Hialeah Racing OMG!

[mistergee]

http://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com/oped-sad-and-pathetic-hialeah-is-racing-again/

[Thomas Roulston]

But how much worse is this than California's mule racing that made Black Ruby and Taz "famous"?

[Dave Schwartz]

Is it really just an excuse to have slots?

If so, that is very sad.

[elhelmete]

Is it really just an excuse to have slots?

If so, that is very sad.

yes, and it is very very sad.

[Thomas Roulston]

The real tragedy is that Hialeah's track layout is ideal for racing at the highest level. It is much better than Calder in this regard - plus it is one of the few tracks that have a 3-furlong "Nursery Course," which also allows races to be run at a mile and a half.

[dilanesp]

The real tragedy is that Hialeah's track layout is ideal for racing at the highest level. It is much better than Calder in this regard.

Unless you are going 1 1/16m

[devilsbag]

In honor of Belmont Stakes day, the Citation statue is entered in tomorrow's feature.

[Thomas Roulston]

Unless you are going 1 1/16m


Which is also going to be a problem at the "new" Aqueduct.

[dilanesp]

Which is also going to be a problem at the "new" Aqueduct.

At least AQU has a mile chute.

[Tom]

But the only two turn dirt miles at any NYRA track will at least 9 furlongs, a distance well beyond the abilities of most horses in this day and age of lousy horses. You average horse will need to take the A train to get that far.

[dilanesp]

But the only two turn dirt miles at any NYRA track will at least 9 furlongs, a distance well beyond the abilities of most horses in this day and age of lousy horses. You average horse will need to take the A train to get that far.

You lose two distances- 1 mile 70 yards, and 1 1/16 miles. (The two turn/one turn thing is overstated. A mile is a mile.)

That's not nothing, but it doesn't strike me as the end of the world, especially since much of the year they run at Belmont where those distances are available (at least theoretically in the case of 1 mile 70, which I don't think they actually run at Belmont but could).

[cj]

Y(The two turn/one turn thing is overstated. A mile is a mile.)



I don't agree with this at all. Tactics are completely different and so are favored post positions.

[Parkview_Pirate]

A shame to have this happen to Hialeah, where at one time it was easily one of the top 5 tracks in the country. I've been there twice, and the memory of my first visit in December of 1987 still has me thinking that when you die and go to Horse Player's Heaven, it's a toss up whether it's most like Hialeah, Keeneland or the Spa. Lost my shirt on a $25K claimer from Chicago named Savorton, or something like that.

Stopped in there a couple of years ago, and was happy to see that the casino hadn't completely ruined it as a track (which cannot be said of the new GP). Played one quarter-horse race and hit the door. I'd say even with the passage of time and lack of updates, the facility is still in the top 10 in the U.S.....

[dilanesp]

I don't agree with this at all. Tactics are completely different and so are favored post positions.

I agree from a handicapping perspective. But I thought we were discussing this from the standpoint of whether a track's configuration was optimal. From THAT standpoint, a mile is a mile.

(To put it another way, does anyone complain about Belmont's 1 1/8th mile races being around one turn? It might matter for handicapping purposes, from from a standpoint of owning or training horses, if the track offers 9 furlong races, it offers 9 furlong races.)

[cj]

I agree from a handicapping perspective. But I thought we were discussing this from the standpoint of whether a track's configuration was optimal. From THAT standpoint, a mile is a mile.

(To put it another way, does anyone complain about Belmont's 1 1/8th mile races being around one turn? It might matter for handicapping purposes, from from a standpoint of owning or training horses, if the track offers 9 furlong races, it offers 9 furlong races.)

Agree, the two turn miles on the inner are pretty silly anyway to be honest.

[Track Phantom]

One of the saddest articles I've ever read related to the game of horse racing. I suggest every horseplayer read this. It could come to some variation of this at other venues. Makes me ill.

[Parkview_Pirate]

One of the saddest articles I've ever read related to the game of horse racing. I suggest every horseplayer read this. It could come to some variation of this at other venues. Makes me ill.

Any racing facility that is joined at the hip with casinos can have this problem - when the racing is simply a loosely-defined requirement to maintain the operation of slots....

Personally, I'd rather see a track close and completely go to slots before that....

[stlseeeek]

They filmed Let it Ride at Hialeah.

[pandy]

I don't agree with this at all. Tactics are completely different and so are favored post positions.

I agree with CJ on this. And there are horses that are simply much better around two turns than one, regardless of the distance. Two turn routes have slower paces than one turn routes so horses that are not that quick early but have good sustained speed tend to do better around two turns, as do athletic horses that handle turns very well.

[Thomas Roulston]

You lose two distances- 1 mile 70 yards, and 1 1/16 miles. (The two turn/one turn thing is overstated. A mile is a mile.)

That's not nothing, but it doesn't strike me as the end of the world, especially since much of the year they run at Belmont where those distances are available (at least theoretically in the case of 1 mile 70, which I don't think they actually run at Belmont but could).



Have you ever seen the 3 1/2-furlong mini-chute at Canterbury Park? Something like that could probably be built for 1 mile 70 yards at Aqueduct (Ellis Park, also a 1 1/8-mile track, also once had something similar). Refer to the link below.


http://www.yaegerarchitecture.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/CB_800x480_1.jpg


And when the 1 5/8-mile Gallant Fox Handicap was on the outer dirt track before the inner track existed, there was a zero run-up to the first turn (the same would apply to 1 1/16 m on the Aqueduct outer dirt track). At the other end of the scale, look at the 210-foot run to the pole for 1-mile races at Keeneland, which wasn't too "unprofessional" to be used in the Breeders' Cup - and don't 1 mile dirt races at Santa Anita employ a 172-foot run-up to the wire? Maybe a bit less than that - say, 165 feet (exactly 1/32nd of a mile) - could be considered.

So maybe both 1m 70 y and 1 1/16 m can be saved after all.