Shoe announcements at Belmont

[cees with dees]

Last meet I noticed several discrepencies and wondered if anyone had a way, outside of contacting the paddock judge, to verify the announcements.
Some days it's so bad that the tv graphics don't even match the announcements and when I call the track, no one seems to have a definitive answer nor to they even seem to care.
Ben

[Robert Fischer]

things like mud caulks on ?

I would harass the paddock judge and those reponsible for making the announcements if they aren't doing relaying the info .

[the_fat_man]

This ties in with the steadily deteriorating quality of the replays.

Almost as often as not, they miss the headon break, starting the race a few strides out the gate, rather than from the start. Also, they now almost exclusively switch from the rear to the headon shot in the middle of the stretch, rather than starting the headon from when they're about to enter the stretch. This makes following horses in the stretch doubly difficult. Add this to poor angles, poor quality, and poor lighting and you kind of wonder why, when the technology is there, NYRA can't employ people that take advantage of it.

Compare this to the Calder replays, for example, where they give you a FULL gate headon shot IMMEDIATELY and repeatedly after the race and provide full headon stretch shots and much better quality (in terms of focus and lighting/coloring) than anything NYRA has to offer.

It could be worse, however. On the flip side, there's Meadowlands, where they don't give a full headon replay, cutting out portions of the backstretch and turn. Guess they figure the importance lies only in finish line.

[silverfox]

Tough to to find on internet betting sites.My guess is stickers are very positive on polytrack tracks.

[samyn on the green]

How many tracks even report shoe information? TVG just covers this info up and refuses to acknowledge it exists. While NYRA may not please everyone when considering the big picture, NYRA does the best job with the shoe info.

[Tom]

All equipement is like a state secret. When TVG only covers two track in an hour, it can't be time constraints. :rolleyes:

This could be part of the ADW reprot card dicussed here - how well do they communicate, or better yet, do they understand people are acutally wagering gon races????

[spilparc]

Last meet I noticed several discrepencies and wondered if anyone had a way, outside of contacting the paddock judge, to verify the announcements.
Some days it's so bad that the tv graphics don't even match the announcements and when I call the track, no one seems to have a definitive answer nor to they even seem to care.
Ben

Shoe information is a joke. Do you actually think someone goes down into the paddock and looks at the horses feet to confirm the whether or not the information given to them is accurate?

The trainers can tell the track officials anything they want, and I guarantee you no confirmation whatsover is performed. I can also guarantee you that the information you are receiveing is about 50% inaccurate.

"Yea, my horse has jars," or "Yea, my horse is flat."

Belive it at your own risk.

[Tom]

NYRA history confirms that - they were totally inept at regulating shoes a few years ago, during the turn-down crap. Leading trainers were blatantly cheating and even bragging about it. Too many over stuffed chairs and overstuffed butts in the front office. :D

[ponyplayerdotca]

Why is it in harness racing, it seems all the information is given out pre-race (from equipment changes to number of claims in on a horse), but in thoroughbred racing, it's forbidden to do so, or simply isn't regulated to be given?

Again, even in harness racing, believe any info at your own risk, but at least the appearance of offering it is there to appease horseplayers.

Why has thoroughbred racing always been so stingy with this kind of thing?

[spilparc]

Why is it in harness racing, it seems all the information is given out pre-race (from equipment changes to number of claims in on a horse), but in thoroughbred racing, it's forbidden to do so, or simply isn't regulated to be given?

Again, even in harness racing, believe any info at your own risk, but at least the appearance of offering it is there to appease horseplayers.

Why has thoroughbred racing always been so stingy with this kind of thing?

I can remember having to go into the racing secretary's office to get the lasix list. This was way before anybody had a clue about lasix.

Workouts run since the racing form came out...same thing.

Eventually, since so many people started asking, in a remote corner of the track underneath the grandstand they started posting a list of recent workouts. Then they did the same thing for lasix horses including a notation for first and second time lasix horses. But they didn't advertise the fact. Those in the know would just go check the list every day.

Information has always been slow in coming. Blinkers on and off for example is obvious to everyone, so that information is probably 99% honest. Weight and overweights--hard to hide.

Shoe information? Forget about it.

When I grew up playing the horses cheating was prevalent. The purses were so tiny, and the horses were so beaten down that you just about had to cheat to pay the bills. It seemed like every jockey had access to a buzzer. I can recall many instances seeing the jockey toss the buzzer out in the bushes after the race. Sometimes you could see it right on the video.

Boat races? Sure, happened frequently.

They played a dangerous game sometimes running these old, broken down nags. On more than one occasion, I could spot a horse limping right in the paddock. I saw so many horrible spills. Charlie Tohill (http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=990CE0DA153BF934A2575BC0A9679482 60)was in a coma for years after being involved in a three-horse spill.

The life of a racetracker from my perspective over the years is pretty bleak. It's like cannery row back there. Everybody's broke and struggling except for the few successful barns year in and year out.

It's different on the bigger tracks with all the super stars, but you still have your day to day grinders trying to get by. The cheating isn't as common, because the purses are so large, but hiding information has been a game they have always liked to play--all of them. And why not? Wouldn't you?

And yet, even some of the successful barns cheat! Drugs, milkshakes, it's all been done. The lure of the mighty lucre sets a man to thinking.

I happen to belive the game is more honest today than it's ever been, especially with the advent of purse growth and slot money, but dishonesty will never die and misinformation will always thrive.

It's like Jorge Aragon told me one day after they gave him a long suspension for hitting another horse and jockey over the head repeatedly with his whip battling for the win coming down the stretch.

"Why did you do that," I asked.

"I bet my money!"