Is it possible to turn up a list of races that a horse had been entered in, but scratched from?
Equibase only shows races that a horse actually started in results.
I know I can pull a chart and see a scratch, but tough to know what charts to pull without knowing the horse was entered.
As far as I know, scratches aren’t recorded anywhere. For Equibase’s purposes, it only matters if a horse raced.
That’s about what I thought but wasn’t sure if I was missing something. I can get some of it from my stable watch–since it generates entry notifications, then the scratch notification. But obviously nada from before I added the horse to my watch.
Bummer. Thank you for confirming!
These days a good percentage of the entries scratch for many possible reasons and it would probably be pretty cumbersome to track. Do they consider a conditional entry, like MTO, a scratch if the race stays on turf ? Always wondered.
Since, as you pointed out, there are many possible reasons for scratching, a scratch isn’t considered to be a knock against the horse and/or trainer. It’s just a matter of bookkeeping. The horse was in the race, now it’s out. So yes, if a race stays on the turf, the MTO only horses are scratched. The scratch is the mechanism for removing a horse from a race.
Since the advent of HISA, the reasons for scratching are now noted after the horse’s name on the race chart. The usual categories are: Trainer, MTO, Off-turf, Stakes Scratch, Vet-Illness, and Vet-Unsound.
The only one of those that “matters” is Vet-Unsound which means that the state vet didn’t clear the horse to race when it was examined that morning. The horse will now be on the “Vet’s List” and the owners will have to do diagnostics, possible turnout, and breeze for the state vet before the horse is able to be entered again. That process is pretty cumbersome and (depending on the state) usually takes 3-6 months to accomplish.
Thank you for taking the time LaurieB, always good to get answers from those active within the industry.
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