Horses Breaking Down..

[sq764]

Maybe it's just that I haven't watched as many t-bred races as I have of late, but I see SO MANY horses breaking down at various points of the race.

At Penn National, it almost seems like every night there is a horse breaking a leg or falling. It's unreal...

[kenwoodallpromos]

I only believe in streaks when it is horses' footing! Check for unusual watering, or dirt moved around. Medium speed is supposed to be safest track.

[kenwoodallpromos]

Penn= extremely slow track, probably very bad footing, especially for horses that run stiff-legged, or "paddle". Look for horses with lots of leg action/bending of knees.

[sq764]

Also probably doesn't help that you have $2500 10 year old horses running..

[TRM]

Back in the early 90's Trinity Meadows opened just outside of Ft. Worth, TX. It was exciting as this was the first track to open since TX decided to reinstate Pari-m wagering. The track surface was horrible, countless times jockeys refused to ride because they felt the track was un-safe........to make a long story short......the track is now closed due to Lone Star Park. A management company wanted to purchase the track. With that, they had to complete an environmental study of the track and land around the area. When they started drilling into certain areas of the track they kept hitting objects under the surface. They found that the track was built on a small dump of sorts.....Washing machines......furniture...etc....I don't think there were any hazardous materials found though.......Only in Texas LOL. :eek:

[Steve 'StatMan']

Washing Machines?! Wow! Well, no wonder some of those horses seemed 'all washed up'! :D

[TRM]

That was good Steve!! LOL.

Another real quick one. One Sat. afternoon my dad and I were out there (just had to see this place, Randy Moss once called Trinity Meadows "Sam Houston on Steroids"), Anyway we were cappin the next race when out of the blue walks in these 2 heavily armed sherriffs, I mean the one in front had a machine gun and the other one had a 12 gauge shotgun.....they both looked like a cross between Rambo and sherriff Beaufort T. Justice. All this pomp and circumstance to usher this employee behind closed doors with a bag of money. We just looked at each other and died laughing.....Oh man I miss that place......It would be nice if they would re-open as a class 2 but LSP won't let that happen....:(

[schweitz]

Originally posted by TRM


...It would be nice if they would re-open as a class 2 but LSP won't let that happen....:(

If only it could happen---spent a lot of time out there---went on vacation in Aug. of '96 to watch Cigar run at Del Mar and when I returned the doors were locked.

[dav4463]

I learned to handicap at Trinity Meadows ! All those horses with ZERO BEYERS ! One of my strangest memories was the night the huge hail storm hit and we were under a tornado warning. I remember watching as the horses were led back to the barn as the rain and hail started getting heavy. The power even went out for a few minutes that night and I'll bet 90 percent of the people there were drunk ! Another weird thing happened there with the trams that carried people from their cars through the muddy field that they called a parking lot. One guy wandered in front of a tram one time and was hit and killed instantly. I once saw a horse do a backflip in the paddock, get loose, and run wild for a few minutes......no scratch here ! He won the race ! I do miss that place though, I liked the country atmosphere, no traffic, carnival types selling their tip sheets outside the track, and the barbeque that Lone Star just wishes they had !

[TRM]

Hey Dave,

Those were good stories.....I forgot about the big hail storm....

I just noticed that your location is Denton. That's my old alma mater. Go Mean Green Eagles!! Is the Flying Tomato still there? They always had $1.00 pitchers on Thurs nites. And of course you must be a Brave Combo fan.....Can you believe they won a grammy for best Polka album a couple of years ago.....I know Carl Finch he's a real character......One last fond memory.....cutting class on Fridays to make the 3.5 hr trek to LAD or Remington with my dad and his racing buddies.....That was a blast.....Learned a ton from those guys.....racing....horses....life in general......

TRM

[dav4463]

TRM,

I am Mean Green as well ! The Flying tomato is just called "The Tomato" now ! Still the same good pizza and cheap beer. Fry Street isn't nearly as wild as when I was there in the late 80's and early 90's, but it still draws an interesting crowd ! Talk about college day racing.....I used student loans to learn how to handicap at Trinity ! I cut classes many times for some daytime racing there ! I even missed my best friend's wedding because I went to Remington Park and just couldn't get back in time ! I never heard what they did with the tuxedo ! I saw that (award) won by Brave Combo, they were guests on the Ticket radio station the other night. Did you hear them? My favorite local band from that time was "Funland". Do you remember them? We used to watch them play an early show in Denton and then drive to Dallas to catch their late show at Trees.......I miss those days !

[TRM]

Dave,

Our paths may have crossed up there many times but just didn't know it. I played in a band also around that time frame called "The Dogs". There was a place called the Enterprise and right next door was the Library, on the same side as the tomato, that we played at. We also did a couple of shows at the RBL. They actually taped us and put us on the access channel.

Brave Combo will sometimes play in Dallas at the Sons of Herman near Deep Ellum. Haven't seen them in a while.

I don't remember Funland, but how about 11:11, Brinker, Revolver, or Molly Maguires.....Most of the time they played at the library....the club, not the real library.....

Speaking of books...Is Voertman's still over there? I also heard that they made Sorority / Fraternity row behind Voertman's.

Did you ever go to the SAE "Sammy House" for their annual halloween haunted house? that place was wierd......

Oops!! Looks like were off topic a bit.......those were fun days.......

[dav4463]

We need to relive some old times at Lone Star sometime. Send me an email at yeley@aol.com

Voertman's is still there. The Sammy house burned down, but they rebuilt it. I definitely remember a few wild Halloween parties at that place! I too spent some time at the Library. That was a great club ! Remember Dr. Smiths and Dr. Smiths II ? Live music was a lot bigger in Denton back then wasn't it ?