last nail in the coffin.
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Per our stall application here in MD we agree to the equivalent of one start per stall per month which is why you will see some horses run time after time despite clearly not even coming close to paying their own way. Those horses who run twice a month allow us to have one two year old in training or one horse legging up following a layup.
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Laurierace, I think you and I are spot on. Overall, no, I don’t think the BC races should move but given that black cloud of bad PR that will happen (TSG or not) if there is any sort of problem would be, in of itself catastrophic makes me agree that yeah, they should be moved. Yup, bad PR if there is a problem, not near as bad as if the problem is at SA
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That’s all very easy to say if you don’t own racehorses. But the logistics of having a horse (or several) at the track don’t work that way. Making a horse into a racehorse is a lengthy process with a number of steps. You can’t just skip over the ones that are inconvenient. Young TBs start out at training centers where they get “close” to running before shipping to the track. But most still spend at least 6-8 weeks at the track (barring complications) before they’re ready for their first race.
There are good reasons for that. The track surfaces at training centers are often different than those at the tracks and a period of adjustment is needed to avoid injuries. Many, if not most training centers don’t have tracks big enough to do the 4,5 and 6 furlong breezes that a horse will need to do before its ready to race. Many aren’t certified for a horse to be able to attain its “gate card” there.
Horses that are injured aren’t just hurt one day and then ready to go a month (or six) later. Again there is a process of bringing them back to race condition. You can’t just toss them on a farm for rehab, then ship them to a track to run a race. This shouldn’t be so hard to understand.
By the way, trainers and owners need to pay their bills too, and they are the ones SUPPLYING the horses to the tracks with no fee. (yes, I’ve borrowed your sentence from above.)
You’re crazy if you don’t think tracks are making money from racing (and wagering). No horses means no racing.
There is a reason why so many tracks have gone under in recent years.
Umm, yeah. Usually because they didn’t have enough horses to fill their races.
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Agree to all of it. But if you have a 2 yr old whos not ready to race and its at the track, the track shouldn’t be the one holding the bill for the stall and everything associated with the stall. They have a business to run, and a business that needs to turn a profit.
And while trainers are supplying the horses, so to speak, to run the races; I don’t go to horse shows and get free stabling and entry fees and the whole nine yards because I “supply my horse” so they can have a horse show and fulfill their business obligations. Racehorses have the possibility to win purse money as well, in every race they enter, which can quickly offset costs and is a repayment from the track hosting the races.
With racetracks, especially Santa Anita, the major complaints are the BNT’s who are offered more stalls than everyone else and they fill them with young prospects and horses who run a handful of times and yet because they are a BNT; there is not pressure for them to run their horses and help the track pay for those stalls.
And yes, trainers have bills to pay but if stalls were charged to the trainer when their stable wasn’t covering their obligation to the track, the fee trickles down to the ownership. Lets be realistic here; 99% of racehorse ownerships don’t turn a profit. and if you invest in racehorses thinking otherwise, you’re delirious. It’s a hobbyist sport for people who have some change to spend and enjoy it. Stall fees would just be part of the game like any other horse owner who boards. The trainer isn’t the one paying for it and not getting reimbursed. This is 2019 not 1944. Costs are rising and everyone has to pay their bills including the very track that offers trainers a spot to do business.
and yea, tracks are shutting down because they don’t have enough horses to fill their races… because the horses are sitting in their stalls and not running due to injuries or age or other ailments. Precisely why the barns are full at Santa Anita and yet their field sizes are 3 and 4 horses.
When I was a resident of Boston, anytime I toured the backstretch at Suffolk Downs, the barns were full as well. Didn’t prevent the track from being put on the bulldoze list and it was never enough to keep the place operational.
Until this moment I had no idea that stalls at the track were “free.” Not saying that they should or shouldn’t be, and I realize that racing horses generate revenue for the track from patrons and betting, unlike the typical horse at a typical horse show. But, while I certainly didn’t think trainers and owners were paying what we do for a stall at a show, I figured they were paying something similar to a dry stall fee at a boarding barn.
Carry on.
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Dry stall fee would be heavenly if it got the racing secretary off your back. Unfortunately not an option.
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If people were betting millions of dollars on whether or not your horse was going to win his class–money that mostly went to the horse show facility or organizer–you might feel different about the dynamic.
I was typing too fast earlier and forgot to mention the most important reason that owners send young horses to the track before they’re ready to race. It’s because that’s where the trainers are. The whole reason for hiring a specific trainer is because you admire his expertise and his methods, and you want him to train your horse. It’s something vital that’s impossible to replicate at a training center.
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Stalls haven’t been provided for free at any track we’ve ever raced at. Usually trainers include the cost in their daily rate. Sometimes it’s tacked on top.
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Thanks. I assumed, based on some of the comments upthread about supplying stalls and expecting horses to run, that management was providing them “free.”
That’s news to me. I had no idea some tracks charged for stalls.
You are just blissfully unaware of what all goes into getting a horse ready to race and keeping it ready to race. As others have pointed out, horses need gate cards to run, and you need to be at the track or at a good sized training center to get one. And you get the close to a race and a shin pops up or they start coughing or a myriad of other minor nuisances keep them from staying on schedule. Tell you what - get some real experience on the race track and then come back and tell us how to do it. Your tours of the backstretch didn’t even scratch the surface of real life on the back side.
Or put your money where your mouth is and buy a race horse. Then tell us how much you can afford to pay per day for a stall on top of the usual day rate plus the other stuff. Purses pay the winning owners ,who pay the bills on the horse. Purses are linked to the handle. Many states subsidize purses cuz otherwise racing would go under. Big fields = big handle = big purses and vice versa. We are dealing with a horse shortage. That is the problem.
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I was talking to my bookkeeper the other day about this. She runs a ranch and she and her daughter the trainer have some contact with some of the Santa Anita people. It’s her theory that the land is very valuable for development and she thinks it’s sabotage for someone to get the land and develop it into condos or something. Just a theory… but truly horrible if this was done at the expense of the horses. However, people with a lot of money and a will to do something, find any way justifies the means sometimes. The amount of horses dying within a short amount of time is suspicious of something other than normal events. She said just wait a few years and see what happens to the land when it turns into a shopping mall and condos or whatever… and you’ll be able to figure out who is ultimately responsible.
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Snaffle with all due respect living in Boston and taking the blue line to Suffolk and walking around the backstretch does not make you remotely knowledgeable about what it takes to get a horse to the track let alone in a race.
Do you not understand that you are debating with people who do this everyday or have done this in the past? You’re like that beginner rider that knows just enough to be dangerous.
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