@Where’sMyWhite that https://www.paulickreport.com/news/t…tant-starters/ is horrifying. They aren’t sure if the gate has been tested yet, so the first time it is used may be in a race on the day?
:eek: I think that shows an alarming lack of concern for the safety of everyone involved at the gate, both human and horse.
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@skydy Article said the gate was supposed to have been used for morning training 8/24 but that was rescheduled to 8/26after two of the gate crew tested positive for COVID. Unknown if this reschedule went forward (as of the writing of the article).
Current plan is to use the gate in a race on opening day, 9/1. Leaves 4 days to solve any issue.
Maybe the first time in a race track history that a race was written to test a starting gate :lol: September 1, Race 1, 3YO and up, Maidens, one mile and one-quarter. From the PR report, the racing secretary wrote a 1 1/4 race at the behest of the CD Starter.
Yes, I read the article.:yes: The gate is untested as far as we know. I think that is unacceptable. It needs to be tried and tested before it is loaded with horses and used for a race.
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BH has a more recent article about the new 20-stall gate. Currently the gate is near the backstretch chute so it can be wheeled on to the track for horses to school. No schooling was observed during the specific Derby training session today (Saturday). Activity is expected to pick up during light training days leading up to the race.
The BH article said Race 2 on September 1 (I got Race 1 from the condition book) it will be used in an actual race. It is not expected that 20 horses will be in the gate but it will be positioned where it will be for the Derby.
It’s a good.idea to have at least a few horses break from the gate before it is used for a race. I’d think that most owners and trainers would insist on seeing some sort of trial rather than have their horses used as guinea pigs, and I hope and expect that Churchill Downs will insist that the safety of their human employees is not ignored as well.
Everything is so weird this year. So much has gone wrong due of the lack of applying common sense. I can’t bear to see any more tragedies that can be prevented just by using a little forethought.
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It sounds like Churchill is making the gate available in the mornings. Also sounded like the expectation this week of light works prior to the Derby that conditioners may choose to take advantage of trying it. Churchill can’t make conditioners use it in the morning.
At least on Tuesday it will get used in a 1 1/4 mile MSW in Race 2. Currently 7 horses enter in that race.
On a very quick scan, at least 2 jocks and one conditioner listed for the KD will have horses in the MSW on Tuesday so some firsthand experience in a race, albeit with a smaller field that the KD will have.
Gate was in use yesterday (Sunday) per Paulick Report https://www.paulickreport.com/news/triple-crown/initial-tests-with-20-horse-gate-going-well-gate-to-premiere-in-tuesday-race/
Sounds like process for the gates to actually open is different, ie no magnets, but some type of latching that is supposed to be more quiet.
Sounds like one benefit is that now the 1 horse with this new gate will be coming out about where the 3 horse path would be coming out with the old United Puett gate.
Yeah as a licensed trainer for over 20 years I am sure there would be any number of jobs available for me. I have had 3 hip surgeries, a shoulder surgery and most recently a lumbar spinal fusion since I stopped training race horses less than 10 years ago so the list of jobs I could make it through, even for a day is pretty limited. I may have to brainstorm a bit.
Art Collector is out of the derby with a minor injury.
Art Collector nicked the bulb of his LF heel with hind hoof when galloping yesterday (8/31). Withdrew in part because of the medication rules; he couldn’t be treated with anti-inflammatory this close to the race.
Could he have beaten Tiz The Law, who knows. But sure would have liked to have seen him try. He’ll be pointed to the Preakness.
In case anyone was worried that Todd Pletcher wasn’t going to have a Derby entry this year, he has an allowance horse named Money Moves that he thinks can be moved up to stakes company. :rolleyes:
If Tiz The Law can’t get it done, my heart wants Necker Island for the upset. The trainer is Will Harbut’s (of Man O War fame) great grandson!
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And the three favorites drew the three outside posts:
16 Honor AP
17 Tiz the Law
18 Authentic
Maybe the new gate will make their jobs a bit easier–they will not be in an auxiliary gate, and will be closer to the rail.
Interesting that the favorites were all outside. Tiz the Law got PP 17 as the last horse drawn.
Late entry of South Bend for a total of 18 horses (as of this morning at least) out of the gate on Saturday. Nice article from PR with quotes from the trainers after the draw…
My sentimental is Storm the Court but not exactly hopeful at 50-1.
My hope is Honor A.P. at 5-1
Will be interesting to see who’s actually in the gate in 5 days and the actual odds rather than the ML odds.
Maythehorsebewithyou, did you read the articles on the new gate. I’m not sure I’m thinking this gate will make the asst starters jobs easier - narrower ‘pontoon’ on which to stand and IIRC a slightly narrower stall to fit all the horses in a single gate.
Wonder what CD will do with it after Saturday. Use it just a few times a year for the CD and ‘practice’?
If you read upthread, I commented on the new narrower pontoons (post #256). When I said “easier” I was referring to the horses, not the assistant starters–easier in that the horses will not be so far outside and there won’t be that gap between the regular gate and the auxiliary gate that seems to have caused issues in the past.
I certainly hope the assistant starters manage to get the field off safely (for all–themselves, jockeys, and horses).
And as to what Churchill Downs will do with the gate between Derbies, who knows? I wonder what it cost. And I’ll bet the shipping was really something. (Seems like one always get nailed with the shipping.)
I would be surprised it the gate goes very far other than maybe to Lexington. AFAIK, it was shipping in parts from Australia and assembled on-site in Louisville.
Can someone tell me if the triple crown is still going to be on NBC stations? I am on Dish and they are currently negotiating with NBC so I do not have any of their channels.
A quick search shows that NBCSports will be covering it. Often some of the undercard races will be NBCSN and the “bigger” races on NBC.
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I have found that Saratoga Live Racing can be seen on plain o’ YouTube. (I have ‘paused’ my YouTube-TV subscription currently and am watching YouTube instead.) And today, I discovered that they were showing living racing at Churchill Downs and Fingerlakes on YouTube, also, with some of the commentators from Saratoga.
I will probably decide between YouTube-TV and Hulu-TV (tried that for free for 7 days) before Friday, JUST IN CASE they decide NOT to show the important Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby races live on “plain” YouTube.
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