Stats on injuries revised-Synthetic24% drop

[trigger]

Summit on-track injury statistics revised

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/national-news/2008/April/10/Summit-on-track-injury-statistics-revised.aspx

[cj]

I'd be very suspect of these revisions. I imagine some strings were pulled.

[bigmack]

I'd be very suspect of these revisions. I imagine some strings were pulled.
I'd be very suspect on the notion of "pulled strings". Won't be much longer someone could state that synthetics are less prone to cause injury without anyone claiming that it's far from the truth.

[cj]

I'd be very suspect on the notion of "pulled strings". Won't be much longer someone could state that synthetics are less prone to cause injury without anyone claiming that it's far from the truth.

I'm just saying it is fishy, that is all. I have a hard time trusting any "stats" about the synthetics from either side to be honest. How hard could it have been to get it right the first time? Why the "adjustment"? It isn't like Calc III is needed to get a percentage.

[ryesteve]

The article could've been a whole lot clearer, but where it says,

"A review of the injury rates presented at the Summit established that the initial catastrophic injury reports actually covered longer periods of time with more races and total starts."

sounds to me like this "revision" was accomplished by looking at a shorter period of time, because it told the story they wanted to tell, as compared to the broader set of data.

[njcurveball]

Without a true baseline for cause and effect, the accompanying statistics are basically just numbers people can talk about.

It is a proven fact that the group of people with a GED have a higher percentage of smokers than the group who graduated high school.

Does this mean the GED is a cause for them to smoke? Graduating high school a deterrant?

Most people on here are good at stating their opinions and then picking facts to support them.

Studies are going to be the same way, whether it is Polytrack, the new wonder drug, or seat belts.

Steve has the right idea here. They will simply take a diferent sample to prove their case.

Is there any real comparison between the breakdowns of horses at Keeneland versus the horses at Mountaineer or Charles Town?

1.47 fatalities per 1,000 starts for synthetic surfaces and 2.03 fatalities per 1,000 starts for dirt tracks

I wonder if people would be so quick to jump on board if I came on here and said I have a system that gets winners in 2 races of the first 1,000 I tested.

[CryingForTheHorses]

I think its a bunch of crap!!!...Im amazed at how people are thinking its the tracks hurting these horses,Granted you are going to have sound horses break down on any track,Id love to see your faces looking at the cheap claimers that come back from a race at GP...Dont blame the track as most of these horses have many problems and I dont care what surface they are on as they are very prone to break down. You have to blame the horseman for the shape of their horses.I see horseman smile when their charge is claimed and comes limping off the track..This is the worst year I have ever seen at GP for the type of claimers I claim.Seems everybody brings these horses here to get claimed as they know GP has always beeen a freeding frenzy for the claiming horseman.Check out the claims at GP and look at how many horses have come back to run.I myself have gotten a few.Old time horsemanship needs to come back into focus in the traing of these animals,Fast works on the young horses need to stop in order for the horse to be able to have a long racing life.MOST of my horses are old guys and most see 18-22 starts per year..I even have a 11yo that is stll running strong.I see horses whipping around every morning easily doing 13 sec eighths the whole way around without a care for the horse,Gone are the old time riders that were taught to be still and quiet on horses,Now you get a lot of terrified riders that have ridden for years and still dont know how to ride,The horse is also being exhausted in the moring then is expected to run well in the afternoons,Lots of their problems are missed because lots of these guys really dont have a clue.Bottom line I myself cannot blame the racetrack knowing what I know thu my experince

[Marshall Bennett]

They're only trying to justify spending millions on synthetic surfaces which , for their part , is pounding an already dying game to its knees . :cool:

[Shenanigans]

I think its a bunch of crap!!!...Im amazed at how people are thinking its the tracks hurting these horses,Granted you are going to have sound horses break down on any track,Id love to see your faces looking at the cheap claimers that come back from a race at GP...Dont blame the track as most of these horses have many problems and I dont care what surface they are on as they are very prone to break down. You have to blame the horseman for the shape of their horses.I see horseman smile when their charge is claimed and comes limping off the track..This is the worst year I have ever seen at GP for the type of claimers I claim.Seems everybody brings these horses here to get claimed as they know GP has always beeen a freeding frenzy for the claiming horseman.Check out the claims at GP and look at how many horses have come back to run.I myself have gotten a few.Old time horsemanship needs to come back into focus in the traing of these animals,Fast works on the young horses need to stop in order for the horse to be able to have a long racing life.MOST of my horses are old guys and most see 18-22 starts per year..I even have a 11yo that is stll running strong.I see horses whipping around every morning easily doing 13 sec eighths the whole way around without a care for the horse,Gone are the old time riders that were taught to be still and quiet on horses,Now you get a lot of terrified riders that have ridden for years and still dont know how to ride,The horse is also being exhausted in the moring then is expected to run well in the afternoons,Lots of their problems are missed because lots of these guys really dont have a clue.Bottom line I myself cannot blame the racetrack knowing what I know thu my experince

Very, very well said. Poor horsmanship in trainers, grooms and exercise riders are not helping the game one bit.