Has anyone else noticed...

[Observer]

that there seems to be a frequent amount of scratches on the way to the gate, or at the gate, at Santa Anita on a fairly regular basis?

[Lefty]

I'm beginning to think this is a plan to make us believe they have more horses entered than they really have. "Hey, trainer, enter your horse so it looks like to the public we have and 8 horse field.
We'll let you scratch him before he runs"
Am I nuts?

[Tom]

Whatever the reason, it sounds like it might pay to watch these horses closely - do they come back to run realtively soon, how do they perform when they do, does any trainer name pop up frequently doing this? I don't usually believe in conspiracy theories, but if one is going on, it might pay off at the windows.

Tom

[Rexdale You]

Observer Hi,,,,While it can be frustrating to have horses scratched so close to post,,,You do not know if the scratsh is activated by the Trainor or the Track Vet,,,,That info only becomes available when the horse is entered in its next race,,,,By the DRF,,,,Rex You,,,,:) :)

[Observer]

Rexdale You,

These scratches are all being done on advice of the track veterinarian either during the warm up or at the gate. The trainer has no chance of scratching his/her horse at this point .. unless there is a rule in California that allows for this .. but somehow I doubt it.

I do not like to speculate about any "behind the scenes" types of activities and try not to ever reach unfounded conclusions. I was not trying to make any other point about the high number of post time scratches other than the fact that it appears to happen with an extremely high frequency. But I was also wondering if maybe it was just coincidence that these weren't really happening as often as I thought, just that I happened to catch Santa Anita on some rare bad days .. that's why I asked if anyone else had noticed.

[so.cal.fan]

observer:
We haven't noticed anymore than usual, but perhaps we're not paying attention.
I have noticed a few more maiden claimers being scratched on the track.
Could be they are just a bunch of bad horses. We have stood in the
paddock and hated the looks of entire fields of these types.

[Observer]

Hey so.cal.fan!

There was a bad day at Aqueduct not too many days ago where there were a few races on a single card where horses ended up being scratched at post time.

I don't follow Santa Anita much, but it just seemed like on the days when I was able to see a few races, horses were being scratched at the gate almost as though it was a regular thing.

Guess maybe it's just that time of year, huh?