Same old Delaware Park

[horses721]

Small fields made even smaller with lots of scratches. Meet the new season, same as the old season.

[jotb]

Plenty of empty stalls and only 650 horses on the backside.


Joe

[shoelessjoe]

I saw an old familiar face riding there today Bobby Colton I havent seen him riding in awhile.Used to be a top jockey on the NJ-PENN circuit.

[Doc]

Just wait ... Atlantic City runs this week, Monmouth is poised to open, and Presque Isle Downs' season is right around the corner. Short fields are likely to be the norm not only at Delaware, but everywhere in the MidAtlantic region.

Doc

[cj]

Yep, and some guys get upset if you say closing some tracks would be good for the game.

[northerndancer]

The Mid Atlantic region should be very interesting this spring and summer. A few things that I was mulling over......

1. Florida did not have a ban on steriods so therefore the horses that Delaware is holding stalls for may not materialize due to the fact these horses have been treated with steriods during their winter in sunny Florida;
2. Maryland racing could be the beneficiary from point number one as the state of Maryland has not joined the steroid ban...... could that have been the thougth process all along in Maryland..... we can not compete when it comes to purses but we are a more liberal medication state;
3. Delaware will be hard pressed to lure shippers due to the steriod ban;
4. Dove Houghton was the first to be penalized at Philadelphia Park for a steriod overage...... loss of purse, $1,000 fine and 15 days suspended;
5. Michael Gorham requested a few additional stalls at Delaware (which has close to 600 empty stalls) and was told no as those stalls are allocated. This is a guy who has supported Delaware racing for many many years and he is told no when asked for an additional 5 stalls;
6. Will trainers support Presque Isle Downs when the purses are a more reasonable level compared to 2007 and it is now a 5 month meet instead of 30 days. The biggest concern is that the all the barns are not complete and there is no dormitories ready for the help....way too expensive to put the grooms and hot walkers up at local hotels...... the steriod ban will limit the horses that come from the surrounding jurisdictions that do not have steroid bans (Ontario, West Virginia, New York, Ohio, Kentucky);
7. Colonial Downs has stated they will not provide a transfer van service from Pimlico or Laurel in 2008. What are they smoking in Virgina how do they expect to lure the horses from Maryland when these horses can opt to run at Delaware, Charles Town, Penn National or Monmouth during the hiatus;

[Tom]

Pretty soon, every horse on the east coast will have his own race.

[Doc]

Very good points, Northerndancer. Some horsemen at Philly are concerned that the steroid ban will affect their field sizes, and I did not realize until you posted it the states which don't have steroid bans. Here's where a uniform steroid policy nationwide would be ideal, but of course, racing has always been a fragmented sport in which each of its parts operates as an island unto itself, rather than operating as a whole. I remember when I worked at the Form back in the early 1990's the publisher used to guard past performance information like it was gold ... would only give certain tracks access to free pps for its stakes events, etc. This was, essentially, the sport's data, but he regarded it as proprietary. Imagine the NFL or MLB not allowing fans access to box scores or stats unless they purchased it ...

[The Bit]

I sat through the March Delaware Racing Commission meeting with the horseman in which the main focus was pertaining to the steriod ban and I can assure you, the racing commission could not careless about the field sizes and what is going on with the fields at Delaware Park.

When asked what they were going to do when they had 3 horse fields lining up, one of the board members replied, and I quote "Than we will bet on three horses".

The other thing I took out of that meeting, was that no one actually knows what is going on. The commissions don't really know. The horseman really have no clue. The agencies doing the testing don't know nor seem to care about the horseman's concerns. There are so many more questions than answers with regards to withdrawal times, testing options, testing procedures, what other states are doing etc. that I can't see how this whole thing could be sorted out in any reasonable time.

[The Bit]

The Mid Atlantic region should be very interesting this spring and summer. A few things that I was mulling over......

1. Florida did not have a ban on steriods so therefore the horses that Delaware is holding stalls for may not materialize due to the fact these horses have been treated with steriods during their winter in sunny Florida;
2. Maryland racing could be the beneficiary from point number one as the state of Maryland has not joined the steroid ban...... could that have been the thougth process all along in Maryland..... we can not compete when it comes to purses but we are a more liberal medication state;
3. Delaware will be hard pressed to lure shippers due to the steriod ban;
4. Dove Houghton was the first to be penalized at Philadelphia Park for a steriod overage...... loss of purse, $1,000 fine and 15 days suspended;
5. Michael Gorham requested a few additional stalls at Delaware (which has close to 600 empty stalls) and was told no as those stalls are allocated. This is a guy who has supported Delaware racing for many many years and he is told no when asked for an additional 5 stalls;
6. Will trainers support Presque Isle Downs when the purses are a more reasonable level compared to 2007 and it is now a 5 month meet instead of 30 days. The biggest concern is that the all the barns are not complete and there is no dormitories ready for the help....way too expensive to put the grooms and hot walkers up at local hotels...... the steriod ban will limit the horses that come from the surrounding jurisdictions that do not have steroid bans (Ontario, West Virginia, New York, Ohio, Kentucky);
7. Colonial Downs has stated they will not provide a transfer van service from Pimlico or Laurel in 2008. What are they smoking in Virgina how do they expect to lure the horses from Maryland when these horses can opt to run at Delaware, Charles Town, Penn National or Monmouth during the hiatus;

As I mentioned, I sat through the DRC meeting in March with the horseman and some of these topics were discussed:

1. The DRC doesn't care about such issues. To top it off, not the DRC, the testing agency or anyone else can give definite answers regarding withdrawal times and other issues.

2. The horseman brought up the point of horses shipping elsewhere and again, the DRC didn't seem to care. They felt as if sooner or later Maryland would fold and join the ban.

The penalties are not uniform from state to state either. I believe Delaware was going to adopt much harsher penalties which again was brought up as a reason to run horses elsewhere and as was the norm, the DRC didn't care.

[Kelso]

I believe Delaware was going to adopt much harsher penalties which again was brought up as a reason to run horses elsewhere and as was the norm, the DRC didn't care.

If the sport ever gets around to a national Czar, I think the first place they should look is to the Deleware Racing Commission. WAY TO GO, DELEWARE!!:ThmbUp: :ThmbUp: :ThmbUp: :ThmbUp:

[phatbastard]

i would hate to see delaware racing suffer more just because they have the BALLS to stand up to corrupt dealings in the business..they proved their mettle before by banning Mike Gill for various reasons and they evidently had some effect as he is all but out of the business...the glory days have passed for one of my favorite spots to attend races...when all the dupont stables and other well known outfits were there...a day in the paddock was ideal for family and racing was great

sadly the track turning into a racino at times make it look like a made for TV show

But all those interested in this fine sport should applaud their efforts to help clean up this mess including sticking it to supposed Super Trainers who have certainly hastened the decline and suspicions of impropriety

[The Bit]

I think it is great that Delaware is taking a stand ...

Problem is, the stand they are taking and that timing of said stand is going to have very adverse affects on the racing this year. Trainers are already having to turn away horses from Florida, which was also brought up at the meeting and again, the commission didn't care.

Not only are they turning horses away, but they aren't getting offered as many horses from other places because the cost of the testing to see if a horse is clean is falling upon the owners. That being said, as if it wasn't an expensive enough game, why send horses to Delaware and incur more cost?

It is killing the smaller trainers who rely on these few horses they get sent to get through the year.

[Valupix]

The scratch capital of the racing world and home of the Scratch Monster himself.

[wonatthewire1]

There aren't even enough Arabians on the grounds to get more than 6 entries on the last race of the card on open weekend

that's sad and there needs to be at least 2 fewer tracks running in the summer on the east coast

[Kelso]

[QUOTE=The Bit]
That being said, as if it wasn't an expensive enough game, why send horses to Delaware and incur more cost?
[QUOTE]

Hopefully, the track will use a chunk of that racino money on purses that will make it well worth racing there ... and another large chunk reducing takeout to make it worth betting there.

[john del riccio]

and if all this isnt bad enough. look at race 5 from sunday. the horses that finished 2nd, 3rd, & 4th were all several lengths faster than the winner. the pace was rediculously slow for this group and the winner won on the lead.


the owner of the horse was the owner of the racetrack, rickman......i have seen this setup before.


go baby go !


john

[mjw]

Looks like Delaware got what they wanted! In the 5th race today (21st), there are 2 scratches which leaves a 3 horse field!

Bet them all and pray the "longest" horse comes in!